mybookshop
March 17, 2010

For reference to today’s story, please refer back to the September 20, 2007 article on the 1977 birth of the Japanese pop singer Namie Amuro. Today’s article will clarify why a young Japanese singer who wasn’t famous outside Japan/Asia who still has a long way to go was covered already. It’s part of the Japanese criminal series, since Japan is still mulling over whether the statute of limitation for unsolved killings should be extended from the current 25 years to a limitless one, so that the killer isn’t forgiven, forever, although it costs a lot of money to keep every such case open forever.

But first a short explanation on Okinawa. The island of Okinawa in Okinawa province is a small island even by Japanese standard. As such, as soon as you mention your surname, the place where you came from in the Island is already known. An Okinawan grave is a very large grave that consists of vertical rocks that’s covered with a large flat horizontal rock and is called a “turtle shell grave” where everyone’s bones from one family is stored, so that during the end of the World War II when 540,000 US soldiers attacked the 110,000 defending Japanese soldiers and 430,000 islanders who were only hiding, many islanders hid from US bombardments from the air and sea inside their own family graves, although 160,000 islanders were killed. You also know everything about everyone because as soon as someone dies, the newspaper mentions the names of everyone in that family, and relatives, including the names of daughters who married into other families and their new family member names, even those who moved to the American continents. Conversely, if any person did something dishonorable that shamed the entire family-tribe, that person will be disposed of, or that person may commit suicide.

There are said to be 1,000 children born of international marriages, rapes, and US soldiers who married Okinawan girls/women before dumping them and fleeing. While such “halfs” are admired in the 21st century Tokyo as handsome or pretty, in the 1950’s Okinawa, such “halfs” were regarded as children born of prostitutes, and any Okinawan woman who was seen with foreigners was looked-down as a prostitute and treated with bias (The racist bias was also initiated by the Americans themselves, since they had separate bars for white Americans and for black Americans.)

[…]

1999: This is the day that Okinawan female singer Namie Amuro’s 48 years old mother Emiko Hirara (It’s pronounced Emiko Taira in much of Japan but Emiko Hirara in Okinawan.) was killed by her 44 years old brother-in-law, although this was Emiko’s second marriage and was an uncle not related by blood to Namie. A year befor Emiko was killed, she published an autobiographic book called “Yakusoku” (December 1, 1998, 1,200 yen, ISBN 4-594-02483-1.) or “Promise”, which is mostly about her daughter Namie, since Namie was very famous in 1998 and anything that talked about Namie sold well, although it talked a bit about herself, such as how Emiko didn’t have a father. Her father — Namie’s grandfather — didn’t run-away nor was killed, but simply didn’t have a father in the first place, so that the registration form that lists the name of the father is blank.

Her mother — Namie’s grandmother Kiyoko Unrasaki who died on July 10, 1998 at age 74 — was originally married to a dentist and was married for five years without making a baby. In the rest of Japan, not being blessed with a baby was acceptable, but in mid-20th century Okinawa, a child is the greatest treasure, and not being blessed was enough grounds for a divorce. Emiko’s mother didn’t want to divorce her dentist husband, but the family members forced Emiko’s mother out.

After that, Emiko’s mother worked for the local US base on the island of Okinawa and had a baby, Emiko, in the town of Chatan in 1950 in an era when US bases had a policy of shooting anyone caught stealing in the base, as well as Okinawan women desperately earning a living as prostitutes, and regular women just working as clerks in the bases for no reason, a centuries-long tradition that US soldiers have always had when treating any non-white.

Emiko’s grandparents told her that Emiko’s father was an American, or an Englishman, or even an Italian. All that’s known is that Emiko was a “half”; half Japanese and half white, and no other sibling. Emiko later moved from the town of Chatan to the city of Naha where she was easily seen as a half because of her face and her reddish hair.

(Even though Okinawa was originally populated by the Ainu-like people from the north and had pale skin, light-colored hair in curls or waves and hairsute body, current Okinawans originally came from China, so they have dark tanned skin, straight black hair, and a Chinese face. If she was from Honshu island, then there are traditional Japanese with dirty blond or reddish hair but no known white blood, so that she wouldn’t have faced as much racist bias. [mybookshop already mentioned that the Pacific Ocean rim region has several tribes who are blond and red-head of unknown origin.]) Emiko confided in the journalist who helped her publish her book that she was afraid of her happy life, because nothing good continues forever.

Shortly after graduating the local high school, Emiko worked at a local bus company before she decided to work in Yamato, as the rest of Japan (Main islands of Kyuushuu, Shikoku, Honshu, and Hokkaido.) was called by Okinawans, although Emiko didn’t tell her mother about her plan, since Okinawans believed that once you go to Yamato, you can’t ever go back to Okinawa, a silly belief. Emiko took this initiative on her own because she grew-up seeing her mother Kiyoko working at the local US base by day and as a hostess in a bar by night and built a house in Chatan on her own without a father, leading Emiko to believe that she can raise a child without a husband.

Emiko worked in a factory in the Saitama province in the central western Kantou region, not too far from Tokyo metropolis when she turned 19 around 1969. The factory owner’s nephew from Okinawa came here in 1970 whom Emiko married and they went back to Okinawa, giving birth to a son and a daughter, and then Namie who became Namie Amuro in 1977, but divorced her husband after nine years in 1981 when Emiko was 30 years old — why Emiko divorced her husband isn’t known, but Emiko’s mother Kiyoko influenced it.

