hide died on May 2, 1998. A roommate put hide down in bed after
a night of drinking, but when she went to check on him an hour
later, he was not in his room. hide was found hanged with a ripped
towel in his apartment bathroom, the towel tied to the doorknob. He
was barely alive when the ambulance arrived, and later died in the
hospital. hide was 33 years old.
There is much debate as to the true nature of hides death. Some
say it was an accidental death, explaining that he was drunk; hide
left no suicide note. Others cite the suicide of INXS lead singer
Michael Hutchence, who was reputed to have died from hanging in an
attempt to gratify himself through autoerotic asphyxiation. hide
was known for performing stunts in attempts to scare others, and
some suspect his death to be a stunt gone wrong. Taiji, who played
in X Japan with hide for several years, offered a possible
explanation for hides death in his book X no Sei to Shi: Uchuu wo
Kaeru Tomo e. He explained that after performing shows, the band
members would often tie towels around their shoulders and necks to
relieve muscle stress. Taiji implies that hide had most likely tied
a towel on in such a manner (and one can subsequently assume that
he had fallen against the door and was ultimately unable to free
himself). Although many fans support Taijis suggestion, others
have preferred to see hides death as a purposeful incident, not
wanting to see hides death as an accident. These fans have
speculated that his song Pink Spider was a musical suicide note
(the song was hides final single and music video released before
his passing. It features a woman jumping off a building to her
death).
hides funeral was held at the Buddhist temple, Tsukiji Hongan-ji,
in Tsukiji, Tokyo on May 7, 1998. Over 70,000 people attended.
Streets were closed off, and police had to deploy boats,
helicopters, 100 officers, and 170 security guards to the temple to
control the emotional crowd. By the end of day, 26 people had been
hospitalized for various injuries. There is still a small memorial
and guest book at the templeyou can find it on the far left on
entering the main hall.
hides death and funeral was announced by CNN and other TV channels
around the world, despite only being a household name within
Japan.
The remaining members of X Japan performed Forever Love at the
funeral, and the band leader Yoshiki gave a speech. He was crying
and shaking so hard that he was struggling to hold onto the paper
he had written the speech on. Below is an excerpt:
hide's gravesite
hide's gravesite
I'm very shocked to hear about his death. I still can't believe
what has happened. Right now, he's sleeping with a beautiful face.
I tried to wake him up many times, but he's still sleeping.
Between the five of us, hide was the one who kept his calm and
thought out things. Even though I was the leader, he was the calm
one who gave me good advice when I was being short tempered and
emotional. Of course with all that pressure, he too almost lost his
identity. But during those hard times, he'd always give me a call.
We would talk about X, music, friends, life, fans, almost anything.
He was like a big brother to me and sometimes like a young brother
too. We'd drink together and sometimes fight. But the next day,
he'd come to me and say, "Yoshiki, have I done something last
night? I'm sorry, I don't remember a thing." But this time, he
didn't say anything back to me... sleeping.
To all fans and friends, you must all be confused. I also cannot
express this sadness in words, but we must understand and accept
this painful reality. Everyone please watch over his eternal sleep
warmly
hide was known to be upbeat, a joker and party-loving, adding to
the confusions as to why such a person would choose to escape his
problems through suicide. He had gone on record however, that he
frequently scared himself when drunk, and frequently regretted what
he would do while drunk.
