*This is still constantly being updated and added to. Right now it's a timeline of me trying to squeeze out everything I can remember that I know about Yuki's life. But sometimes there are things I forget to write, and I'm always searching for information and reading new things about Yuki whenever I can, so it's not nearly complete. Much more stuff will be added.
1972: Age 0
Yuki was born on February 17, 1972 in Hakodate, Hokkaido in the Fukahori village to her parents Mou and Ryouko Isoya, and had a sister, Yukari. The day she was born her grandfather looked at her and said "It seems there is hope!" So he gave her the name Yuki "有希". The Chinese characters in her name mean to posses hope.1973: Age 1
Shortly after Yuki was born, her parents learned they were pregnant again, with Yuki's younger brother Taminori. They moved to Yunohama, Hokkaido.
1976: Age 4
Yuki began a class of learning to write and draw Japanese alphabets. But she was at a different level as everybody else and the class was not appropriate for her. She had to quit 2 or 3 times.
1978: Age 6
Yuki began school at Komaba Elementary school.
Yuki began to learn to sing and play piano together with her sister, Yukari.
With Yukari on piano and Yuki singing, they performed a duet called "Sparking Star" The next performance she sang alone a song called "Tsurikawa-san"
1980: Age 8
Yuki's father took her and her siblings back to Hakodate to see the Mayumi Olympics live.
They stayed there again that winter. After seeing the Olympics, Yuki wanted to learn to swim, but her father said it was too cold. One night Yuki snuck out on a bike. She crashed into a tree and got badly injured.
Later that year she got an album by the rock band Yokohama Ginbae.
1981: Age 9
Yukari and Yuki were not doing well with learning the piano together so they stopped playing together.
1983: Age 11
Yuki faced sever bullying and stress at school. She struggled with her studies. To graduate elementary school students must write something showing all the Kanji (Chinese characters) they have learned, which should be about 1,000 by that point. For her paper she wrote a poem called "Toast" and read it in front of the whole school. She passed and graduated elementary.
1984: Age 12
Yuki began middle school at Fukahori Junior High back in Hakodate. A few months later she entered a ballet class. Yuki's hair had been down to her hips, but the ballet class made her cut it very short.
On Valentine's Day, Yuki confessed her love to a classmate named Tachibana. This was Yuki's first love. They began to be in a relationship and would return home together every day.
1985: Age 13
On New Year's Eve she went with Tachibana to the Kameda shrine. He made her worship and celebrate his traditions.
The events of this age are what her song "Rock n' Roll Star" is influenced by.
1986: Age 14
At the summer of Yuki's last year of Middle School, she knew her and Tachibana would be separated. After the graduation ceremony the two went off into an empty classroom to celebrate together. Over the break they stayed in touch with the phone. But eventually they broke up, she met him one last time to say farewell and never saw him again.
1987: Age 15
Yuki tried to enter Nishi High School in Hakodate but failed the entrance exam.
Although Yuki was very against it, her mother entered her in an all girl's school called Iai Girls High School. Yuki hated it. She tried to find something to belong to so she again entered a ballet class.
But shortly after, the school suspended Yuki for dying her hair purple.
She went to a play put on by her ballet at a dance called "Happy Disco", and after she left it got burned down by a fire.
Yuki became very thin and unhealthy. Gradually losing 22 pounds and by that summer she weighed about 88 pounds. This caused her growth to be stunted.
At the time hearing Blue Hearts on the radio and trying to portay the movie She attended a cultural summer festival where her group danced live.
She formed a ballet group with other girls from her school and was the captain. The other members picked on her for her skinniness. They named the group "Abnormal" as a way to make fun of Yuki.
This was the age Yuki began smoking cigarettes when her and the other girls stole some from a department store.
1989: Age 17
At her third year graduation ceremony Yuki met a second year high school student from another high school who later became the Japanese musician TAKE.
Her mother Ryouko demanded she return home. She went into driving training school with an instructor who was sexually harassing her. She tried to tell her mom but Ryouko forced her to stay enrolled in it, telling her to put up with it.
