[Sangetsu]

There have been episodes of Japanese celebrities flipping out as well. Was it last year that Smap member Tsuyoshi Kusunagi was picked up by police while he was drunk, naked, and screaming obscenities in a public park in Akasaka? Kusunagi is one of Japan's most famous tv and movie personalities at the moment. Of course the media made a big deal of it, and Kusunagi was forced to make a public apology on live television while half of the country watched.

Sakai Noriko's story was also very big. She was a popular celebrity who could be seen on television talk shows and advertisements every day. Her arrest ended her career, and she also had to make a formal apology on live tv while half the country watched. She is now studying to be a nurse.

Charlie Sheen's case is interesting, but were he Japanese his antics would have ended his career long ago. In Japan there is a code of conduct for celebrities (as there is for people in general), and breaches of this code are seldom forgiven, and never forgotten.