After the divorce, Emiko worked as a nursery worker by day and a snack shop clerk by night. She then suffered a cancer of her ovaries that resulted in hysterectomy. She then took over the management of one bar in Matsuyama municipality in Naha City where she was said to be a popular hostess, before she moved to Ginowan City (Gino Bay City) where she owned her own snack store; although she later became fat and everyone knew that she had children, with a bit of make-up she looked like a Spanish beauty that made her popular. With her mother Kiyoko helping with raising her three children, Emiko made it on her own.

Namie became interested in singing and dancing since she was an elementary schooler, eventually going to the Okinawa Actors’ School a hour’s walk from her home, in preparation for her own trek to Yamato; When Namie parted from her mother Emiko at the Naha Airport in, Namie promised to do her best for three years, and if she didn’t make it, then she’s going to come back to Okinawa; her debut song was 1992a nd her smash hit song was “Try Me, Believe Me” (1995).

(Namie’s Yamato was far different from the Yamato that Emiko went, since Namie was a singer who at first sold her Okinawan background before melting into the Yamato pop singing culture. As Namie’s fame rose in Yamato and hence in Okinawa, people were going to the Okinawa Actors’ School, asking them if one had to be a “half” or a “quarter” like Namie to succeed.)

Emiko attracted customers who liked her strong-will and independent attitude; one of them was Tatsunobu Hirara, who knew her and moved to Matsuyama town when she did, and then moved to Ginowan City when she did. In 1992, they married when they were both 42 years old, although Tatsunobu was never married until then. Emiko’s family members all welcomed her marriage, and after they married, they moved to Tatsunobu’s parents’ village of Oogimi where she started the “Cello” snack shop.

Emiko stood out in this sleepy village because of her look and her flair in style, and it became an even bigger presence when the villagers found out that she was the mother of that famous singer Namie Amuro from Okinawa who became a big singing sensation in Yamato, although Emiko and Tatsunobu often argued with each other, once even so bad that the police was called to intervene. During the early period of such arguments, Kenji was often seen siding with Emiko.

(The cause of the arguments? One speculation was that Tatsunobu was jealous of his wife who owned her own shop, with a fancy and colorful style that made her popular with many male customers, strong with booze, and joking a lot, such as showing her big breasts to them when they comment that she was becoming plump to say that it’s her breasts that are becoming plump. Whatever the reason, Tatsunobu began to punch her.)

Tatsunobu’s four years younger brother Kenji Hirara worked in the construction industry. Emiko and Kenji were later seen to be not alonging along well and were always quarreling. On this chat date at around 10:40 AM, Emiko and Tatsunobu were walking in front of Emiko’s pub “Cello” in the village of Oogimi in northern Okinawa Island, and were about to cross the street near National Highway Number 58 when Kenji driving his Nissan Skyline came and knocked-down both Tatsunobu and Emiko. Kenji then U-turned and ran-down Emiko again for the second time and then a third time, and possibly several more times.

Tatsunobu recovered from his own injury and dragged Emiko behind an electric transmission pole, but Kenji continued to slam his car into the pole to try to squash Emiko before he got out and took out a hatchet like weapon that he used to cut-down Emiko who was already dying. Tatsunobu tried to defend Emiko by picking up a steel pipe that was on the road and hit his brother, although Kenji continued to plunge the hatchet into Emiko. Kenji only stopped and fled when other people heard the commotions and came. Emiko remained unconscious and was sent to the Kenritsu Hokubu hospital in Nago city where she already had no pulse, and was dying. She was pronounced dead at 11:48 PM.

At midnight, the hospital informed Namie’s place of work, Rising Production, that Namie’s mother was dead. The staff told Namie and her husband SAM (Just a catchy stage-name for Masaharu Maruyama, since his father was Masayoshi Maruyama of the Maruyama Memorial General Hospital who delivered Namie’s baby in 1998, who died from a heart attack at age 69 on June 16, 1998, and his funeral service was held on July 13, 1998 in Iwatsuki City.) about the death at 1 PM the next day. Namie’s new song “AVDD-20315” was just released on this chat date, and a press meeting was to be announced on March 18, 1999 which was cancelled. Namie and husband SAM left Tokyo around 3 PM and went to the Okinawa Island by 6:40 PM.

At time time, Kenji was still in a coma but with no pulse before he later died on March 19, 1999. Emiko’s private funeral service was held on March 20, 1999, 2 PM Japan Standard Time, since Okinawa is running on JST. She was buried at the Daiten Temple at 1-9-1 Matsuyama, Naha city, Okinawa Island. Namie stayed at her brother Mitsuteru’s home in Chatan where she stayed until March 22, 1999 before returning to her singing job on March 23, 1999.

Tatsunobu was also hit once by his brother’s car but he survived. Four hours after the original attack, Kenji was found unconscious and foaming from his mouth in his car in a mountain road about five kilo-meters away, where he had apparently swallowed an insectide to kill himself. With both people dead, Tatsunobu only speculated on the motive why his brother wanted to kill his wife.

Kenji was going steady with a woman since 1996 whose parents’ home was next-door to Tatsunobu and Emiko’s new home in the same village of Oogimi which being so small was only a minute or two walk from the Hirara store the two Hirara brothers were born and grew-up in. Until a few years before this incidence, Tatsunobu, his brother Kenji, Emiko, and this other women occasionally ate together from time to time. Kenji and the other woman were both divorcees, each with two children for a total of four children. But Tatsunobu and Emiko began to oppose Kenji’s relationship with the woman by 1997 when they found out that the woman only wanted to be with Kenji without getting married which led that woman to eventually withdraw half-a-year before this incidence in 1998, moving to another place 20 minutes by car from her parents’ home within the same small village. But back then, Kenji didn’t become violent or try to injure anyone, and it didn’t explain why Kenji went after Emiko. Was it anger? Or something else?