Izumi Sakai
Encyclopedia
, born 6 February 1967 in Kurume
, Japan – 27 May 2007 was a Japan
ese Pop
singer, song writer, and member of the group Zard
.
, Fukuoka
, Japan
, Sakai grew up in Hadano, Kanagawa. Her father was a driving instructor, and she had a younger brother and younger sister. After her untimely death, a neighbor recalled how popular and beautiful Sakai had been in elementary school. She was also athletic, joining the track and field
team in junior high and playing tennis in high school. (Indeed, promoting her 38th single in 2003, "Hitomi o Tojite," Sakai indicated that she liked sports.) Graduating from Shoin Women's College (now Shoin University
) in Atsugi City
, Kanagawa, Sakai worked in a real estate company office for two years before being scouted by Stardust Promotion
.
Throughout her life, Sakai remained with her family, living modestly and mostly out of the public eye. Upon achieving career success, she helped pay for her parents home renovation. Acquaintances say that she commuted by subway every day, often wore T-shirts and minimal makeup. She did not wear any makeup in all seven of the television appearances she made in her lifetime. In promoting her third single, "Mō Sagasanai," and first album, Good-bye My Loneliness
on February 6, 1991, she wore glasses in the television interview, citing the fact she had not slept the night before. She also indicated that she often slept in the morning rather than the evening.
Sakai had a well-rounded personality. She began playing the piano at age four and aspired to be a musician at a very young age. She visited galleries, attended theater productions, made dry flowers, and painted in oil in her spare time. She also stated that one reason she did not like to travel was that she was not accustomed to eating sashimi
and preferred cooked food. Because she was hardly ever seen in public, there were widespread conspiracy theories in Japan that works by Zard were not produced by the woman pictured (Sakai): She was referred to as an urban legend
.
Sakai appears to have been shy. In her first appearance on Music Station
, she was asked what took Zard so long to appear on camera. She replied that she wanted to make sure that the Zard project would in fact succeed first. In the other six interviews, Sakai expresses shyness on camera. In fact, a staff member revealed that when Sakai saw so many people lining up for her concert tour in 2004, she was taken aback and hid herself. After some effort, she was able to walk up to the crowd and thank them for coming. However, her shyness did not reflect an inability to work well with others. It has been noted that after she had gone home early one day she arranged for food to be sent to her staff at her office who were working late into the evening.
, whose real name is Noriko Kamachi. Both are from Fukuoka Prefecture, however since Kamachi is a common name in that area and Sakai's family has not commented on the issue, the rumor has never been confirmed.
"karaoke queen" and a promotional model
appearing in television commercials for Japan Air System
. The following year Sakai was a Nissin
race queen
. During her time as a model she also released Nocturne, a book of photos and Sexy Shooting, a video. In 1990, Taiko Nagato, music producer for Being Corporation, noted her potential as a singer/songwriter. Through this connection, she created a Being subsidiary called Sensui (same Kanji
characters as Izumi) and started her career taking the name Izumi Sakai. In addition to taking a new name, Sakai revised her year of birth from 1967 to 1969. However, her earlier career as a model continued to haunt her. As her model books continued to sell in used markets as well as internet auctions, she quietly expressed regret about it. In a rare interview, Sakai said that a major inspiration to her lyrics was her "difficult past."
In 1991, Sakai joined the five-member pop group Zard as lead vocalist. The group name did not have any particular meaning except Sakai felt that word Zard sounded like a rock group. She also took the name as derived from words such as "blizzard" and "wizard." The group’s name very quickly became synonymous with Sakai herself, and Sakai wrote the lyrics
to all of Zard's songs except Onna de Itai and Koionna no Yuuutsu, both of which were written by Daria Kawashima. By 1993, the four male band members left the group but Sakai chose to keep the Zard name throughout her career. Izumi Sakai was Zard’s sole member at the time of the band’s debut, although between late 1991 and early 1993 four other members were introduced.
The melodies of early Zard hits were written by prominent Japanese composer
s, most notably Seiichirō Kuribayashi and Tetsurō Oda
. Izumi Sakai wrote nearly all of the lyrics to Zard songs, totalling over one hundred fifty. A veteran recording producer described that while most artists communicate through the transparent glass in the recording studio, Sakai preferred covering the glass with a curtain.
Her 1991 first single, "Good-bye My Loneliness," sold very well, but her next two faltered. The Good-bye My Loneliness promotion video depicts a youthful and energetic Sakai. A decade after her debut, she listed this song as one of her most memorable pieces, especially because she had to sing it over a hundred times to get the recording right. Her fourth single, "Nemurenai Yoru o Daite" (Hold me through the sleepless night) was extremely successful, leading to four television appearances. And her best was still to come.
