McCartney Returns to Tokyo to Perform After 24-Year Lapse
Paul McCartney, in Tokyo to perform for the first time in 24 years, told reporters today he has no hard feelings about Japan’s 1980 decision to bar him for a drugs offense.
McCartney last visited with the Beatles in 1966. He was arrested at Tokyo’s Narita Airport in January, 1980, after customs officers found marijuana in his luggage. He was held for nine days before leaving the country.
Japan normally bans foreigners with drug convictions from re-entering the country. The Justice Ministry gave McCartney the green light this time because he had no other convictions in the past 10 years.
Asked today if he has any hesitation in coming back to Japan after the 1980 incident, McCartney said: “I don’t have any bad feelings . . . so it’s finished.”
“I have four children myself and I ask them to stay straight . . . don’t use any drugs. I gave it up, I don’t do it any more,” he said.
Organizers of McCartney’s six planned concerts here have already sold all the 260,000 tickets available.
McCartney kicked off his world tour in Los Angeles last fall.
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