Izumi Sakai - Biography

Biography

Born in Kurume, Fukuoka, Japan, Sakai grew up in Hadano, Kanagawa. Her father was a driving instructor, and she had a younger brother and younger sister. After her death, a neighbor recalled how popular and beautiful Sakai had been in elementary school. She was also athletic, joining the track and field team in junior high and playing tennis in high school. (Indeed, promoting her 38th single in 2003, "Hitomi o Tojite," Sakai indicated that she liked sports.) Graduating from Shoin Women's College (now Shoin University) in Atsugi City, Kanagawa, Sakai worked in a real estate company office for two years before being scouted by Stardust Promotion.

Throughout her life, Sakai remained with her family, living modestly and mostly out of the public eye. Upon achieving career success, she helped pay for her parents home renovation. Acquaintances say that she commuted by subway every day, often wore T-shirts and minimal makeup. She did not wear any makeup in all seven of the television appearances she made in her lifetime. In promoting her third single, "Mō Sagasanai," and first album, Good-bye My Loneliness on February 6, 1991, she wore glasses in the television interview, citing the fact she had not slept the night before. She also indicated that she often slept in the morning rather than the evening.

Sakai had a well-rounded personality. She began playing the piano at age four and aspired to be a musician at a very young age. She visited galleries, attended theater productions, made dry flowers, and painted in oil in her spare time. She also stated that one reason she did not like to travel was that she was not accustomed to eating sashimi and preferred cooked food. Because she was hardly ever seen in public, there were widespread conspiracy theories in Japan that works by Zard were not produced by the woman pictured (Sakai): She was referred to as an urban legend.

Sakai appears to have been shy. In her first appearance on Music Station, she was asked what took Zard so long to appear on camera. She replied that she wanted to make sure that the Zard project would in fact succeed first. In the other six interviews, Sakai expresses shyness on camera. In fact, a staff member revealed that when Sakai saw so many people lining up for her concert tour in 2004, she was taken aback and hid herself. After some effort, she was able to walk up to the crowd and thank them for coming. However, her shyness did not reflect an inability to work well with others. It has been noted that after she had gone home early one day she arranged for food to be sent to her staff at her office who were working late into the evening.