Izumi Sakai released "Makenaide
" on January 27, 1993, her sixth single which appealed to the Japanese public. Released at a time that is now seen as the beginning of Japan's post economic bubble era
when the Nikkei 225
Index had shrunk in value by a third in only three years, "Makenaide" (Don't Give Up) became known as the theme song of the country's Lost Decade
." While Sakai commented on the television show Music Station that it would be a song to encourage men taking college and company employment examinations, many people said this song helped them cope with difficult issues such as school bullying. What is notable about "Makenaide" is that Zard fans’ favorite phrase, "Run through Until the End" was originally "Do Not Give Up until the End". "Makenaide" has been used as a theme song for the Nippon Television
program 24-hour TV, an annual charity program hosted live by celebrities for a whole day. Sakai said that she was honored and looked forward to watching 24-hour TV. Overall, "Makenaide" sold nearly 2 million copies. Later in 1993 she was ranked the top artist in CD sales and second as a lyricist.
Sakai produced 42 singles as well as 11 albums and 5 compilations in her lifetime. In addition to "Makenaide," she produced two other singles that sold over a million copies. Six of her albums as well as her first three compilations also surpassed the one-million mark, an unprecedented record. In record sales, Izumi Sakai is considered one of the most successful Japanese singers ever. This is remarkable, given that the height her career coincided with Japan's 1991 stock and real-estate market collapse and 1997 banking crises. In total CDs sold currently exceeds 30 million making Zard the eighth best-selling artist in Japan.
Since 2000, Sakai’s CD sales had declined but her death triggered an increase in CD sales. For example, her fifth compilation, Golden Best: 15th Anniversary, released in May 2006, had actually slipped to the top 300, but surged to No. 3 in the rankings and became the sixth highest-selling album after her death. In the seven days to June 4, 2007, it sold 41,000 copies, a sixtyfold increase from the previous week. As of August 2007, Sakai is ranked fourth in all-time female album sales, just ahead of Hikaru Utada, at 19.2 million copies (see Zard
).
Izumi Sakai sold more CDs than any female vocalist during the 1990s, surpassing even Namie Amuro
. Unlike Amuro, who won two consecutive Japan Record Awards in 1996 and 1997, an unprecedented record until broken in 2004 by Ayumi Hamasaki
, Zard did not win a single award. Sakai may have refused award nominations on the grounds that she did not want to perform live on screen, a requirement to accept them.
While many of her songs were intended to encourage other people, her 42nd and final single, "Heart ni Hi o Tsukete," was different. After Sakai died, a staff member revealed an email in which Sakai wrote that she felt that the song was written to encourage herself.
program Close Up Gendai reported on June 18, 2007, that the secret to Sakai’s success was that she hardly was seen in public, which created a mystic aura
.
, for which she immediately underwent treatment. She appeared to have healed, but discovered that her cancer had spread to her lungs, indicating a Stage 5 cancer. She began undergoing treatment at Keio University
Hospital in April 2007 but she never fully recovered.
However, Sakai was neither discouraged nor thought she was dying. After her death, the Japanese weekly magazine Friday ran an interview in which said Sakai thought that modern treatments would enable her to live long. Her mother said that she greeted her visitors cheerfully and did not seem to show the effects of her illness. A fellow patient later said that they walked together at times and Sakai sang "Makenaide" for her when she could not walk.
Finally, Sakai sent an e-mail to her staff saying that she was anxious to go back to producing music and was looking forward to another concert in late 2007.
Sakai died suddenly on 27 May 2007. Police judged her death accidental, the result of a fall from the landing of an emergency-exit slope
at Keio University Hospital, where she was undergoing chemotherapy
. The slope appeared to be very slippery due to rain the day before.
According to police, the fall took place during a walk on the morning of 26 May 2007, from a height of about 3 meters. Sakai was discovered unconscious at around 5:40 a.m. by a passer-by and taken to the emergency room, where she died the following afternoon of head injuries
. Due to the unusual and unlikely nature of her passing, police investigated for possibility of suicide, but concluded that it was indeed an accident. In the Friday article, her mother said that she took walks in rehabilitation and the location where she fell was her favorite place to meditate. Sakai had been planning to release a new album in fall 2007, as well as launch her first live tour in three years. She was 40. Her family was at her side, but it was reported that she never regained consciousness.
, a TV program, did a four-minute tribute to her during its 1 June 2007 broadcast. Due to viewer request, another tribute was aired a week later.
The was released on August 15, 2007. This book contains tracks of 16 years by "Izumi Sakai's poetry" and "Comments of the staff who have helped ZARD".
The book records that she was informed two days before she died, and that Sakai was encouraged by the news that she was selected. Furthermore, the day before she died, Sakai told a producer who had been with her for 16 years that she was looking forward to have a recording machine at her home so she could start working upon discharge from hospital.
, Tokyo
for members of the entertainment industry. This was attended by celebrities such as Maki Ohguro
(another female vocalist who, like Sakai, rarely appears in public and writes most of her own material). Almost as if to illustrate Sakai’s impact on the Japanese music scene and the depth of her presence, singers Tak Matsumoto
and Koshi Inaba
, members of the popular B'z
group, pop-singer Mai Kuraki
, and even baseball giant Shigeo Nagashima
all left moving messages of their encounters with Sakai. Singers Hikaru Utada and Nanase Aikawa
, though not personally acquainted with Sakai, also issued memorial statements on their official web pages, describing how Sakai’s death had shocked them.
