Very sad end. 1967 - 1986

Japanese singer and actress, active in the mid-1980s. After winning a nationwide television show at age 15 in 1983, she debuted as an idol in 1984. Her death by suicide two years later led to a number of copycat suicides, a phenomenon that would bear her name.

On April 8, 1986, Okada was found with a slashed wrist in her gas-filled Tokyo apartment, crouching in a closet and crying. She was discovered by a rescue team called in by the apartment's manager after other residents noticed the smell of gas. Okada's manager eventually arrived and took her to nearby Kita Aoyama Hospital, where her injuries were treated.

In a 2016 article on the Asahi Weekly, Sun Music former managing director Tokio Fukuda recalled that Sun Music founder Hideyoshi Aizawa called him to pick up Okada from the hospital. When he met her, she was crying softly. He then asked her where she wanted to go: to her parents' home in Nagoya, her apartment, or the office. She replied that the office was good, so she was brought to the sixth floor of the Sun Music building. Aizawa then called Fukuda, leading him to step out.

While Fukuda, the management director and the staff were discussing how to avoid a media scandal, Okada ran to the stairs, went to the roof of the seven story building, took off her shoes, and jumped, resulting in instant death. It was 12:15 PM JST.

The reason for the suicide is still unknown. Okada was reported to have been "[u]pset and depressed about an unhappy love affair", with an actor described to be "old enough to be her father", Tōru Minegishi, a co-star in Kinjirareta Mariko. Minegishi said that "he thought of her more as a younger sister". When asked if a relationship with an actor (who the article cited did not name) was the cause, Fukuda replied that he did not know.

Okada's remains were cremated, and were interred at the Jōman-ji Temple, Aisai, Aichi Prefecture, Japan.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukiko_Okada