The morning of January 15th, 2023, Japan awoke to the shocking news of Takahashi Yukihiro‘s passing. A legendary giant in the world of Japanese music, he was famous not just for being part of the trio that is the Yellow Magic Orchestra, but also Sadistic Mika Band. Both groups were cultural icons back when they were active.
In 2020, Takahashi mentioned headaches that were starting to interfere with his everyday life from the beginning of summer, and later it turned out that these headaches were the result of a brain tumor. By October the cancer had gone into remission. However, in 2021 he mentioned having to undergo a different treatment for something unspecified.
Upon the loss of one of their greatest musical legends, Japan of course was absolutely shocked, as was the rest of the world.
YMO Goes Forever.
— 矢野顕子 Akiko Yano (@Yano_Akiko) January 14, 2023
— ryuichi sakamoto (@ryuichisakamoto) January 14, 2023
Yano Akiko, a friend of Yellow Magic Orchestra and ex-wife of Sakamoto Ryuichi, simply tweeted “YMO goes forever”. Understandably lost for words at losing a lifetime friend, Sakamoto Ryuichi, one of the trio that is Yellow Magic Orchestra, tweeted out a gray box. The rest of METAFIVE have also stayed silent, including the third of the trio behind YMO, Hosono Haruomi, who also happened to be the least active on social media.
音楽が好きと最初に自覚したのがYMOだった。幼い頃に父のオーディオで、繰り返しカセットを再生していた。ドラマーになってその偉大さと、プレイの奥深さを再確認し、METAFIVEに圧倒された。別れは悲しいな。こんなに悲しいことだと思わなかったと、いつも思う。
— ピエール中野 凛として時雨 ピヤホン監修 (@Pinakano) January 14, 2023
Fellow drummer and member of Ling tosite Sigure Nakano Masatoshi, also known as Pierre, spoke about how YMO was their awakening to music, and that it was through Takahashi‘s drumming that he became the virtuoso they are today.
この広告を30年前に見た時、そんな…と思ったものの、いつかそういう日が来る事は覚悟していました。YMOがいたから今まで音楽を好きでいられる原動力になりました。幸宏さんの訃報、信じられないけど受け止めて生きていこう。僕はこれからも音楽を仕事にしていきたい。今までありがとうございました。 pic.twitter.com/72Yod6nF3I
— 佐藤則之 (@rideononon) January 14, 2023
An event organizer from Japan posted an advertisement from what is known as their NOT YMO era, saying that even though they knew this day would come, it was still very hard to accept.
As this article is being written at what is 10AM JST on January 15th, we will continue to report on updates as they come. Please look forward to Ronald’s upcoming feature on Yellow Magic Orchestra‘s music and legacy as well!
Source: Sponichi Annex
