A rock star's death divides Japan The Week of May 22, 1998 ( Newsweek magazine )

ISOLATED IN THEIR GRIEF

The death of rock star Matsumoto Hideto
has exposed the schisms in Japanese life

By Alexandra A. Seno and Murakami Mutsuko / TOKYO

MAY 7 WAS THE hottest day of the year in Tokyo, with temperatures soaring to an unseasonal 27.6 degrees Celsius. Despite this, some 50,000 teenagers solemnly filed out of subway exits to line kilometers of sidewalk near the Ginza business district. Many brought flowers - the cloying scent lingering in the station for hours after. Some of the youngsters wore their hair dyed red, blond or light brown and nearly everybody dressed in black for mourning. The throng had come to say goodbye to their scarlet-tressed rock idol, Matsumoto Hideto.

Matsumoto, 33, died in the early hours of May 2. After a night's drinking, he was found hanged by a towel tied to a doorknob in his apartment in the swish Minami Azabu district of Tokyo. His death - still unexplained and the subject of much speculation - touched an exposed nerve in Japan, once again revealing the chasm between the country's young and their parents.

Better known as "hide" (pronounced hee-day, and with a small h), Matsumoto played lead guitar with the now-defunct rock group X Japan - a five-member band that had a passionate following among teenagers, but which most adults had never even heard of. In a country where conformity is everything, X Japan were different. Their style was Visual Rock - an in-your-face attitude that combined flamboyant dressing and an angry sound that rejected the cookie-cutter principles of Japanese society. The group, which sold millions of albums, broke up with a farewell concert at the Tokyo Dome on the last day of last year.

Hide was not the band's leader, but he was in some ways its spiritual center. He wrote few of the group's numbers, but his compositions often set the tone of alienation and frustration for which X Japan was revered. Often more level-headed than the others, he was known as the calm member of the group - though he was apparently a heavy drinker and sometimes given to angry outbursts. If he went too far, say fellow band members, he would normally make peace the next day by saying he could remember nothing.

Hide's death produced scenes of grief and hysteria not witnessed for a music star since the war. As the hearse with his body passed through the streets of Tokyo, fans several deep at the roadside called out "Sayonara!" Their wailing mingled with the sirens of ambulances scurrying back and forth along the route to pick up the dozens who fainted. Nearly 60 had to be taken to hospital and some 200 received medical treatment in make-shift first-aid tents.

No one disputes that hide died by his own hand, but many believe it was somehow accidental. In the days of media coverage that followed his death, commentators and doctors suggested alcohol was to blame. They pointed out that there was no suicide note. Not only that, hide was beginning to shape a career as a solo artist. His Rocket Dive album sold nearly half a million copies, and two singles, "Pink Spider" and "Ever Free," were scheduled for release this month. A major tour of Japanese cities was also being planned. "I believe hide's death was an accident," said X Japan leader Hayashi Yoshiki at a hastily called press conference the night before the funeral. Sensing the worst, he appealed to the guitarist's fans: "Please do not follow him. Do not commit suicide. Please see him off to heaven warmly."

It was not to be. Within days of the rocker's death, three girls killed themselves in copycat suicides. The first victim, aged 15, was found hanging in her bedroom - described as virtually a shrine to hide - in Chofu. She died in hospital May 7. That same day, a 14-year-old killed herself in Hiroshima and a 17-year-old died in a hotel room in Osaka. Two other girls tried unsuccessfully to take their own lives. One, wearing an orange shirt emblazoned with the rocker's name, jumped off a bridge near Tokyo, and the other cut her wrists at a Tokyo funeral wake for the musician. With the grieving still going on, more deaths are feared.

The anguish over hide comes in the wake of growing official concern over suicides and violent crimes by Japanese schoolchildren. Latest statistics show that nearly one death in seven involving youngsters between the ages 15 and 19 is by suicide. The number rises to about one in four for those between 20 and 24. In a recent study, a Tokyo psychiatrist, Dr. Sekiya Tohru, noted a sharp increase in depression among young Japanese. "There is a craving-to-die syndrome," he said. "Sufferers are scared to die, but they are reluctant to live. Such a mood is spreading in society."

Disc jockey Yanai Maki thinks many fans saw in hide the rebel society would not allow them to be. The hostess of one of the most popular radio shows in the Tokyo area, she says: "Often with no one they can trust at school or at home, they identified with someone like hide."

A tearful Kojima Tsuneo was among those on the street the day Matsumoto was laid to rest. "I survived my toughest times because of hide," the 16-year-old schoolboy said. "He gave me courage." Hisano Yumi, 15, was outside Matsumoto's parents' house, waiting for his ashes to arrive. Clutching a bouquet of white lilies, she said: "This is a very important day for me - a day for me to thank him for helping me continue my life."

X-Japan hide - Mysterious self-hanging Suicide
May 4th, 1998--Japanese Daily Sun (Nikkan Sun)

hide commits suicide by hanging! On May 2, at approximately 7 a.m., former guitarist of the now disbanded X-Japan hide (age 33, real name Matsumoto Hideto) committed suicide by hanging by the neck. No suicide note was found. hide had recently returned to Japan from a trip to L.A. last month, to begin promotional work for his next single. He was energetically working before this mysterious suicide occured.

It was a sudden suicide when caused many people to wonder "Why?"

According to the police, hide was dropped off at his Tokyo Minami-Azabu (Noah's Ark) mansion (apartment) by this younger brother (age 30) at approximately 6:30 a.m., drunk when arriving home, it was thought he went to sleep. At about 7:30 a.m., a woman living in the apartment with hide, worried, went to check on him when she discovered him uncouscious, hanging by the neck on his bedroom door. She immediately dialed 119 (911 in Japan) and he was taken to a nearby hospital. He was pronounced dead at 8:52 a.m.

At the time of death, hide was wearing a running shirt and trunks. The towel used in the suicide was ripped in half lengthwise with the top and the bottom ends tied together hooked onto the bedroom door. He body was found in a sitting position hanging from the the towel around his neck. The woman who discovered him and her friend were in another room. There was no suicide note. The body was claimed by later in the day by his younger brother and parents.

hide was planning to release "Pink Spider" on the 13th and "EVER FREE" on the 27 of this month. For promotional work, he had returned from L.A. just last month on the 27th. On May 1st, he taped a segment for the Fuji TV Music Program "Rocket Punch!" (Monday nights at 11 p.m. - scheduled to air on the 11th). This was his last work.

After he participated in X-Japan's last concert at Tokyo Dome last year and the Kohaku Uta Gassen, his solo project "hide with Spread Beaver" had a great start with the single "Rocket Dive" which debut at Number 4 on the Oricon music charts. His album which was scheduled for release in June was delayed until September, and he was planning a national tour during the summer, his musical career was looking good.

Also, his radio program "hide no All Night Nippon-R" began on April 10 was still being broadcast. Until now, his broadcasts were taped in Los Angeles. His next broadcast was to take place in-studio. The director of the show said "There was no indication about this happening. It's quite a shock."

Everything was looking good for hide. His production office said "His work is doing well. I can't think of anything that would cause him to kill himself." He may have a problem that he couldn't discuss with anyone, possibly dealing with work, or maybe problems with women. We can only wonder what happened in that hour between the time he came home and when he killed himself.