A public memorial service for Sakai was held the next day and was attended by some 40,000 people from all over Japan.
’s Festival on September 6 and 7, as well as September 14 in Tokyo’s Nippon Budokan
, called What a Beautiful Memory. Tickets sold out immediately and 15,000 people gathered for the Tokyo event. Sakai’s favorite microphone was placed center-stage, and a recording of Sakai's comments about her thoughts toward the lyrics from 2004 was played. Over 20 members of Sakai’s band, who had come together again just for this occasion, began playing "Yureru Omoi
". During the intermezzo, video images of the dressing room were shown, showing how staff had set it up in the same way Sakai used it during her What a Beautiful Moment concert tour. The door was labeled "Ms. Sakai Izumi" and the room had a clipboard displaying the day’s schedule; lunch boxes were also prepared and laid out on a coffee table.
The band went on to perform 34 songs, ending with "Makenaide." When "Makenaide" ended, Sakai’s recorded voice was played back to the sold-out crowd: "Thank you for coming today. I look forward to seeing you all again!" A portion of the proceeds from the concerts were donated to help fund cervical cancer research.
On the stage, nine giant screens showed more previously unreleased off-screen footage of Sakai, excerpts from 10,000 VHS
tape recordings of Sakai in off-screen footage that her staff discovered after her death. In the encore of the memorial concerts, the music staff displayed some 300 songs in notebooks hand-written by Sakai that were found after she died.
." She has been able to record just the chorus in December 2006 despite being in cancer treatment at the time, and Sakai’s mother is reported to have accompanied her to the recording studio. PVTV, in a three minute report on Zard in November 2007, also reported that Sakai’s physical weakness had only allowed her to record her singing a handful of times, but successfully passed the trials.
On October 19, 2007, it was announced that "Glorious Mind" would be released as Sakai’s first posthumous CD single on December 12, 2007. The song will be used as the theme song of Detective Conan, a Japanese anime that was Sakai’s favorite. The song will be broadcast with the episode airing on October 15. This is the seventh time that a song by Sakai has been chosen as the theme for Detective Conan. The single will contain rearranged versions of "Ai o Shinjiteiru" and "Sagashi ni Ikou yo."
Such is Sakai’s popularity that, according to Oricon, "Glorious Mind" was the best-selling single of the day on the first six days of its release, falling to third place on the seventh day.
’s International Forum on January 19 and the final one will commemorate the first anniversary of Sakai’s death at the Yoyogi National Gymnasium
in Yoyogi
on May 27. None of the concerts will take place at the Tokyo International Forum
, where the "What a Beautiful Moment" DVD was mainly recorded, or at Nippon Budokan
. Additional previously unreleased footage of Sakai will be shown throughout the tour.
speculate that singer Mai Kuraki
, who was in the same management office, is likely to sing a Zard song.
Kurume, Fukuoka
is a city located in Fukuoka prefecture, Japan.The city has an estimated population of 303,277 and a population density of 1,319.51 persons per km²...
, Japan – 27 May 2007 was a Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese Pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
singer, song writer, and member of the group Zard
Zard
was a Japanese pop group. Originally a group of five members, with lead vocalist Izumi Sakai as group leader. However, Sakai was the only member who stayed on in the group while others joined and left regularly. As such, Zard and Sakai may be referred to interchangeably. Zard's work was sold under...
.
Biography
Born in KurumeKurume, Fukuoka
is a city located in Fukuoka prefecture, Japan.The city has an estimated population of 303,277 and a population density of 1,319.51 persons per km²...
, Fukuoka
Fukuoka Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located on Kyūshū Island. The capital is the city of Fukuoka.- History :Fukuoka Prefecture includes the former provinces of Chikugo, Chikuzen, and Buzen....
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, Sakai grew up in Hadano, Kanagawa. Her father was a driving instructor, and she had a younger brother and younger sister. After her untimely death, a neighbor recalled how popular and beautiful Sakai had been in elementary school. She was also athletic, joining the track and field
Track and field
Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
team in junior high and playing tennis in high school. (Indeed, promoting her 38th single in 2003, "Hitomi o Tojite," Sakai indicated that she liked sports.) Graduating from Shoin Women's College (now Shoin University
Shoin University
*Shoin UniversitySeveral different Japanese institutions of higher learning also contain the name Shoin.*Kobe Shoin Women's University*Osaka Shoin Women's College*Shoin Higashi Junior Women's College...
) in Atsugi City
Atsugi, Kanagawa
is a city located in central Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. As of 2010, the city has an estimated population of 225,622 and a population density of 2,410 persons per km². The total area was 93.83 km²...
, Kanagawa, Sakai worked in a real estate company office for two years before being scouted by Stardust Promotion
Stardust Promotion
is one of the leading talent management firms in Japan. Its headquarters are located in Shibuya, Tokyo Stardust also operates its own record label, Stardust Music, and its own production company, Stardust Studio is one of the leading talent management firms in Japan. Its headquarters are located...
.
