Top hostess and influencer Rino Yamato (Rino Tazawa) arrested for cocaine possession
On September 15, Tokyo Metropolitan Police arrested 27-year-old hostess and influencer Rino Tazawa on suspicion of possession of cocaine.
Tazawa, who lives in plush Minato ward in Tokyo, is a highly successful hostess at the club Jungle Tokyo in Roppongi, where she is known as Rino Yamato. She claimed that she once earned ¥230 million for her club in her birthday month, and owns a Bentley Continental GT supposedly worth ¥28 million.
She was arrested with her boyfriend, a 28-year-old executive at a construction company, at her apartment. She is alleged to have had 0.4 grams of cocaine at her home.
Tazawa/Yamato is known more widely because she is also an influencer and YouTuber with tens of thousands of followers on Instagram, with whom she would regular share images of her glamorous lifestyle. She has also made media appearances like Last Call, an audition show on YouTube.
She looked rather different in the news footage of her being driven away in the backseat of a police car, wearing a face mask and holding her fingers up in a strange gesture that some are claiming is a gang sign. Despite this apparent symbolic resistance, Tazawa has admitted to using the drugs.
Tokyo police had reportedly been watching the comings and goings from her club through surveillance footage, looking for connections to organized crime, and may have targeted Tazawa to make an example of her to discourage use of the party drug among the city’s rich elite.
Rino Yamato’s name was removed from the Jungle Tokyo website following news of her arrest this week.
A drug arrest in Japan is a career-ending event, whether you are a mainstream celebrity, porn star, influencer, or regular person. This is far from the first incident of a hostess arrested for possession. The world of high-end hostessing is associated with large amounts of alcohol, casual sex, and narcotics because of its wealthy clients, some of whom may have connections to criminal organizations. It is a similar story with porn stars, and just last month, adult performer Serina Arata was arrested with a male member of the yakuza after police tailing him found drugs in their hotel room.