1990: Age 18
Yuki was constantly writing poetry still and started learning how to write music. It was at this time she met a young aspiring musician who was the singer of his band. He fell in love with Yuki and began teaching her how to play guitar. Soon she was turning her poetry into songs and figuring out how to incorporate them into melodies on the guitar. The man she had met would take her to a nearby recording studio called "Sound Papa" that he used for his band to let her play and record her songs. By the fall they were dating but they only had a few months together. Because he was 3 years older than her, he graduated and moved away while she was still in college. But he would come to town often to help her practice her music.
They continued their long distance relationship and Yuki would write letter to him every day.
Sound Papa was also the early recording studio that the band GLAY used. Because of this Yuki became good friends with Yoshihito Wayama aka "Jiro". Through all the years of GLAY's early career Yuki spent a lot of time with all the members and would always go to their recording sessions and local shows to watch them play so she could learn more about music.
1991: Age 19
Yuki traveled away from her home to Hakodate to audition for a role in a movie "Itsuka Giragirasuru Hi." She had a part time job as a substitute driver. There one night Yuki went to a nightclub where she met Onda Yoshihito. She watched him performing with his band Jacks n' Joker. They talked after the show and he took interest in Yuki who had a big impression on him. Though she was not of legal age, Onda encouraged her to join in drinking. The two and quickly became friends and that night Onda took her to his hotel room. On the way there they purchased alcohol at Hasegawa Store. Yuki later described this incident herself as "the first time we made music together, that echoed in the room until morning"
A few weeks later after returning to Hakodate she made a demo tape with her vocal samples and mailed it to Onda. He loved it and the two kept in contact.
Yuki also sang a song at a funeral for her friend that had died in the winter of 1991.
1992: Age 20
While Yuki was still in her home town, she began working as a beautician. In February, when she turned 20, she attended the Coming-of-Age ceremony for becoming an adult. (In Japan the age when you're considered a legal adult is 20). After this she moved in the vocalist she was still in a relationship with.
Yuki was now looking to start at a band so she decided to meet with Onda. Yuki dropped out of college and went into music with Onda. She created the name "Judy and Mary" for the band, describing it was meant to represent the two sides of her personality. With Judy being the rebellious and wild side, and Mary being the sweet and innocent side.
1993: Age 21
Yuki's relationship with the vocalist had begun deteriorating after he returned to be with her. Yuki began living with him, as she had nowhere else to stay but said she was now terrified of him at this time. He was suspicious that she was sleeping with Onda and wanted a way to "tag" her as he thought he was the one responsible for getting Yuki into making music. He then wanted to use Yuki for the cover of an album his band was going to release. He said he needed Yuki's left ear to be pierced for this and he pierced it himself, even though she didn't want him to. After this began his abuse toward her verbally and emotionally and constantly following her around. Finally they broke up when Yuki was able to get away from him. The relationship and the breakup is the story behind the lyrics of Judy and Mary's song "Sobakasu"
As Onda and Yuki dedicated themselves to Judy and Mary, they needed a drummer and guitar player to get the band going. They recruited Kohta Igarashi on drums and Taiji Fujimoto on guitar. The band then released their first independent album and started performing at small local venues. It was then that they were offered a record deal by Sony Music. After this, Taiji Fujimoto left the band. He didn't want to be on a major record label and Yuki didn't like his lack of devotion to the band. She described that he was rude and lazy and couldn't work with him. It was then she met Takuya Asanuma.
Takuya was obsessed with music and taught himself to play piano and guitar in college. He was from Kyoto but was traveling all over Japan to learn about music and was in Hokkaido when he met Yuki. He had been in a few bands already as a teenager and had just left his old band as they were heading into the visual kei genre and he said they only cared about looks while Takuya cared about the music. So he began writing his own songs and started his own project called Robots at age 19 where he played all the instruments. Takuya saw that the band Judy and Mary and was looking for a new guitarist and wanted to audition. He later met Yuki without knowing she was the vocalist. She liked him and decided to let him audition. When Takuya showed up he noticed all the others who were trying to join had brought various expensive musical equipment and he had only brought his guitar. But the band was very impressed by him and Yuki made him the permanent guitarist.Takuya said in an interview that when he met Yuki she was instantly the most beautiful face he had ever seen and when he heard her sing, it was the most beautiful voice he had heard. He said that's when he knew Judy and Mary would become something big.