Throughout her life, Sakai remained with her family, living modestly and mostly out of the public eye. Upon achieving career success, she helped pay for her parents home renovation. Acquaintances say that she commuted by subway every day, often wore T-shirts and minimal makeup. She did not wear any makeup in all seven of the television appearances she made in her lifetime. In promoting her third single, "Mō Sagasanai," and first album, Good-bye My Loneliness
Good-bye My Loneliness (album)
Good-bye My Loneliness is the debut album of Zard and was released on March 27, 1991. Ai wa Kurayami no Naka de was used as the 22nd opening theme to the anime series Detective Conan, making it one of the first songs to be used for an anime even after the initial song was released.-Track...
on February 6, 1991, she wore glasses in the television interview, citing the fact she had not slept the night before. She also indicated that she often slept in the morning rather than the evening.
Sakai had a well-rounded personality. She began playing the piano at age four and aspired to be a musician at a very young age. She visited galleries, attended theater productions, made dry flowers, and painted in oil in her spare time. She also stated that one reason she did not like to travel was that she was not accustomed to eating sashimi
Sashimi
Sashimi is a Japanese delicacy. It consists of very fresh raw meat, most commonly fish, sliced into thin pieces.-Origin:The word sashimi means "pierced body", i.e...
and preferred cooked food. Because she was hardly ever seen in public, there were widespread conspiracy theories in Japan that works by Zard were not produced by the woman pictured (Sakai): She was referred to as an urban legend
Urban legend
An urban legend, urban myth, urban tale, or contemporary legend, is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories that may or may not have been believed by their tellers to be true...
.
Sakai appears to have been shy. In her first appearance on Music Station
Music Station
is a Japanese music television program. It began broadcasting on October 24, 1986 and continues to be broadcast weekly in High-definition from 8PM-9PM on tv asahi...
, she was asked what took Zard so long to appear on camera. She replied that she wanted to make sure that the Zard project would in fact succeed first. In the other six interviews, Sakai expresses shyness on camera. In fact, a staff member revealed that when Sakai saw so many people lining up for her concert tour in 2004, she was taken aback and hid herself. After some effort, she was able to walk up to the crowd and thank them for coming. However, her shyness did not reflect an inability to work well with others. It has been noted that after she had gone home early one day she arranged for food to be sent to her staff at her office who were working late into the evening.
Rumored relation to Seiko Matsuda
Because her real name is Kamachi, it has long been rumored that Sakai was related to Japanese singer Seiko MatsudaSeiko Matsuda
is a Japanese pop singer-songwriter. Due to her popularity in the 1980s and her long career, she has been dubbed the "Eternal idol" by the Japanese media.- Biography :...
, whose real name is Noriko Kamachi. Both are from Fukuoka Prefecture, however since Kamachi is a common name in that area and Sakai's family has not commented on the issue, the rumor has never been confirmed.
Professional career
For the next two years following her scouting, she was a ToeiToei Company
is a Japanese film, television production, and distribution corporation. Based in Tokyo, Toei owns and operates thirty-four movie theaters across Japan, a modest vertically-integrated studio system by the standards of the 1930s United States; operates studios at Tokyo and Kyoto; and is a...
"karaoke queen" and a promotional model
Promotional model
A promotional model is a person hired to drive consumer demand for a product, service, brand, or concept by directly interacting with potential consumers. A promotional model can be female or male, and typically is intended to be attractive in physical appearance. They serve to provide information...
appearing in television commercials for Japan Air System
Japan Air System
was the smallest of the big three Japanese airlines, headquartered in the JAS M1 Building at Tokyo International Airport in Ōta, Tokyo. In contrast to JAL and ANA, its international route network was very small, but its domestic network incorporated many smaller airports that were not served by...
. The following year Sakai was a Nissin
Nissin
Nissin Foods is a world-wide company that makes instant ramen noodles. It was established in Japan on September 4, 1948 by Momofuku Ando as and ten years later introduced the first instant ramen noodle product, Chikin Ramen . They established a US subsidiary Nissin Foods in 1970 and sold instant...
race queen
Race queen
is a Japanese term for a type of promotional model found as part of a pit crew in certain kinds of motor racing, such as F1 races. The equivalent British term is "Pit babe".-History:...
. During her time as a model she also released Nocturne, a book of photos and Sexy Shooting, a video. In 1990, Taiko Nagato, music producer for Being Corporation, noted her potential as a singer/songwriter. Through this connection, she created a Being subsidiary called Sensui (same Kanji
Kanji
Kanji are the adopted logographic Chinese characters hanzi that are used in the modern Japanese writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Indo Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet...
characters as Izumi) and started her career taking the name Izumi Sakai. In addition to taking a new name, Sakai revised her year of birth from 1967 to 1969. However, her earlier career as a model continued to haunt her. As her model books continued to sell in used markets as well as internet auctions, she quietly expressed regret about it. In a rare interview, Sakai said that a major inspiration to her lyrics was her "difficult past."
