Thursday, June 28, 2007

Sakai Izumi - for the last time

Though I fear a backlash for posting two consecutive posts about pop music acts of the Lost Decade, I do wish to follow up on the Sakai Izumi/ZARD story.

Her funeral had been a private and quiet affair, with just her family in attendance--not even longtime associates from her record company or her back up band were invited. About 30 fans who had managed to find the funeral site hung around outside.

Yesterday (June 27) was the wake for Sakai Izumi which members of the music industry and the general public could attend.

The attendance at this memorial service was somewhat different.

Courtesy: Chūnichi Shimbun


Forty thousand persons waited up to four hours in line to pay their respects to the older sister whom, to the very end, nobody knew.

And on the news this morning, in their special reports on the wake, did they mention "it"?

Of course not.

Not even in passing.

The Sankei Shimbun does have a special article about the human papilloma virus and the HPV vaccine--which is available in Japan for women age 20 and over, though fewer than 20% of women have received it.

Maybe some lives will be saved that way.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Neither Emily Dickenson nor Izumi Sakai really increased in "loveliness" as they sunk deeper into their despair. Despite their great talent, neither could also confront what they wanted most, love. The risks they feared consumed them and condemned them. Their lonely, desperate lives are certainly nothing you should be aspiring to. Yes, they touched people's hearts, but only because no one could touch their self-absorbed, frightened ones. You might be surprised if you opened yours a bit as it is passion that the truly great artists aspire and communicate.

elc

Anonymous said...

Interesting. Is it true that Japan only makes the HPV vaccine available for women over 20?

That is not generally what is recommended. Galdasil (the US brandname) is supposed to be administered to girls before they become sexually active. Thus, in the West, it is advised that girls receive it before they reach puberty or between the ages of 11 and 12. However, with the age of puberty for girls in the industrialized world dropping (and for sexual activity), many believe that the vaccine should be administered by about 9. Many advocate that the vaccine become part of a young girl’s regular regime of vaccinations.

Thus, do Japanese girls not reach puberty until they are 20 or do they generally remain virginal until then? Or does Japan’s Health Ministry have another reason for delaying the vaccine’s use?

It is also the most expensive vaccine available, costing about $400 for three shots.

Vivian Bullwinkel

VyseLegendaire said...

Hi. I think you should amend your article. It has become evident over the past few years that the HPV vaccine is not proven to be effective, OR safe..in fact very unsafe.

Also it has never been proven clear that the presence of papilloma virus is a cause of cervical cancer.

In short, we dont know exactly what causes cervical cancer and the vaccines are not the way to prevent it. Please look it up yourself.