Izumi Sakai KYODO PHOTO

Police are investigating whether her death was a suicide.

Sakai had been repeatedly hospitalized since last June due to cervical cancer, her office said. She returned to the Keio University Hospital in April after the cancer was found to have spread to a lung, it said.

A native of Kanagawa Prefecture whose real name was Sachiko Kamachi, Sakai made her singing debut in 1991 with ZARD. She wrote lyrics and gained popularity with young people with such songs as Yureru Omoi (Swinging Feeling) and My Friend.

The Japan Times Weekly: June 2, 2007
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