1994: Age 22
Yuki took a trip to Australia where she later said she met someone who become one of the most dearest people in her life, but never kept in touch and never explained who they were. When she returned to Japan, Judy and Mary was now her full-time career. The band released their debut album JAM in January and went on their first mini tour called "Pudding A La Mode" The band played many shows and even wrote 5 singles before releasing their second album "Orange Sunshine" that year in December.
Yuki then moved into her own apartment in Fukasawa. It was at this time she began her relationship with Takuya and later that year, attended a wedding of the famous manga artist, Kaoru Tada, with him. The two were going to hide their relationship in order to protect the band's image.
1995 Age: 23
During the new year, Yuki returned home for a while. She visited her mother and learned how upset her mother was with her. Yuki said after they had argued for days, her mother told her she wanted nothing to do with her anymore. When Yuki came back in January, she wrote the band's 6th single "Chiisana Koro Kara" (Since I Was Little) which was meant to be a very personal song to Yuki.
In May, Judy and Mary released another single "Over Drive" and made their first appearance on the popular TV show "Music Station" to perform it, and then returned to it later that year again for their 8th single "Doki doki"
In August, the band took a trip to Las Vegas to record more songs. They stayed there for only 3 nights and shot the cover photo for their upcoming album "Miracle Diving" in Las Vegas as well.
Yuki spent the next new year with Takuya and they traveled to Hong Kong. They visited festivals, museums and concerts. Yuki later told a story about back then, she asked Takuya to take her to the zoo to see the pandas, as they were her favorite animal. When they arrived, Yuki immediately went up to them, and right when she did, she got her period while wearing a skirt. Yuki later explained it to the band and it became a joke among the members.
While they were still in Hong Kong, tickets for Judy and Mary's upcoming tour were immediately sold out.
In March, Yuki wrote put together her first book called "JAM BOOK" that featured photos, drawings, and talked about her personal life.
Also in March, Judy and Mary released their new single "Sobakasu" and performed it live on Music Station. Later the song was played at a small local venue by only Yuki and Takuya with them holding hands. By this time the band was huge and this incident began to stir up gossip among their fans regarding Yuki and Takuya.
In November, the band took a trip to Paris to record some songs for their 4th album. It was later revealed that while they were there Takuya had several affairs with a few different women. When Yuki talked about this years later, she said she was aware of it at the time, but she didn't say anything to him.
When the band returned to Japan in December they began their Miracle Night Diving tour. On New Year's eve the band was chosen to perform "Sobakasu" for a New Year's Eve festival that would be broadcasted all over Japan.
.png)
In January Yuki and Takuya made a special appearance on the TV Show "Mecha Mecha Ikiteru". Shortly after they took a trip to London for more recording. It was there that they shot the music video for their new single "Music Fighter"
After they returned to Japan, Yuki went by herself to Venice with a friend she had made in Paris. In February the band released their 11th single "Kujira 12 Gou". A few days later, Yuki released 2 more books she had written "Girly Rock" and "Girly Tree".
Judy and Mary then went on their tour, "The Power Sauce Delivery" and in March released their 4th album, The Power Source.
In June, Yuki took another trip to London alone because she wanted to learn English and stayed their for several months, putting the band on hiatus. At this time, Takuya picked up his solo project Robots again and released his first official single "Koibito". Later that year came his album "Guitar De Pop", which are the famous words written on Takuya's guitar all throughout Judy and Mary. The booklet of the CD featured a photo of Yuki holding this guitar and hair that resembled Takuya's
In October Yuki visited her old friend, Jiro to celebrate his birthday party with several famous musicians she had grown up with there as well.
In November, Yuki was hospitalized for 3 weeks needing to have surgery on her throat and having her polyp cut. Jiro and Takuro from GLAY visited Yuki in the hospital many times.
