Yoshizawa Hitomi arrested for drunk driving & hit and run.

[Shoujo Q]

J.P Room gave a short statement.
 
Here's an english article with a bit more info.
 
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote">
 
 
According to police, a breath analysis conducted on Yoshizawa, 33, revealed 0.58 milligrams of alcohol per liter of exhaled air.

The legal limit is 0.15 milligrams, meaning the former idol exceeded the figure by nearly four times.</blockquote>
 
Yeah... girl.     

[Farrah]

Oh wow, yeah -  the US legal limit is .08, I think?  I actually blew clean once in high school even though I was tipsy (not driving! they had obligatory breathalyzers when leaving prom, LOL), so I'm assuming 0.5 must be pretty fucked up?

[Zoe]

I think that's a different measurement scale. As said on the previous page, Japan's threshold is .03 to the US's .08.

[Farrah]

[quote="Zoe"]
I think that's a different measurement scale. As said on the previous page, Japan's threshold is .03 to the US's .08.
[/quote]
 
You're right - the US does g/100ml, Japan does mg/L.  I tried plugging it into a converter and it gave me BAC .133, not sure how accurate that is, though.  If it is accurate, she was definitely drunk enough to know she shouldn't be driving, though.

[aine]

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Farrah" data-cid="215182" data-time="1536326177"><blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Zoe" data-cid="215181" data-time="1536325785">I think that's a different measurement scale. As said on the previous page, Japan's threshold is .03 to the US's .08.</blockquote> 
You're right - the US does g/100ml, Japan does mg/L.  I tried plugging it into a converter and it gave me BAC .133, not sure how accurate that is, though.</blockquote>
No, 0.03 and 0.08 are already converted to the same unit (% BAC). By the way the limit is literally zero in a number of countries in Europe, it's still weird to me you can have a beer in the US and still be legal. Articles about people getting busted for eating pralines with alcohol or tiramisu or whatever are a pretty regular feature during slow news days. Dura lex sed lex.

[Farrah]

[quote="aine"]
 
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Farrah" data-cid="215182" data-time="1536326177">
 
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Zoe" data-cid="215181" data-time="1536325785">
I think that's a different measurement scale. As said on the previous page, Japan's threshold is .03 to the US's .08.
</blockquote>
 

You're right - the US does g/100ml, Japan does mg/L.  I tried plugging it into a converter and it gave me BAC .133, not sure how accurate that is, though.
 
</blockquote>


No, 0.03 and 0.08 are already converted to the same unit (% BAC). By the way the limit is literally zero in a number of countries in Europe, it's still weird to me you can have a beer in the US and still be legal. Articles about people getting busted for eating pralines with alcohol or tiramisu or whatever are a pretty regular feature during slow news days. Dura lex sed lex.
 
[/quote]
 
.03 and .08 are both BAC format, but the number Yossie tested for is in mg/L format ("0.58mg/1L of alcohol per liter of exhaled air"), which converts to .133 BAC.  Overall, her "I went to bed drunk and thought I woke up sober" story is starting to look like it won't hold water, .133 is legally drunk pretty much anywhere.  Sucks, I wanted to be optimistic, but... sis knew what she was doing.
 
It's weird, legal limit seems to vary A LOT from country to country, I've seen people claim the US's is too strict (I don't agree though).  Busted for tiramisu is funny, makes me think of the people testing positive for opiates because of eating a poppy seed muffin!

[momoirosaya]

Oh dang girl... I wonder if Yossie has issues controlling her drinking... They would never reveal such unsavory things in Japan, like if someone was an alcoholic, so it makes me wonder.

[JPope]

If that number of .58 is true, then Yossi is a full-blown alcoholic. Normal people can't walk with that level of BAC, but people who drink a lot all the time can function at much higher levels. Seriously, if she was a legit.58, we should be praising her driving skills for not killing herself or others. I'm skeptical of that number. Maybe they left out a zero, and it was .058? That seems more likely, and still passes the threshold of "drunk" for legal purposes.

[Anderei]

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="JPope" data-cid="215186" data-time="1536335823">
If that number of .58 is true, then Yossi is a full-blown alcoholic. Normal people can't walk with that level of BAC, but people who drink a lot all the time can function at much higher levels. Seriously, if she was a legit.58, we should be praising her driving skills for not killing herself or others. I'm skeptical of that number. Maybe they left out a zero, and it was .058? That seems more likely, and still passes the threshold of "drunk" for legal purposes.</blockquote>

Wouldn’t a 0.058 mean she wasn’t legally intoxicated? It says it’s .15 in Japan.

