When 19-year-old Yukiko Okada committed suicide in 1986, her death shocked countless fans. But it was the legacy of death that soon followed which would forever be linked to her name.
Though she had always wanted to be a singer, it was Yukiko's 1983 victory on the television talent show, "Star Tanjō! (a Japanese show similar to Star Search) that made her famous. "Yukko", as she was commonly called by fans, released her first single that same year and went on to be declared "Rookie of the Year" at the Annual Japan Music Awards. Her popularity soared and she was soon busy with television roles, concerts, and recording studio sessions, not to mention the adulation of fans who couldn't get enough of the pretty teenager.
But the stress of her new career, along with the relentless exploitation by record and concert promoters proved to be too much for the aspiring singer. On April 8, 1986, just three years after winning the talent show, she threw herself off the roof of a seven-story building in Tokyo's Ginza District. Though her exact reasons for killing herself remain unknown (despite speculations about an unhappy love affair), her death still resonated with far too many of her young fans.
Almost overnight, copycat suicides began to occur, many of them leaving notes referring to the young singer. In less than a month, there were 36 suicides, almost all of them teenagers who jumped off buildings to emulate their idol. While adolescent suicide is hardly unusual in Japan given the pressures often faced because of family and school responsibilities, this rash of new deaths was greater than anyone expected. According to a National Police report released in 1987, the total number of suicides in people under the age of 19 rose 44 percent from the previous year. Of those, 272 had committed suicide by jumping off roofs, 114 in April alone. Even though April is usually the month when adolescents suicides are most likely to occur (after students receive the results of university entrance exams), publicity over the new suicide epidemic helped spread the popularity of this copycat trend even further. Not surprisingly, media sources reporting on the deaths came up with a new name to describe the phenomenon: "the Yukiko syndrome."
In a 1986 media interview, Akio Kanazawa, a Youth Affairs counselor working out of the Prime Minister's office said Yukiko Okada's death was a clear influence in these added deaths. "Some of the people who died killed themselves because they felt sorry for her and wanted to be in Heaven with her," he said. Dr. Hiroshi Inamura, a social psychiatrist at Tsukuba University and author of several books on teen suicide, was also interviewed. Dr. Inamua stressed that Japanese adolescents often had a romanticized view of death due to traditions surrounding "honourable suicide" such as hara-kiri, numerous examples of which are featured in Japanese history. This romanticized view often leads many adolescents to havedifficulty accepting the reality of death, often preferring to believe that they would be reincarnated into a better life.
While the 1986 suicide trend slowly dropped by the end of the year, it took well over a year before suicide rates for adolescents returned to normal levels. But the specter of the "Yukiko Syndrome" continues to haunt Japan, especially during the school year when the pressure on students was at its worst. In 1988, for example, just one year after Yukiko Okada's suicide, there was a fresh outbreak of suicides at the beginning of the school year (just after the summer break ended). Eight teenagers ranging in age from 12 to 17 committed suicide over a two-day period. Though the suicides were apparently unrelated, they all reported problems with school pressures before their deaths. Unlike the 1986 epidemic however, these teenagers used widely different suicide methods (including one boy who committed suicide by laying down on railroad tracks).
As always, reporters went to suicide experts such as Dr. Inamura for answers on why this new trend was happening. "Every year, junior high school and high school suicides are common in August and September," he said in one media interview. "Usually the direct cause is 'I haven't finished my homework or improved my studying for school entrance exams.....During the school vacation, there is a feeling of freedom. Then they must change pace to the very strict group life (of school). Often this doesn't go smoothly." School officials also expressed worry that the deaths would spark a new epidemic similar to what had happened in 1986 but, fortunately, this didn't happen.
But the deaths sparked by Yukiko Okada's suicide as just one example of a bizarre trend that has dated back for centuries. The first recorded instance of a copycat suicide epidemic occurred in 1774 following the publication of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's book The Sorrows of Young Werther. Far too many young readers identified with the hero of the book, a young man who commits suicide over unrequited love, and many killed themselves as a result. Despite attempts at curbing this epidemic (including suggestions that the book be rewritten to given Werther a happy ending), the epidemic simply ran its course.
Since that time, the "Werther Effect" has become a common staple in social science literature with numerous other examples occurring since. Though not all of them involve celebrity suicides or influential books, most examples follow the same basic structure: a trigger event (usually the suicide of one or more people occurring under circumstances that resonated with impressionable young people), publicity over the event leading to others being inspired to do the same. Individuals who are influenced to commit copycat suicides are usually dealing with depression and/or life problems that seem unsolvable. Hearing about the suicide of someone they identify with leads to them making their own suicide plans as a sign of solidarity. Finally, as news of the epidemic spreads, people who were otherwise on the fence decide to "jump on the bandwagon", so to speak. Sadly, media attempts at curbing these copycat deaths often means spreading the meme even further than it might have otherwise. Ultimately, all that remains is for health officials and family members to stay vigilant regarding people known to be vulnerable and wait for the meme to run its course.
Given the frequency with with copycat suicides occur, journalists have become much more cautious in writing about celebrity deaths. Media experts have also prepared specific guidelines for print and online journalists to follow when covering suicides that might inspire copycats. Unfortunately, celebrities continue to be public figures and, as a result, their suicide deaths will continue to generate news headlines. Though some of these suicides appear to lead to a temporary increase in suicides (such as the 2014 suicide of Robin Williams), there is no way to predict how people will react or how to prevent these deaths from happening.
Such is the power of fame.
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