After she recovered, Yuki spent Christmas with Takuya on another trip to Paris where she said they mostly gambled in casinos.
In January the band began recording the songs for their 5th album, Pop Life. Yuki said this was a very painful time for her. She aimed the album at themes such as suicide and kegadoru (a Japanese fashion that revolves around injury which features white bandages covering the body.) By this time Yuki and Takuya were completely writing all of the songs together. Almost the entire album features Takuya's compositions with Yuki's lyrics. But Yuki and Takuya were having a lot of problems. The biggest one was when while Takuya was still with Yuki, Takuya began dating a young girl named Aoi. He didn't hide his girlfriend from Yuki and would even use her to try and hurt Yuki and the girl was aware of it. He brought Aoi to almost every recording session and to practices where Yuki and Takuya were writing songs. Aoi would even attend their concerts to see Judy and Mary play. Although it was one of the worst times in their relationship, they created some of the bands most successful songs together. In December the band performed for the first time a the famous Tokyo Dome for their Pop Life tour where Yuki can be seen crying after almost every song.
In February Yuki met and became good friends with the popular actress, Maki Sakai and went to see the olympics with her, saying it reminded her of her childhood.
After Judy and Mary released their 6th single "Irotoridori no sekai" Takuya performed his own cover of the song, having composed the music.
In November, Yuki was chosen to sing Japan's national anthem at Nagai stadium in Osaka.
Later in November Judy and Mary released their 17th single "Tegami wo Kaku yo" and performed in on Music Station as well.
After this Yuki learned that several friends from Venice had come to Japan to visit her and see her perform. She would meet them every night at midnight to go out around town.
1999: Age 27
Yuki spent New Year's eve at home, wanting to be away from her band members. She put the band on another hiatus. Despite their problems she visited her mother again. There Yuki seeked her help in dealing with Takuya. She told her mother that she was dating a "horrible man" but did not tell her it was her band's guitarist. Her mother only told her that she wanted to meet her boyfriend and explained that Yuki couldn't get out of it on her own. Yuki had let every man treat her badly in every relationship until eventually Yuki backed out of it cowardly. Yuki then began staying with a friend from her hometown and didn't know when she would return to her band. Until one day Takuya showed up to find her. He came to the house where she was staying and shouted and insulted her, but Yuki was too upset to argue. After that, Yuki said, they slept together for the final time and that Takuya did it out of anger, saying if she hadn't given in right away, it would have been him forcing himself on her. Yuki explained that she felt nothing and it was then she realized her and Takuya were over.In March the concert DVD for Pop Life Suicide was released that featured rare, backstage footage of Judy and Mary.
Soon after the tour ended, Judy and Mary were facing a lot of stress the put out new material. Sony Music had given them a deadline that they needed to release a new single. Yuki and Takuya then wrote the song "Brand New Wave Upper Ground" and in December, the band traveled to Las Angeles to shoot the music video for the song.
2000: Age 28
Yuki became engaged to Yoichi Kuramochi, the famous musician known as YO-KING but kept her engagement a secret from everyone. At this point Yuki and Takuya were still together, but were both in relationships with other people, although Takuya wasn't aware of Yoichi and Yuki was afraid to tell him. Yuki described Yoichi as someone she had loved during her whole musical career and that he had always been a true friend. She said he was the only one who she knew would always protect her and love her.
In February Yuki did a photoshoot for CUTIE magazine, posing nude with her hands covering her breasts. It was the first time Yuki had ever been shot nude and an interview from her was also featured in the magazine.
Around this time huge tensions were rising among the members of Judy and Mary. The band was always arguing and couldn't agree on anything. Each member also wanted to take their own route in music. Eventually Onda and Kohta were no longer showing up for practice.
Yuki thought about ending the band. She asked Onda whether he thought they should break up. Onda admitted he didn't care either way and that he only stayed in the band for the money at this point. Yuki said that once he said that she knew Judy and Mary was over.