[momoirosaya]

<a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='https://youtu.be/UfIjGbE6oa4' class="bbc_url" title="External link">https://youtu.be/UfIjGbE6oa4</a>

News Video

[Farrah]

[quote="JPope"]
If that number of .58 is true, then Yossi is a full-blown alcoholic. Normal people can't walk with that level of BAC, but people who drink a lot all the time can function at much higher levels. Seriously, if she was a legit.58, we should be praising her driving skills for not killing herself or others. I'm skeptical of that number. Maybe they left out a zero, and it was .058? That seems more likely, and still passes the threshold of "drunk" for legal purposes.
[/quote]
 
 
Japan doesn't measure by the amount of alcohol in your blood, but the amount of alcohol per liter of exhaled breath, so the .58 isn't her BAC.  If the calculator I tried is correct, then .58 in her breath converts to .13 BAC.  So, she was drunk, but not totally trashed.  The example charts I'm looking at say .1 is where you start slurring and your motor skills go to shit, but before you start falling over yourself or throwing up.  Drunk enough that I definitely don't believe she thought she was sober... 

[JPope]

Ah, that makes much more sense.

[honey]

Welp, this is sad. Is there any other prolific idol group in Japan that has had so many issues with their (ex)members?

[Zoe]

[quote="honey"]
Welp, this is sad. Is there any other prolific idol group in Japan that has had so many issues with their (ex)members?
[/quote]
Well SMAP had two of their members experience drunk escapades while in the group.
 
But mostly it's noticeable with MM because their ex members stay associated with the group.

[aine]

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Farrah" data-cid="215184" data-time="1536330030">
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="aine" data-cid="215183" data-time="1536329327">
No, 0.03 and 0.08 are already converted to the same unit (% BAC). By the way the limit is literally zero in a number of countries in Europe, it's still weird to me you can have a beer in the US and still be legal. Articles about people getting busted for eating pralines with alcohol or tiramisu or whatever are a pretty regular feature during slow news days. Dura lex sed lex.
</blockquote>

.03 and .08 are both BAC format, but the number Yossie tested for is in mg/L format ("0.58mg/1L of alcohol per liter of exhaled air"), which converts to .133 BAC. Overall, her "I went to bed drunk and thought I woke up sober" story is starting to look like it won't hold water, .133 is legally drunk pretty much anywhere. Sucks, I wanted to be optimistic, but... sis knew what she was doing.</blockquote>
Oh right, that makes more sense, sorry I misread. Converting just the units was giving some ridiculous fractions for the Japanese system.

[Ap2000]

Using http://www.lionlaboratories.com/testing-for-alcohol/the-lion-units-converter/, these are the numbers I come up with:
Grams of alcohol per one kilogram of blood ‰ [w/w] x.xx 1.09
Grams of alcohol per one hundred millilitres of blood % BAC .xxx .116
Grams of alcohol per one litre of blood ‰ [w/v] x.xx 1.16

More, if you take the other ratios, which I'm not sure what those are.

Anyway, it's above 1‰, which definitely is quite a bit. Not just tipsy, but drunk.
0.3‰ (g/l blood) is the legally allowed maximum in Austria.

And if she had that blood level after sleeping for several hours (in case that wasn't a lie), she was absolutely shitfaced the evening before. Which isn't automatically terrible in itself I guess, but certainly if you think driving the next morning.

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Zoe" data-cid="215198" data-time="1536346548">But mostly it's noticeable with MM because their ex members stay associated with the group.</blockquote>
I'd say it's mostly because there's just so many.

[DonJuan]

I finally found out how to calculate BAC into what we commonly use where I live haha. 0.133 is pretty harsh honestly. I've seen worse (in none-driving situations; a friend of mine has been denied entry into a football stadium after getting 0.257 BAC), but I'd argue that 0.133 will definitely worsen your reaction time considerably - which is deadly for driving. Someone over on H!O compared it to having drunk 2 beers - judging by how I feel after two beers that's really negligent. 
 
Honestly, considering the possible outcomes of drunk driving I'm all in favour of strict laws and harsh penalties. As sad as it is for my idol, especially one I've followed since my early teens, this kind of behaviour can't be without consequences. 

[Anderei]

It’s also not two beers. I’m not sure where he got that from.

[momoirosaya]

Yeah def not two beers, two beers makes me feel nothing haha. More like a small bottle of hard liquor to herself.

