At the risk of repeating myself and for those who are actually interested in how things work in Japan...

1. Julie Hamp was not charged because the prosecutors knew they did not have enough evidence to get a conviction.

2. She resigned from Toyota because Toyota wanted the problem to go away and she was offered an attractive severance package.

3. The Embassy/Ambassador intervenes with (i.e. contacts) the Japanese authorities every time a U.S. citizen is arrested.

4. Neither Toyota nor the Embassy got Julie Hamp off.... neither have any clout with either the police or the prosecutors office.

We'll never know exactly what happened but according to a few sources:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/...hamp/29860269/

You have no way of knowing 1 and 2, 3 is not true, and you are quite the Pollyanna if you believe 4.

She's lucky her name wasn't Julie Hemp. In that case, she probably wouldn't have been hired in the first place. By the way, her replacement screams sarariman, and it's classic ostrich Japanese corporate response.

Just to show that they don't just target foreigners:

Famed slugger Kiyohara, 48, arrested for possessing 0.1 gram of stimulants

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/201.../#.VrFnaoaCgm8

Looks like it might have been meth. That quantity makes little sense but I suppose it just might be a remnant from a full dose he had already used.

BTW - I heard Julie got a new job at Pfizer running the export division.

One follow up question about this. So if I am (a gaijin) resident of Japan and someone, sends to me without my knowledge Oxi pills in mail, I will be arrested and sentenced for drug charges?

Do I read it right?

No. That's wrong in many ways. The biggest being that you asked two questions, not one.

Well it's a crime and, with syringes and everything, it sounds like we're not just talking Adderall here. That's too bad, but I wish him luck. It's been Becky pummeling, and now it's him. If it were America, a lot of people would be wishing him luck and this is the type of stuff where you can rehabilitate and get second chances. Probably not in Jpn. The public is not very forgiving towards lapse in judgment, even if you're not a bad person. In the US, no one would've cared so much about Becky's personal life.

Don't see two questions, unless you consider 'arrested and sentenced' as two questions. I should be writing 'arrested and charged'.

Once again - someone sends to a person in Japan a package with Oxi in it. Receiver does not know contents of the package. Is the receiver legally responsible for the contents?

That's very simple question.

It's also a different (third) question, but which does have a simple answer - No.

But as Hail pointed out, whether you would be arrested or sentenced are two different and separate questions.

If you accept the package then they can do it.

If someone you don't know sends you a package from overseas, don't accept it.

In the U.S. if somebody sent me an illegal substance via mail without my knowledge then thing for me to do is to report to local police. My understanding is that not reporting to the authority immediately may be crime by itself in the U.S. I do think such is similar situation in Japan.

If the U.S. customs intercepted package addressed to me before the delivery, then I sure will be minimal question by the authority. In case of Julie Hamp is that although she claimed that she did not know it was illegal in Japan, she did admit to authority that it was for her own use.

In the U.S. if I admit to the authority that substance in the mail was for my own use, then sure I will be arrested in the U.S. Also, I heard so many times in the U.S. that ignorance is no excuse in law. In the U.S. “But I did not know it was illegal” may not work and sounds like it is similar situation in Japan.

I assume you never bought anything on Ebay?