Rumours about Yukiko
Given Yukiko Okada’s noteriety and high-profile, it’s inevitable rumours spread across the internet. So much information about her is hard to obtain, being lost in TV programmes from forty years ago, magazines that were never archived. This uncertainty provides fertile ground for rumours to spread. These are just some of the stories I’ve come across, mainly on the Japanese internet but also amongst English-speaking Yukiko fans as well.
Kanye West Sampled Yukiko Okada
Verdict: FALSE
Perhaps the most widely-spread Yukiko rumour in the English-speaking fanbase.
The story goes that Kanye West, during a period of life where he was struggling with depression and thoughts of suicide, came across Yukiko Okada, and interloped her fourth single Futari Dake no Ceremony in his most famous unpublished track, See me Again. This story has been repeated many times across the internet, and amongst Kanye fans this is often accepted as fact. However this connection between Kanye and Yukiko is pure speculation - Kanye West himself has never spoken on the matter.
The only real proof towards this theory is the similarities between the two songs. The opening of See Me Again does indeed sound a little like Futari Dake no Ceremony (or at least the chord progression does.) However, it's definitely too different to be a direct sample. What do you think?
If the only reason people believe there's a connection between the songs is the similar chord progression, why is this belief so widespread? From what I can tell, it's entirely because of the above YouTube video. When searching for the origin of this rumour, I couldn’t find any references to Yukiko Okada in relation to Kanye West dated earlier than when this video was uploaded. As to why the uploader saw a connection between the two, well...
Although Kanye West sampling Yukiko is pure speculation, there is a confirmed instance of a hip-hop artist using Futari Dake no Ceremony as a sample. Lil B directly samples the opening to Futari Dake no Ceremony throughout the entirety of the track The Wilderness from his fifth album I’m Gay (I’m Happy.) This is the exact section that Kanye West is alleged to have sampled. I've embeded the track below, and if you're only familiar with the original song, this will be a surreal listen.
This is not the last time Lil B sampled Yukiko. He also sampled Kare wa Hurricane (from her first album Cinderella) twice, in two mixtapes from 2012 (What do you Do from Rich before Taxes and Real OG from Glassface), making a grand total of three times overall. This might make Lil B the most famous fan of Yukiko Okada in the world. (Thank you, based God!)
The creator of the video that sparked the Kanye West theory was doubtlessly aware of Lil B sampling Yukiko (they state as much in the video.) However, See Me Again predates any of the aforementioned Lil B tracks and at the time, the two artists had never met, and neither artist shares any producers. In other words, they would've had to have discovered Yukiko independently of eachother, within the space of just a couple of years. Given Yukiko Okada’s obscurity outside of Japan, I find this highly unlikely so unless there's a part of the story I'm missing, I'm almost certain this rumour is false.
A Foreigner stole Yukiko Okada Materials from Sun Music
Verdict: TRUE
When I saw this claim on a random Japanese website long ago, I was certain this was another of the false rumours that circulate online. It just sounded too strange to be true. So imagine my surprise when watching an edition of Bakuhou! The Friday about Yukiko Okada which not only references this rumour, but tracks the man in question down and interviews him.
Asides from references on blogs and a few screencaps, I can not provide solid evidence because no copy of this show exists online anymore (Trust me, I've looked everywhere. If you have a copy at hand, send it to me. I'll love you forever.) He was an Australian man named Richard who had been hired by Sun Music to assist Seiko Matsuda with her overseas push, making him possibly one of the earliest western Yukiko Okada fans. Upon hearing that the company's Yukiko Okada related promotional materials were to be thrown away, he took it upon himself to save them (I would do the same!) In the programme, he shows off some of his collection.
(As an aside, you can also spot him in a 2018 edition of You wa Nani shi ni Nippon e, which follows a French fan of Yukiko on his visit to Sun Music.)
Yukiko Okada was pregnant with Masaki Kanda’s Child
Verdict: FALSE
There are, many many rumours surrounding Yukiko Okada’s death. To cover them all would be fruitless, but it's worth covering this rumour, the most popular ‘alternative’ explanation for her suicide.
That Yukiko Okada was pregnant when she died may be the oldest-standing rumour of them all. At the time, it was Tooru Minegishi being implicated as the father, with magazines propogating the idea that they'd had a genuine romantic relationship. This rumour was popular enough that it was directly refuted in Ai wo Kudasai, written by Yukiko’s mother, where Yukiko's mother claims it's impossible, saying she bought period products just days before her suicide.
And yet, the rumour lives on, with endless clickbait videos and gossip articles on the topic. The target has since shifted to Masaki Kanda, who at the time had recently wed Seiko Matsuda. Where this rumour originates from, I admit cannot say. Most believers of this theory point to the fact that Yukiko Okada killed herself one day after Seiko Matsuda announced her pregnancy as proof. But this is a shaky connection, and at best amounts to circumstantial evidence. Believers of this theory also tend to believe Minegishi was set up as a fall guy, to take the blame in Kanda’s stead. Again, there is simply no proof for this.
Unless I find more solid proof that Yukiko was involved with Kanda (no one close to Yukiko has ever mentioned her meeting him), there is no reason to believe it wasn’t Minegishi. But amongst those dissatisfied by the official explanation, the rumour lives on as a suitably lurid alternative.
Yukiko Okada was Murdered
Verdict: FALSE
In case you needed proof that Japanese idol fans are also susceptible to strange or outlandish conspiracy theories.
This rumour is more pervasive than you would think, and is one I have encountered in the wild more than once, (including once with the claim that she was killed to advance Momoko Kikuchi’s career. Who knew Triangle Production hired assasins?) The most common version of this theory points the blame at Noriko Sakai, who would debut a few months later, claiming she used her familial Yakuza connections to have Yukiko Okada murdered. This is presumably all for the sake of advancing her own career (in some versions, she also has Yukiko's former manager killed.)
I don’t think I need to explain why this theory is wrong. For starters, that Yukiko tried to kill herself in her apartment is undeniable, and there were many witnesses in the moments leading up to her death. Unless every single person who saw Yukiko between her two suicide attempts were somehow all in on it, her death being a murder is simply impossible. This theory is generally only believed by those only casually familiar with Yukko, and by the most deranged of fans.
Yukiko Okada’s Manager killed himself in the same Sun Music Building
Verdict: TRUE
Yukiko’s manager (you can find a translated interview with him here), is an interesting figure in his own right. Nobuo Mizoguchi started out in the music industry as the vocalist in a moderately successful Group Sounds band called the Cougars. At some point, he became a manager at Sun Music, and would briefly work as Seiko Matsuda’s manager before being put in charge of Yukiko Okada for the entire duration of her career.
Just a year after Yukiko's death, he was assigned to Noriko Sakai, one of a few idols to find major successful in the dying days of the idol boom. He stayed as her manager for the next 14 years, with Sakai reportedly thinking of him a father-figure. In 2000, he hanged himself in the toilet between the 5th and 6th floor of the Sun Music Building. While the reason will forever remain a mystery, he had doubtless been carrying the trauma of witnessing Yukiko’s death. In 2009, Sun Music moved location, and is currently located in Sanmonchou, still in Yotsuya. After two suicides in the same place, perhaps the old building simply evoked too many bad memories.