[Farrah]

If this chart from Business Insider is to be believed, at her size, it'd probably be around 3 drinks (one drink equals 1.5 ounces of 80 proof liquor (40% alcohol), 12 ounces of beer (4.5% alcohol), or 5 ounces of wine (12% alcohol).  Yeah, she's pretty indefensible in this.  The fact that she was at that level and thought she "was fine to drive" makes me wonder if driving tipsy/drunk is a habit for her, tbh...  She's been getting dragged on Japanese twitter.  I feel like she won't be able to come back from this.

[DonJuan]

I don't know if anyone wants to drag this topic any further, but just to keep you up to date with information:
 
Tokyo Mix has a news video up.
 
Apparently, at least according to the video, Yossy had 3 chūhai the night before (she was drinking with her husband) and went to bed at midnight. The crash happened because she overlooked a red light. 
 
---
 
Personally, I doubt that this could've been only 3 chūhai. I think the alcohol concentration can be compared to lighter wine, but one can of chūhai is probably more than a glass of wine. So maybe it could be compared to 4-5 glasses of wine? I'd be drunk after that, being taller and weighing more than Yossy. I'd probably still have some alcohol left in the morning, too. But 0.12? After 7 hours? Eh. Maybe if she has problems with digesting alcohol. 
 
Also, Yasuda Kei and Nakazawa Yuko have mentioned the incident on their blogs.

[Anderei]

Actually, if she’s drinking a stronger brand of it it would work out math-wise. It actually takes your body long as hell to digest alcohol.


But it’s still not an excuse. Even less so when you don’t work standard hours and have nowhere you HAVE to be.

[Farrah]

[quote="Anderei"]
Actually, if she’s drinking a stronger brand of it it would work out math-wise. It actually takes your body long as hell to digest alcohol.


But it’s still not an excuse. Even less so when you don’t work standard hours and have nowhere you HAVE to be.
[/quote]
 
Even more when you're wealthy enough to easily afford a cab (I've heard they're high in Japan but not so high she couldn't foot the bill).  Plus, Uber and other services like that.  There's just no excuse for it. =/

[JPope]

I'm sure she has a manager who could arrange for transportation, too. That's part of what they get paid to do.

[TicTacAnyone]

[quote="honey"]
Welp, this is sad. Is there any other prolific idol group in Japan that has had so many issues with their (ex)members?
[/quote]
 
To be fair, not many other idol groups have as many ex-members as MM does... what with the rotating membership and all. With that many previous members (29, to be exact), you're bound to have some that have bad incidents. Surprisingly, most of the newer ex-members (Mitsui onwards) are still pretty squeaky clean. Niigaki would be too, if she didn't have that short marriage.


Anyway, I wasn't one who followed the OGs closely back in the day, and Yossie surely wasn't my oshi. But it still stinks. She was one of THE golden era members..... Now we'll probably never see her again. Maybe being completely out of the limelight will be good for her, and she can just lead a quiet (sober) life. Enjoying a drink (like Niigaki and Nakazawa) doesn't mean you have to get drunk enough that you're still tipsy 12 hours later, let alone think you can drive a car. 




For the summer concerts, I doubt they will scrub all the OGs off the disk just because of her. But they will most likely cut any visual from her at the concert. Maybe her singing, too? Expect to see a lot of the backup dancers/crowd in the performances she gave. For that editing, it may get pushed back.

[DonJuan]

Some people over on H!O said how they can see MM's new single being postponed due to the scandal. According to rumours (listings) it's supposed to be released on 10/24 so even before ANGERME's next single which has already been confirmed.

[Anderei]

Probably still won’t be postponed too much since it’s a grad single.

[yuzuriha]

Typical chu-hai is 5% alcohol but the stronger ones are 8% and I have a high tolerance to alcohol and three of those fuck me up a bit.  Especially since she probably weighs like 50 pounds less than me I can easily see chu hai fucking her up.  Also if they weren't canned (I'm at work so can't watch the video so not sure if they clarify) and they were just homemade they easily could have been even stronger.
 
Signed your resident chu hai afficionado

[Pi Mako]

Arama! Japan is reporting that Hitomi lied to the police about her initial alcohol consumption (no surprise there) but also that her mother-in-law attempted suicide and was rushed to the hospital when press tried to interview her about the incident!
 
http://aramajapan.com/news/hitomi-yoshizawa-lied-to-police-about-initial-alcohol-consumption-mother-in-law-attempts-suicide/91241/

[TicTacAnyone]

Wooooow.... That's rough. This really keeps getting worse and worse for Yossie.