In 1991, Sakai joined the five-member pop group Zard as lead vocalist. The group name did not have any particular meaning except Sakai felt that word Zard sounded like a rock group. She also took the name as derived from words such as "blizzard" and "wizard." The group’s name very quickly became synonymous with Sakai herself, and Sakai wrote the lyrics
Lyrics
Lyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of...
to all of Zard's songs except Onna de Itai and Koionna no Yuuutsu, both of which were written by Daria Kawashima. By 1993, the four male band members left the group but Sakai chose to keep the Zard name throughout her career. Izumi Sakai was Zard’s sole member at the time of the band’s debut, although between late 1991 and early 1993 four other members were introduced.
The melodies of early Zard hits were written by prominent Japanese composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
s, most notably Seiichirō Kuribayashi and Tetsurō Oda
Tetsurō Oda
is a Japanese composer, record producer, and singer-songwriter.In the 1990s, Oda composed a number of hit songs such as B.B.Queens' "Odoru Pompokolin", Zard's "Makenaide", and Noriko Sakai's "Aoi Usagi"....
. Izumi Sakai wrote nearly all of the lyrics to Zard songs, totalling over one hundred fifty. A veteran recording producer described that while most artists communicate through the transparent glass in the recording studio, Sakai preferred covering the glass with a curtain.
Her 1991 first single, "Good-bye My Loneliness," sold very well, but her next two faltered. The Good-bye My Loneliness promotion video depicts a youthful and energetic Sakai. A decade after her debut, she listed this song as one of her most memorable pieces, especially because she had to sing it over a hundred times to get the recording right. Her fourth single, "Nemurenai Yoru o Daite" (Hold me through the sleepless night) was extremely successful, leading to four television appearances. And her best was still to come.
Izumi Sakai released "Makenaide
Makenaide
is the 6th single by J-pop band Zard. It was the first single to reach number 1 on the Oricon weekly charts. According to the song's composer Tetsurō Oda, she was singing "strangely" but it proved to be good. It sold over 1.64 million copies and became the highest-selling song for Zard. When she...
" on January 27, 1993, her sixth single which appealed to the Japanese public. Released at a time that is now seen as the beginning of Japan's post economic bubble era
Japanese asset price bubble
The was an economic bubble in Japan from 1986 to 1991, in which real estate and stock prices were greatly inflated. The bubble's collapse lasted for more than a decade with stock prices initially bottoming in 2003, although they would descend even further amidst the global crisis in 2008. The...
when the Nikkei 225
Nikkei 225
The , more commonly called the Nikkei, the Nikkei index, or the Nikkei Stock Average , is a stock market index for the Tokyo Stock Exchange . It has been calculated daily by the Nihon Keizai Shimbun newspaper since 1950. It is a price-weighted average , and the components are reviewed once a year...
Index had shrunk in value by a third in only three years, "Makenaide" (Don't Give Up) became known as the theme song of the country's Lost Decade
Lost Decade (Japan)
The is the time after the Japanese asset price bubble's collapse within the Japanese economy, which occurred gradually rather than catastrophically...
." While Sakai commented on the television show Music Station that it would be a song to encourage men taking college and company employment examinations, many people said this song helped them cope with difficult issues such as school bullying. What is notable about "Makenaide" is that Zard fans’ favorite phrase, "Run through Until the End" was originally "Do Not Give Up until the End". "Makenaide" has been used as a theme song for the Nippon Television
Nippon Television
is a television network based in the Shiodome area of Minato, Tokyo, Japan and is controlled by the Yomiuri Shimbun publishing company. Broadcasting terrestrially across Japan, the network is commonly known as , contracted to , and abbreviated as "NTV" or "AX".-Offices:*The Headquarters : 6-1,...
program 24-hour TV, an annual charity program hosted live by celebrities for a whole day. Sakai said that she was honored and looked forward to watching 24-hour TV. Overall, "Makenaide" sold nearly 2 million copies. Later in 1993 she was ranked the top artist in CD sales and second as a lyricist.
Sakai produced 42 singles as well as 11 albums and 5 compilations in her lifetime. In addition to "Makenaide," she produced two other singles that sold over a million copies. Six of her albums as well as her first three compilations also surpassed the one-million mark, an unprecedented record. In record sales, Izumi Sakai is considered one of the most successful Japanese singers ever. This is remarkable, given that the height her career coincided with Japan's 1991 stock and real-estate market collapse and 1997 banking crises. In total CDs sold currently exceeds 30 million making Zard the eighth best-selling artist in Japan.
Since 2000, Sakai’s CD sales had declined but her death triggered an increase in CD sales. For example, her fifth compilation, Golden Best: 15th Anniversary, released in May 2006, had actually slipped to the top 300, but surged to No. 3 in the rankings and became the sixth highest-selling album after her death. In the seven days to June 4, 2007, it sold 41,000 copies, a sixtyfold increase from the previous week. As of August 2007, Sakai is ranked fourth in all-time female album sales, just ahead of Hikaru Utada, at 19.2 million copies (see Zard
Zard
was a Japanese pop group. Originally a group of five members, with lead vocalist Izumi Sakai as group leader. However, Sakai was the only member who stayed on in the group while others joined and left regularly. As such, Zard and Sakai may be referred to interchangeably. Zard's work was sold under...
