Toyota Motor Corp's Managing Officer and Chief Communications Officer Julie Hamp speaks to media during a news conference in Nagoya, central Japan, in this photo taken by Kyodo June 17, 2015 and released by Kyodo on June 18, 2015. 
 
 TOKYO Toyota Motor Corp moved into damage control mode on Friday after its new communications chief Julie Hamp, an American and its first senior woman executive, was arrested on suspicion of illegally bringing pain killers into Japan just two months after her appointment. 
 
 Toyota President Akio Toyoda apologized for the incident at a news conference and reiterated the company's belief that Hamp had no intent of breaking the law. 
 
 "To me, executives and staff who are my direct reports are like my children," he said. 
 
 "It's the responsibility of a parent to protect his children and, if a child causes problems, it's also a parent's responsibility to apologize." 
 
 Japanese media reports, citing police investigators, said 57 addictive Oxycodone pills were found in a small parcel labeled "necklaces" that was sent from the United States and addressed to Hamp in Japan. The pills were in packets or buried at the bottom of the parcel, which also contained toy pendants and necklaces, they said. 
 
 Hamp, a former General Motors Co and PepsiCo Inc executive, told police she did not think she had imported an illegal substance, a spokesman for Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department said. 
 
 A police official declined to comment on the latest media reports about the parcel. 
 
 Hamp was appointed managing officer in April as part of a drive to diversify Toyota's male-dominated, mostly Japanese executive line-up. She joined Toyota's North American unit in 2012 and this month relocated to Tokyo, where she was to be based. She had been staying in a hotel, a Toyota spokeswoman said. 
 
 Toyoda vowed that the automaker would maintain its policy of seeking out talent regardless of gender or nationality and expressed regret that the company had not provided enough support for an employee who was not Japanese and had come to live in Japan. 
 
 Oxycodone is a prescription drug in both the United States and Japan. Bringing it into Japan requires prior approval from the government and it must be carried by the individual, a health ministry official said. 
 
 Hiroaki Okamoto, a criminal defense lawyer at the Nakamura International Criminal Defense Office in Tokyo who is not involved in Hamp's case, said the large number of pills meant that, if indicted, she could face years in prison, followed by deportation. 
 
 The maximum sentence for smuggling drugs with the intent to sell is life in prison, he said. Even if indicted for smuggling for personal use, it would be tough to get a suspended sentence because of the large number of pills, he said. 
 
 (Additional reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Edmund Klamann) 

 Toyota Motor Corp. President Akio Toyoda adjusts his glasses as he attends a press conference in Tokyo Friday, June 19, 2015. Toyoda said he believes an American executive arrested on suspicion of importing... (Associated Press) 
 
 TOKYO (AP) — Toyota Motor Corp. President Akio Toyoda said Friday he believes an American executive arrested on suspicion of importing a controlled drug into Japan had no intention of breaking the law. 
 
 Julie Hamp, Toyota's head of public relations and its first senior female executive, was arrested Thursday for allegedly importing the painkiller oxycodone. She was the first foreign Toyota executive to be fully stationed in Japan, and was in the process of moving her belongings from California. 
 
 At a hastily called news conference Friday, Toyoda bowed and apologized for the troubles set off by the arrest of Hamp, who was tapped as Toyota's chief communications officer in April. 
 
 He said the company should have done more to help with Hamp's relocation. He declined to go into details of the police allegations, only repeating several times that the company was cooperating fully with the investigation. 
 
 The drug was found by customs officials in a package Hamp sent to herself by air mail from the United States, according to police. Japanese media reports said the drugs were hidden in various parts of a jewelry box. 
 
 The high-profile stumble of a media-savvy executive, so early in the game, is an embarrassment for the world's top-selling automaker. Toyota had highlighted Hamp's appointment with much fanfare as a sign that it was promoting diversity. 
 
 Toyoda said he had picked Hamp, 55, because of "her character." She was an excellent leader, communicating well with Japanese employees, he said. 
 
 "For me and for Toyota, she is an indispensable and precious teammate," he told reporters. "I believe that we will learn that she had no intent to violate the law." 
 
 He acknowledged that her appointment had been a "big step" in a globalizing Toyota. Although Japanese Toyota officials had gone abroad to live, she was the first foreign Toyota executive to be fully stationed in Japan. 
 
 It was unclear when she might be released. Japanese authorities can detain suspects without charge for up to 23 days. 
 
 Japan has strict controls over drugs. Possession of marijuana, for instance, is a serious crime. Foreigners being detained for mailing or bringing in medicines they used at home is not unheard of. Such drugs may be banned in Japan or require special approval. 
 
 The U.S. Embassy in Japan warns on its Internet site that Americans can be detained for bringing in prescription drugs that may perfectly legal in the U.S. 
 
 Earlier this year, Oregon woman Carrie Russell, 26, was detained for 18 days in Japan over a shipment of prescription Adderall for attention-deficit disorder. The drug is commonly prescribed in the U.S. but contains amphetamines, which are outlawed in Japan. 
 
 She had come to Japan to teach English and shipped in the unopened package of pills that her mother had sent from the U.S. to South Korea. U.S. Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy worked for Russell's release. 
 
 Japan's government has been beefing up its crackdown on drug abuse this year. 
 
 About 250 cases of drug smuggling are recorded a year, according to recent government data, with about half of the cases involving foreigners including Americans. It is unclear which ones were over prescription drugs. 
 
 Public relations experts say Hamp may have to resign because, even if it turns out to be an honest mistake, it's still a mistake and one that reflects lack of awareness about a country she would be expected to have some familiarity with. 
 
 Before joining Toyota in 2012, Hamp worked for PepsiCo Inc. and General Motors Co. She oversaw marketing and communications for the Toyota, Lexus and Scion brands in the U.S. before her latest promotion. 
 
