The supplements allegedly contained THC, the psychoactive component of cannabis, which is illegal in Japan.<\/p>\n
Published On 2 Sep 20252 Sep 2025<\/p>\n
Suntory Holdings CEO Takeshi Niinami, one of Japan\u2019s best-known business leaders, has resigned from the beverage group following a police investigation into his purchase of a supplement that may have breached the country\u2019s strict drug laws.<\/p>\n
Niinami, who has served as an adviser to several Japanese prime ministers and was often the face of corporate Japan at Davos and other international events, told Suntory he purchased the supplement believing it was legal, the company said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was not aware that it was an illegal supplement. I am innocent,\u201d he told the Asahi newspaper in a report published Tuesday evening. He added that he felt the company would be unable to unite if he did not resign. Reuters was not able to immediately reach Niinami for comment.<\/p>\n
Suntory\u2019s president, Nobuhiro Torii, a great-grandson of the company\u2019s founder Shinjiro Torii, told a press briefing that he would now be fully helming the company.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was a bold, decisive leader who got things done, and I truly respected him,\u201d Torii said of Niinami. \u201cIn that respect \u2013 and I told this to him yesterday as well \u2013 it\u2019s a real shame that we couldn\u2019t continue as a team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Niinami, a fluent English speaker, is chairman of the influential Keizai Doyukai business lobby. He said he had no intention of resigning from that role, according to the Asahi report. Keizai Doyukai officials were not immediately available for comment.<\/p>\n
He is scheduled to hold his regular press conference for the business lobby on Wednesday afternoon, where he is expected to explain the details behind his resignation.<\/p>\n
Known for being outspoken, Niinami frequently voiced opinions on how Japan\u2019s economy should be managed and how the central bank should act.<\/p>\n
Investigation continues<\/p>\n
The Tokyo Shimbun daily reported that police in Fukuoka prefecture were investigating whether supplements containing cannabis components had been sent to Niinami\u2019s home \u2013 a probe that is connected to a man who was arrested in July.<\/p>\n
Other Japanese media said the supplements allegedly contained THC, the psychoactive component of cannabis, which is illegal in Japan. CBD, a separate chemical compound from the cannabis plant, however, is legal, and products containing it are available in Japan.<\/p>\n
Suntory, which makes whisky, beer and soft drinks such as Orangina-branded soda, said Niinami told the company on August 22 that he was the subject of a police investigation. He resigned on September 1.<\/p>\n
Niinami, 66, significantly expanded Suntory\u2019s revenue and profits, joining the drinks maker as president in 2014 shortly after it purchased US spirits company Beam for $16bn, including debt.<\/p>\n
According to Tokyo Shimbun, police questioned Niinami and searched his Tokyo home, but no illegal drug possession or use has been confirmed. A Fukuoka Police official was not immediately available to comment on the reports.<\/p>\n
A graduate of Harvard Business School, Niinami was previously chief executive of convenience store operator Lawson before becoming Suntory\u2019s boss, the first head of the firm from outside its founding family.<\/p>\n
Japan has strict drug laws. Late last year, Japanese endoscope manufacturer Olympus Corp sacked then-CEO Stefan Kaufmann, a German national, after an allegation that he had purchased illegal drugs.<\/p>\n
In 2015, police arrested Toyota Motor executive Julie Hamp, a United States citizen, on suspicion of illegally importing the painkiller oxycodone into the country. She was later released.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The supplements allegedly contained THC, the psychoactive component of cannabis, which is illegal in Japan. Published On 2…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":194880,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[13214,438,1230,79,210,170,50,1182,7207,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-194879","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nutrition","8":"tag-asia-pacific","9":"tag-business-and-economy","10":"tag-drugs","11":"tag-economy","12":"tag-health","13":"tag-japan","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-nutrition","16":"tag-police","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115136350407036531","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194879"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194879\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}