).
Izumi Sakai sold more CDs than any female vocalist during the 1990s, surpassing even Namie Amuro
Namie Amuro
is a Japanese R&B and pop singer, entertainer, and former actress who at the height of her popularity was referred to as the "Teen Queen" and the title "Queen of Japanese Pop Music". Born in Naha, Okinawa, Amuro debuted at the age of 14 as an idol in the girl group Super Monkey's...
. Unlike Amuro, who won two consecutive Japan Record Awards in 1996 and 1997, an unprecedented record until broken in 2004 by Ayumi Hamasaki
Ayumi Hamasaki
is a Japanese singer-songwriter, record producer, model, lyricist, and actress. Also called "Ayu" by her fans, Hamasaki has been dubbed the "Empress of Pop" because of her popularity and widespread influence in Japan and throughout Asia. Born and raised in Fukuoka, she moved to Tokyo at fourteen to...
, Zard did not win a single award. Sakai may have refused award nominations on the grounds that she did not want to perform live on screen, a requirement to accept them.
While many of her songs were intended to encourage other people, her 42nd and final single, "Heart ni Hi o Tsukete," was different. After Sakai died, a staff member revealed an email in which Sakai wrote that she felt that the song was written to encourage herself.
Television appearances
- Music Station (TV Asahi), "Nemurenai Yoru o Daite," August 7, 1992
- Music Station (TV Asahi), "Nemurenai Yoru o Daite," August 28, 1992
- Sound Arena (Fuji TV), "Nemurenai Yoru o Daite," September 1992
- Music Station (TV Asahi), "Nemurenai Yoru o Daite," September 18, 1992
- MJ-Music Journal (Fuji TV), "In My Arms Tonight," October 1992
- Music Station (TV Asahi), "In My Arms Tonight," October 6, 1992
- Music Station (TV Asahi), "Makenaide," February 5, 1993
Significance
The NHKNHK
NHK is Japan's national public broadcasting organization. NHK, which has always identified itself to its audiences by the English pronunciation of its initials, is a publicly owned corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee....
program Close Up Gendai reported on June 18, 2007, that the secret to Sakai’s success was that she hardly was seen in public, which created a mystic aura
Aura (paranormal)
In parapsychology and many forms of spiritual practice, an aura is a field of subtle, luminous radiation surrounding a person or object . The depiction of such an aura often connotes a person of particular power or holiness. Sometimes, however, it is said that all living things and all objects...
.
Death
Despite her healthy lifestyle, which included abstaining from tobacco and alcohol, Sakai was seriously ill at times. According to the Kitto Wasurenai Official book, she had to stop her career temporarily due to various uterus-related illnesses in 2001, and did not begin working full time until 2003. In June 2006, she was diagnosed with cervical cancerCervical cancer
Cervical cancer is malignant neoplasm of the cervix uteri or cervical area. One of the most common symptoms is abnormal vaginal bleeding, but in some cases there may be no obvious symptoms until the cancer is in its advanced stages...
, for which she immediately underwent treatment. She appeared to have healed, but discovered that her cancer had spread to her lungs, indicating a Stage 5 cancer. She began undergoing treatment at Keio University
Keio University
,abbreviated as Keio or Keidai , is a Japanese university located in Minato, Tokyo. It is known as the oldest institute of higher education in Japan. Founder Fukuzawa Yukichi originally established it as a school for Western studies in 1858 in Edo . It has eleven campuses in Tokyo and Kanagawa...
Hospital in April 2007 but she never fully recovered.
However, Sakai was neither discouraged nor thought she was dying. After her death, the Japanese weekly magazine Friday ran an interview in which said Sakai thought that modern treatments would enable her to live long. Her mother said that she greeted her visitors cheerfully and did not seem to show the effects of her illness. A fellow patient later said that they walked together at times and Sakai sang "Makenaide" for her when she could not walk.
Finally, Sakai sent an e-mail to her staff saying that she was anxious to go back to producing music and was looking forward to another concert in late 2007.
Sakai died suddenly on 27 May 2007. Police judged her death accidental, the result of a fall from the landing of an emergency-exit slope
Fire escape
A fire escape is a special kind of emergency exit, usually mounted to the outside of a building or occasionally inside but separate from the main areas of the building. It provides a method of escape in the event of a fire or other emergency that makes the stairwells inside a building inaccessible...
at Keio University Hospital, where she was undergoing chemotherapy
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is the treatment of cancer with an antineoplastic drug or with a combination of such drugs into a standardized treatment regimen....
. The slope appeared to be very slippery due to rain the day before.
According to police, the fall took place during a walk on the morning of 26 May 2007, from a height of about 3 meters. Sakai was discovered unconscious at around 5:40 a.m. by a passer-by and taken to the emergency room, where she died the following afternoon of head injuries
Cerebral contusion
Cerebral contusion, Latin contusio cerebri, a form of traumatic brain injury, is a bruise of the brain tissue. Like bruises in other tissues, cerebral contusion can be associated with multiple microhemorrhages, small blood vessel leaks into brain tissue. Contusion occurs in 20–30% of severe head...
