YouTube: Sweat ElitePopular fitness YouTuber Matthew Fox was arrested after attempting to smuggle THC tablets into Japan during his stay in the country for the 2025 Osaka Marathon.
Fox is one of the most prominent influencers in the long-distance running scene, boasting over 144K subscribers on his ‘Sweat Elite’ YouTube channel, the name of his running company.
At the time of writing, Fox’s Instagram profile — where he’s garnered over 23K followers — says he’s trying to run one marathon a month under two hours and thirty minutes… but this goal might be out of reach for the foreseeable future.
YouTuber arrested over failed THC gummy smuggling attempt
On April 9, 2025, Fox was arrested in Osaka, Japan, where he’d traveled to participate in the annual Osaka Marathon back in February.
His offense? The YouTuber had attempted to smuggle in tablets containing THC, the main ingredient in marijuana, into the country. Japan has very strict drug laws, with possession of even the smallest quantities of something like marijuana being illegal and punishable by jail time.
Instagram: mattinglisfoxKnowing that he wouldn’t be able to put them in his luggage, Fox reportedly tried to have them shipped to Japan from the United States via a third-party courier service.
Fox has been open about traveling with THC tablets in the past, saying in a February 25 episode of his Sweat Elite podcast that he’s well-aware of Japan’s attitude toward marijuana, where recreational use of the substance is completely illegal.
“I travel with THC gummies, and most countries don’t care, but Japan is different. They tend to search you every time,” he said in the podcast.
This isn’t the first time Fox has gotten into trouble during a stay in Japan. He was hit with a lifetime ban from the Ageo City Half Marathon in 2023 after being caught running under another person’s bib.
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In another turn of bad luck for the YouTuber, Fox also dropped out of the Osaka Marathon without finishing at 22 kilometers — just over half of the 40-kilometer course.
Fox hasn’t been active on any of his social media accounts since the Osaka marathon, with his last YouTube video being uploaded 2 months ago, centering on the January 2025 Houston Marathon.
Fox isn’t the only foreign influencer to get in trouble with the law while traveling through Asia as of late; divisive streamer Johnny Somali is facing years of “mandatory” prison time on multiple criminal charges due to his behavior in South Korea, while fellow content creator Vitaly is also being held in police custody in after harassing locals in the Philippines.