The mother of national top singing star Namie Amuro from Okinawa was brutally killed by her brother-in-law in Ogimi Village on March 17th. The brother fled from the site of the murder, but was found dead on a northern hillside. The Okinawa Police see the case as one of a twisted relationship.

Amuro’s mother, Emiko Taira, 48, was walking with her husband, also 48, when they were hit by a car driven by the husband’s younger brother, Kenji Taira, 44. After Kenji repeatedly ran the couple over, he also assaulted them with an axe. He gave up his attack when neighbors came out to see what the commotion was about. Emiko had taken fatal blows to the head, and her husband received some injuries.

Kenji Taira then drove deep into the hills, and was found to be dying in his car after swallowing chemical insecticide.

Amuro is a pop idol singer known for her series of million sellers and her fashion style. The Okinawan native had just come off a one year break last December after giving birth to a baby boy.

She cancelled her schedule and flew in from Tokyo to go to the Nago police station to identify her mother’s body. As she viewed Emiko, she bowed without speaking a word.

According to the police investigation, Emiko and her husband had opposed the relationship Kenji had with a girlfriend. They believed he had been used and that she had no intention of marrying him. The three argued frequently about the matter, and the girlfriend stopped seeing him. The police say it is highly possible that ill feelings against the couple drove Kenji to commit the murder. The quiet northern Okinawan community was suddenly set upon by the clamoring press. More than one hundred reporters and cameramen gathered, giving live broadcasts from the scene.

One neighborhood resident said, “The incident broke our hearts, but the reporters visit us day and night. They are too inquisitive and insensitive.”

In the book Emiko published last year about Namie and herself, Emiko wrote that she was born in 1950 and was married when she twenty. She was divorced from her first husband when Namie was four, and brought up three children by herself.

When her daughter left Okinawa to enter a show business career in Tokyo, Emiko objected to the plan. She didn’t believe in her wildest dreams that Namie would become such a big star with such a great following.

The mother and daughter made a promise. If Namie did not not have some measure of success within three years, she would return to Okinawa. Her first smash hit came in the third year.

The book concluded with Emiko’s remarks to her daughter. She wanted her to cherish her relationship with her husband, to never break the bond; to take care of herself; and to thank her daughter.