. Due to the unusual and unlikely nature of her passing, police investigated for possibility of suicide, but concluded that it was indeed an accident. In the Friday article, her mother said that she took walks in rehabilitation and the location where she fell was her favorite place to meditate. Sakai had been planning to release a new album in fall 2007, as well as launch her first live tour in three years. She was 40. Her family was at her side, but it was reported that she never regained consciousness.
Epilogue: After Sakai’s death
The sudden news of Sakai’s death caused an uproar in the Japanese music industry and began to dominate headlines and the "what’s new" spaces on many major music websites. Music StationMusic Station
is a Japanese music television program. It began broadcasting on October 24, 1986 and continues to be broadcast weekly in High-definition from 8PM-9PM on tv asahi...
, a TV program, did a four-minute tribute to her during its 1 June 2007 broadcast. Due to viewer request, another tribute was aired a week later.
The was released on August 15, 2007. This book contains tracks of 16 years by "Izumi Sakai's poetry" and "Comments of the staff who have helped ZARD".
The book records that she was informed two days before she died, and that Sakai was encouraged by the news that she was selected. Furthermore, the day before she died, Sakai told a producer who had been with her for 16 years that she was looking forward to have a recording machine at her home so she could start working upon discharge from hospital.
Public and private memorial services
A closed memorial service was held on 26 June at a funeral hall in AoyamaAoyama, Tokyo
is a neighborhood of Tokyo, located in the northeastern Minato Ward. During the Edo Period, Aoyama was home to various temples, shrines, and samurai residences. The name Aoyama derived from a samurai named Aoyama Tadanari who served the Tokugawa Shogunate and held his mansion in this area...
, Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
for members of the entertainment industry. This was attended by celebrities such as Maki Ohguro
Maki Ohguro
is a Japanese pop singer and songwriter. She is from Sapporo in Hokkaidō.- Introduction :In 1989, she passed the '3rd BAD' audition. Her famous songs are "DA・KA・RA", "Chotto", and so on... Her second single "DA・ka・RA" sold 1.1 million copies and won the 'Japan Record Grand Prix' newcomer award of...
(another female vocalist who, like Sakai, rarely appears in public and writes most of her own material). Almost as if to illustrate Sakai’s impact on the Japanese music scene and the depth of her presence, singers Tak Matsumoto
Tak Matsumoto
is a Grammy Award-winning Japanese guitarist, producer, arranger, composer, singer and songwriter. In addition to guitarist and lead composer for the hard rock band B'z, he has also had a successful solo career.-Background:...
and Koshi Inaba
Koshi Inaba
is a Japanese vocalist. His real name is . He graduated from the Faculty of Education at the Yokohama National University, and has a degree in mathematics.- Musical career :...
, members of the popular B'z
B'z
is a Japanese hard rock duo, composed of and .B'z has released 45 consecutive #1 singles, 24 #1 albums, and sold more than 79 million records in Japan alone...
group, pop-singer Mai Kuraki
Mai Kuraki
is a Japanese pop and R&B singer-songwriter and producer from Funabashi, Chiba. Kuraki debuted in 1999 with the single, "Love, Day After Tomorrow". In 2000, she released her debut album, Delicious Way, which debuted at number-one and sold over 2,210,000 copies in its first week...
, and even baseball giant Shigeo Nagashima
Shigeo Nagashima
is a Japanese former professional baseball player and manager.Nagashima was by far the most popular figure in Japanese baseball during his career. His contributions to the development of the sport in Japan are immeasurable.-Biography:...
all left moving messages of their encounters with Sakai. Singers Hikaru Utada and Nanase Aikawa
Nanase Aikawa
is a Japanese musician known for employing a variety of musical styles, most notably rock. She publishes her music under the Motorod label, a division of Avex Group.- Early life :Nanase Aikawa was born on February 16, 1975, in Osaka, Japan...
, though not personally acquainted with Sakai, also issued memorial statements on their official web pages, describing how Sakai’s death had shocked them.
A public memorial service for Sakai was held the next day and was attended by some 40,000 people from all over Japan.
What a Beautiful Memory concert tours
A series of memorial concerts were held at OsakaOsaka
is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...
’s Festival on September 6 and 7, as well as September 14 in Tokyo’s Nippon Budokan
Nippon Budokan
The , often shortened to simply Budokan, is an indoor arena in central Tokyo, Japan.This is the location where many "Live at the Budokan" albums were recorded...
, called What a Beautiful Memory. Tickets sold out immediately and 15,000 people gathered for the Tokyo event. Sakai’s favorite microphone was placed center-stage, and a recording of Sakai's comments about her thoughts toward the lyrics from 2004 was played. Over 20 members of Sakai’s band, who had come together again just for this occasion, began playing "Yureru Omoi
Yureru Omoi
is the 8th single by the Japanese band Zard. It was released on May 19, 1993, and reached number one on the Oricon weekly charts....