 Toyota employees are held to a high ethical standard, and run-ins with the law, even minor misdemeanors, are rare and seen as a disgrace. 
 
 Toyoda, who faced criticism for being slow in reacting to Toyota's recall crisis of several years ago, emphasized he was responding quickly to the Hamp news. 
 
 "We still don't have all facts, and what I can say is limited. But I felt it's critical to tell you my thoughts in my own words," Toyoda said. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Follow Yuri Kageyama on Twitter at twitter.com/yurikageyama 

 Thursday’s arrest of a high-profile Toyota Motor Corp. executive highlights the danger globetrotters can face bringing psychotropic or other medications into nations where they are banned. 
 
 Julie Hamp, named Toyota’s first female managing officer in April, faces drug-smuggling charges after having oxycodone pills sent to her from the United States, said a spokesman for the Tokyo Metropolitan Police, declining to be named on policy grounds. Her arrest was front-page news in Japan, coming amid a widely publicized crackdown on the sale of mood-altering herbs that previously fell outside the nation’s strict laws against recreational drugs. 
 
 Hamp denies that she imported illegal drugs, the police spokesman said. Toyota spokesman Itsuki Kurosu said in an emailed statement the company is cooperating with the investigation. 
 
 Hamp, 55, “said she did not believe she had imported narcotics when she was arrested,” another police official said. 
 
 By midday Friday, she had been sent to the prosecutor’s office, a third official said. 
 
 In a hastily arranged news conference, Toyota President Akio Toyoda apologized for causing a stir and vowed to cooperate fully with the investigation. 
 
 He said Hamp is a “very important colleague and for me and Toyota . . . we believe that the investigation will reveal that Ms. Julie Hamp had no intention to violate the law.” 
 
 Toyoda said he appointed her as the head of communications mainly due to her personality and efforts to work closely with other employees, adding she has been also trying hard to adjust to Japanese culture. 
 
 The parcel was sent on June 8 from the U.S. and arrived at Narita airport on June 11, the police official said. 
 
 The package, labelled “necklaces,” contained several small boxes, each holding accessories and several tablets, reports said, adding police suspect there had been an attempt to hide the drug. 
 
 Hamp was promoted to head of communications for the auto giant earlier this year — making her one of the company’s most senior non-Japanese executives — after previously working at Toyota’s North American division. 
 
 The incident illustrates the different perceptions of drugs such as oxycodone, an opioid pain medication, which are more casually prescribed in the U.S. No matter how routine at home, the use of psychotropic drugs is strictly controlled in Japan and foreign visitors need to be careful, said Robert Dujarric, a director at the Institute of Contemporary Asian Studies of Temple University. 
 
 “It’s considered by the authorities as equivalent to a friend mailing you in the U.S. with opium from Afghanistan,” Dujarric said. “Psychotropic medicines as well as prescription drugs that are legal in the U.S. are illegal in Japan,” where there’s stronger concern about addiction, he said. 
 
 Earlier this year, Carrie Russell of the U.S. was detained for 18 days after her mother mailed her an amphetamine medication for attention-deficit disorder. The 26-year-old English teacher was released in March only after a personal appeal from American Ambassador Caroline Kennedy. 
 
 The U.S. Embassy in Tokyo warns its citizens to check before mailing or carrying medication to Japan, or face arrest and detention. 
 
 “Heroin, cocaine, MDMA, opium, cannabis, stimulant drugs including some prescription medications such as Adderall . . . are prohibited in Japan,” the embassy says on its website. 
 
 “Japanese customs officials or police can detain travellers importing prohibited items. Japanese customs officials do not make on-the-spot ‘humanitarian’ exceptions for medicines that are prohibited in Japan,” it warned. 
 
 Of the 13,121 individuals charged with drug crimes last year, 778, or 5.9 percent, were foreigners, according to national police data. More than 80 percent of the crimes involved methamphetamines. 
 
 The same year, cases of drug smuggling rose 11 percent to 245, according to police data, which does not indicate how many cases involved prescription medicines. 
 
 Japan allows individuals to bring restricted prescription drugs such as oxycodone into the country with prior approval, according to the health ministry’s website, which lists oxycodone as a “narcotic.” 
 
 It is possible that illegal imports of painkillers and other drugs are increasing, and police decided to send a strong message with the arrest of Hamp, Dujarric said. 
 
 “It’s either a strong message or there’s something else behind the story.”
– Toyota’s first senior female executive was arrested in Japan yesterday after customs officials allegedly found 57 Oxycodone tablets in a package mailed to her from the US. A package labeled "necklaces" was sent to Julie Hamp from the United States on June 8, and arrived in Japan on June 11, according to the Japan Times. Inside were several boxes with necklaces and pendants, and dozens of pills placed at the bottom, Reuters reports; the AP picks up local media reports that said the drugs were tucked in various parts of a jewelry box and adds that the package was sent by Hamp. According to police, Hamp "did not believe she had imported narcotics when she was arrested." Toyota is rallying around its head of public relations, expressing confidence that "the investigation will reveal that Ms. Julie Hamp had no intention to violate the law." It is unknown whether the 55-year-old has a prescription for the opiates, but transport of the drug into Japan requires a special OK from the government. Hamp faces drug smuggling charges, and a Japanese attorney tells Reuters that the large number of pills found in the parcel may make it difficult for Hamp to avoid jail time. The AP spoke to PR experts who think a resignation may be in the cards for her even if it was an innocent goof, as that would suggest a "lack of awareness about a country she would be expected to have some familiarity with." Toyota President Akio Toyoda today apologized for the arrest and compared his employees to his kids: "It's the responsibility of a parent to protect his children and, if a child causes problems, it's also a parent's responsibility to apologize."