The band's next single "Hitotsu Dake" was written by Yuki and Takuya, but what Takuya didn't know was that the lyrics Yuki provided for it were written towards him. Takuya looked at the lyrics and had wanted to call the song "Sunflower" (Himawari) because of the line "A sunflower had bloomed under my skirt". But Yuki explained years later that this line was meant to represent her feeling violated by Takuya but also finally feeling free from him. She also stated that although the lyrics seemed loving towards someone it was a painful song about all the years she felt trapped. The band traveled to Yamanishi to shoot the album artwork for the single which featured them laying in a field with baggy white clothing on. The cover of the single showed Yuki's face in the grass with tears coming from her eyes.
In March Yuki was working on her next book so she traveled to France to shoot the photos for it. She stayed there for 4 days. Three months later her 2nd biography "Girly Folk" was published, and at the same time, her 2nd autobiography, "Girly Boogie" was released.
In July, after "Hitotsu Dake" came out, the band started writing several songs and appearing on many radio and TV shows. In October the music video for their 20th single "Motto" was shot on a rooftop in Matsuzakaya Ginza in Tokyo and the single was released a month later with the b-side of "Girlfriend".
In November Yuki was sent to the hospital for osteosarcoma, and had to have surgery.
Only a few weeks later the band had produced their next single "Lucky Pool" but due to Yuki being in the hospital, she could not be a part of creating the music video for the song. This was the first video where the band members did not appear in, and instead featured a story of the love between two young women with the song playing in the background.
In December Yuki did a commercial for the soda "Pocari Sweat" in which she was featured standing on the beach, holding a can and singing the Judy and Mary song "Atashi wo Mitsukete"
Later that month the band played "Motto" live for a Chrismtas special live from R'n Hall. On Christmas Eve they were invited for a Christmas dinner party among many other popular bands.
Finally Yuki announced her upcoming wedding with Yoichi. Many fans of Yuki were delighted and excited about her marriage, while many fans of Yoichi despised Yuki after this and lashed out at her. After the wedding, the couple did an interview for OK WAVE.
2001: Age 29
In January, Yuki did her first broadcast alone for the program "All Night Nippon" where she was featured on the radio for an entire 24-hours.
It was then Yuki announced that Judy and Mary, which had become legendary, was to soon break up. Countless radio programs, magazines and TV shows began requesting interviews from her and the other band members. Yuki appeared on several, and for a while moved to live in Fukuoka while appearing on shows there.
Later that month the Yuki performed on "Pop Jam", a popular television show for musicians to play live.
Judy and Mary announced their album in progress "WARP" was to be their final album and a TV Spot commercials for the album began appearing the same month.
After Yuki came back to Tokyo, the band performed "Lucky Pool" on Tokyo Media City and 3 days later it was released as a single.
On January 22nd, Yuki celebrated her birthday 23 days early because she knew the band was about to go on tour and wouldn't be able to celebrate it with friends on the actual day.
In February the band began preparing to leave on their final tour, Warp Tour. They band was doing work in Sapporo when their 6th and final album, WARP was released and the next day, the tour began. The tour went for about a month and Judy and Mary traveled to several locations such as Tokyo, Hiroshima, Omiya and Sendai. Yuki turned 29 while she was touring. When Judy and Mary returned they put together the DVD "Judy and Mary All Clips - JAM Complete Video Collection" which featured every music video in the band's discography, including unreleased short PV's for Lovely Baby, Sobakasu, Hitotsu Dake, Kujira 12 Gou and Irotoridori no Sekai.
The band was preparing to head to Kyoto to shoot their final PV, which would be an orchestrated version of the song "Peace" when they got stuck in a Tokyo airport for five hours due to bad weather, so they stayed in Tokyo.
From there they announced their final performance in honor of the band's break-up would be held at the famous Tokyo Dome, called "WARP Tour Final".
In March, Yuki wanted to create an entire documentary for the song "Peace" where each member shared their feelings about being in Judy and Mary, their disbanding and their plans for the future. The film featured clips of Yuki and Takuya in a recording studio singing "Peace" while an orchestra played in the back. Throughout several recording sessions, Onda, Kohta, Takuya and Yuki each talk about their role in the band. Eventually the song plays while showing clips of each member outside and inside of the studio. During the end of the recording Yuki is seen crying heavily. She explained the reason was simply because the music was so beautiful, but then later described that realizing Judy and Mary was truly ending had just hit her at the moment she was crying. At the end of the film a sentence in Japanese which reads "We are a part of you. - Judy and Mary" appear with the image of a cherry blossom tree swaying and the film fades to black.