". During the intermezzo, video images of the dressing room were shown, showing how staff had set it up in the same way Sakai used it during her What a Beautiful Moment concert tour. The door was labeled "Ms. Sakai Izumi" and the room had a clipboard displaying the day’s schedule; lunch boxes were also prepared and laid out on a coffee table.
The band went on to perform 34 songs, ending with "Makenaide." When "Makenaide" ended, Sakai’s recorded voice was played back to the sold-out crowd: "Thank you for coming today. I look forward to seeing you all again!" A portion of the proceeds from the concerts were donated to help fund cervical cancer research.
On the stage, nine giant screens showed more previously unreleased off-screen footage of Sakai, excerpts from 10,000 VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
tape recordings of Sakai in off-screen footage that her staff discovered after her death. In the encore of the memorial concerts, the music staff displayed some 300 songs in notebooks hand-written by Sakai that were found after she died.
Posthumous single: "Glorious Mind"
The audience was in awe on learning that Sakai had produced one unreleased song before she died, "Glorious MindGlorious Mind
"Glorious Mind" is Zard's 43rd single released on December 12, 2007. The song was the last song recorded by Izumi Sakai before she died. This has been the opening theme song of Case Closed since October 2007. Although the song was not complete at the time of Izumi Sakai's death, the chorus part had...
." She has been able to record just the chorus in December 2006 despite being in cancer treatment at the time, and Sakai’s mother is reported to have accompanied her to the recording studio. PVTV, in a three minute report on Zard in November 2007, also reported that Sakai’s physical weakness had only allowed her to record her singing a handful of times, but successfully passed the trials.
On October 19, 2007, it was announced that "Glorious Mind" would be released as Sakai’s first posthumous CD single on December 12, 2007. The song will be used as the theme song of Detective Conan, a Japanese anime that was Sakai’s favorite. The song will be broadcast with the episode airing on October 15. This is the seventh time that a song by Sakai has been chosen as the theme for Detective Conan. The single will contain rearranged versions of "Ai o Shinjiteiru" and "Sagashi ni Ikou yo."
Such is Sakai’s popularity that, according to Oricon, "Glorious Mind" was the best-selling single of the day on the first six days of its release, falling to third place on the seventh day.
What a Beautiful Memory Concert Tour 2008
Sakai’s office announced that there will be a nationwide tour to follow the What a Beautiful Memory tour. Announced on November 16, 2007, through Zard’s official website, it will consist of 15 concerts at 13 locations in early 2008. The first concert will be at KobeKobe
, pronounced , is the fifth-largest city in Japan and is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture on the southern side of the main island of Honshū, approximately west of Osaka...
’s International Forum on January 19 and the final one will commemorate the first anniversary of Sakai’s death at the Yoyogi National Gymnasium
Yoyogi National Gymnasium
is an arena in Yoyogi Park, Tokyo, Japan which is famous for its suspension roof design.It was designed by Kenzo Tange and built between 1961 and 1964 to house swimming and diving events in the 1964 Summer Olympics. A separate annex was used for the basketball competition at those same games...
in Yoyogi
Yoyogi
is a neighborhood in the northern part of Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan.-Geography:The area encompassed by Yoyogi is typically defined two ways:* Only the five Yoyogi ....
on May 27. None of the concerts will take place at the Tokyo International Forum
Tokyo International Forum
The is a multi-purpose center in Tokyo, Japan.One of its halls seats 5,000. In addition to seven other halls, it includes exhibition space, a lobby, restaurants, shops, and other facilities....
, where the "What a Beautiful Moment" DVD was mainly recorded, or at Nippon Budokan
Nippon Budokan
The , often shortened to simply Budokan, is an indoor arena in central Tokyo, Japan.This is the location where many "Live at the Budokan" albums were recorded...
. Additional previously unreleased footage of Sakai will be shown throughout the tour.
Zard after Sakai's death
Some speculate that an artist like Sakai might be chosen in the future to produce those songs. Months prior to the NHK's Kōhaku Utagassen, entertainment correspondents of conservative newspaper YomiuriYomiuri Shimbun
The is a Japanese newspaper published in Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, and other major Japanese cities. It is one of the five national newspapers in Japan; the other four are the Asahi Shimbun, the Mainichi Shimbun, Nihon Keizai Shimbun, and the Sankei Shimbun...
speculate that singer Mai Kuraki
Mai Kuraki
is a Japanese pop and R&B singer-songwriter and producer from Funabashi, Chiba. Kuraki debuted in 1999 with the single, "Love, Day After Tomorrow". In 2000, she released her debut album, Delicious Way, which debuted at number-one and sold over 2,210,000 copies in its first week...
, who was in the same management office, is likely to sing a Zard song.
See also
- ZardZardwas a Japanese pop group. Originally a group of five members, with lead vocalist Izumi Sakai as group leader. However, Sakai was the only member who stayed on in the group while others joined and left regularly. As such, Zard and Sakai may be referred to interchangeably. Zard's work was sold under...