After one month at DEA's Washington headquarters, he joined the New Orleans Division in Baton Rouge for the remainder of his tour. Over 100 participants from 27 countries and territories and five international organizations attended. Japan is becoming an increasingly important donor to international counternarcotics efforts. Japan does not have bilateral counternarcotics assistance programs, but Japanese officials have pointed out that agricultural assistance programs under the Japan International Cooperation Agency do contribute to efforts to promote economic alternatives for farmers in some drug-producing countries in South America. Japan extradited one person to the United States in August 1995 on drug-related charges.
Japan is also generally very cooperative, on an informal basis, in law enforcement matters.
The Japanese provide full cooperation in transit matters, though bureaucratic requirements allow limited flexibility and sometimes complicate time-sensitive cases. Law Enforcement Efforts. Methamphetamine trafficking is acknowledged to be Japan's most significant drug problem and about 90 percent of all drug arrests involve that crime. Over 95 percent of all methamphetamine smuggling and distribution is believed to be controlled by Japanese organized crime groups, and police counternarcotics efforts thus focus on those groups. Cocaine and heroin use is small but growing.