【天まで】 亡き有名人にメッセージを！その2 【届け！】

Yukiko Okada

Fans called her "Yukko" and fell in love with her "Yukko smile".

Recruited by Sun Music Production (Seiko Matsuda and Noriko Sakai come from the same agency), Yukiko Okada debuted in April of 1984 with her first single "First Date".

That same year, she wins the Japan Record Award (from the Japan Composer's Association) for newcomers/rookies with the song "Koi Hajimemashite".

She continued to do well with singles such as "Futari Dake no Ceremony", "Kanashii Yokan", "Summer Beach", and "Love Fair".

She also appeared in a Sci-Fi drama series called "Kinjirareta Mariko" (The Forbidden Mariko) in which she played the main character Mariko who possessed ESP powers (broadcast November 5, 1985 to January 28, 1986 on TBS - 12 total episodes).

As the the drama series was winding down to its last episode, Yukiko joined Kanebo Cosmetic's spring campaign and her "Kuchibiru Network" (Lips Network) was the campaign theme song.

The lyrics writer for "Kuchibiru Network" was Seiko Matsuda with Ryuichi Sakamoto as the music composer. "Kuchibiru Network" reached No.1 on the Oricon charts on February 10th.

Tragically at the prime of her life, she committed suicide on April 8th by jumping off from the roof of the Sun Music building. She was only 18 at the time.
Her suicide made headlines and sent shockwaves across Japan. To top it off, several fans of hers followed suite.
It caused such a commotion that the term "Yukko Syndrome" came into being to connote follow-on suicides. That year (1986), the suicide rate in Japan jumped to an all-time high.


URL:http://gimpo.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/dejima/1210155526/207

Okada Yukiko

Okada Yukiko was born on August 22, 1967 in Nagoya, Japan.
Adoringly calling her Yukko, fans fell in love with her innocent and cute demeanor, and her famous smile, the "Yukko smile."
Her idol was Kawai Naoko, and as well as being an idol, Yukiko was an amazing painter too, you will find a portrait she did of Naoko at the bottom of this section,
which Yukiko gave to Naoko on Uta no Top Ten in 1985.
She was signed to Pony Canyon records and the Sun Music agency (Matsuda Seiko, Hayami Yuu, and Sakai Noriko were also signed here) and debuted the idol scene in April of 1984
with her single "First Date."
Her single "First Date" was released the same day as Kikuchi Momoko's first single, pairing them in the idol world as rivals, though they didn't play on this correlation much at all.
Ever since after her second single her songs kept a nice top ten status.
Yukiko's 3rd single "-Dreaming Girl- Koi hajimemashite" earned her an award for Japan's best new idol song.
In late 1985 she started a small acting career in a television drama called "Kinjirareta Mariko" (Forbidden Mariko) in which she played the role of a girl with ESP powers.
In 1985 she also travelled to Switzerland to record a music film for her singles and songs so far, it was called "Yukiko in Swiss", if you have the chance to watch it I recommend it,
it's amazingly cute, you can probably find the whole thing on Youtube.
In 1986 she hit the number one mark with her single "Kuchibiru Network" which was written by Matsuda Seiko, and was also the advertising song for Kanebo Cosmetic's spring campaign
(this is a rather prestigious thing for an idol to do, as Matsuda Seiko, Koizumi Kyouko, and Kawai Naoko have also advertised for it.) Her success with Kuchibiru Network,
which was her 8th single gained her much recognition as an idol as she was seen as a star rising fast towards the top.
She began working on her 9th single "Hana no Image" and an album "Heart Jack" to go with.
Sadly at the prime of her life and career, on April 8, 1986, she committed suicide,
unfortunately many of her fans also committed suicide as well coining the term "Yukko syndrome" to account for the many copycat suicides following hers.
It was a dark day in idol history, but Yukiko will never be forgotten.
Her most famous singles were: "Little Princess", "-Dreaming Girl- Koi hajimemashite", "Futari dake no Ceremony", and "Kuchibiru Network"


URL:http://gimpo.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/dejima/1210155526/209-210