In March, after the single, "Peace - strings version" was released, the band began arrangement for what would become their most significant and intense concert, WARP Tour Final. The concert took months to prepare and was the most high-maintenance show in the band's history. As it was the last time Judy and Mary would be together, it was full of explosive stage surprises and each song lasted much longer than expected as the members would improvise crazy antics and run all over the stage while still keeping the music going. At the end of the concert the band joined hands and took a final bow and Yuki gives the audience a thank you message before they separate and Yuki runs along the stage crying and waving to the audience.
In May, the 140 minute long DVD of the concert was released and Judy and Mary was officially over.
Only a month later Yuki began to prepare for her solo career. After that the band made two releases without being together. The first being Warp Tour - JAM Book 2001 which gave details about the band's final time together. The second was a best hits album, Great Escape, which was requested by fans.
Also in May, Yuki did her first live performance with Chara, who had been a long time friend and was also a successful musician.
With Yuki's successful band coming to an end and enjoying the freedom of beginning whatever she wanted to next, she had a lot of time on her hands. Late one night in June Yuki began preparations for her new project "Sleep" that she had been planning for years. It was to be a collection of poetry Yuki had written and a series of photos to depict them. She got a hold of a professional modeling agency to help her and they hired her to be featured in photo shoots that she would use for her project.
Yuki wanted to keep making music and e experiment on her own with writing new songs. It was at this time she became part of an indie all-girl band called Mean Machine that was put together by five famous women who each led well-known in media. They wanted to create a band where each member played an instrument they never had before and give each member a chance to contribute to writing songs for the band. Yuki was the drummer for the band along with Chara who also played the drums. The other members included popular actress Ayumi Ito as the vocalist, who was the youngest of the girls and the only one who did not have a musical career, but had a talented singing voice. Chiwaki Mayumi, a musician and radio personality was the guitar player, and Yukarie, also a musician was the bass player. The band created very unqiue, grunge style of melodies and each song had a different style and mood as they were each written by a different member. Mean Machine got a lot of attention due to the popularity of the members and appeared on a few different television programs such as Music Station and PopJam. Although they were successful, they only released one album, Cream, in late 2001.
After this Yuki was ready to begin her solo career. She needed a producer and for her first single she asked for the help of Aiha Higurashi, a woman she was a big fan of. Yuki told her how much she admired her and Aiha agreed to help her with the songwriting as well as producing her first single. Yuki then recorded what would be her debut single "the end of shite" along with the songs "BED" and "Count Bakwards" The two remained good friends and stayed in touch.
In November Yuki was taken to pose for her first photo shoot for "Sleep"
In December, Yuki was asked to star in two commercials for Toyota's Will VS car. Both commercials featured unreleased songs Yuki had written.
Later that month Yuki did an interview for the magazine, Rock on Japan where she talked about writing songs for her upcoming solo career and was also featured the cover.
A few days before Chrismtas, Yuki went to a concert to see her husband's band, Magokoro Brothers perform. Later she was asked to go to Kanto to do her second photo shoot for "Sleep"
2002: Age 30
In January Yuki was paid a surprise visit by her older sister, Yukari, who had come to visit Yuki and introduce her to her new husband. Yuki had not known her sister was married since she hadn't been invited to the wedding. Later that month Yuki got invited to sing live on stage with her new friend Aiha Higurashi's band, Seagull Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her.
In February "the end of shite" was released and Yuki later performed it on Music Station. Soon after Yuki appeared on the cover of another magazine, Sweet, which she had posed for in the past with Judy and Mary. Later that month Yuki went to Nikkatsu Studio to shoot the video for her next single, Prism.
As Yuki was getting a lot of attention from people who were already fans of her from Judy and Mary, she became a guest on the radio show "J-Wave Tokyo Hot 100" and also performed on "J-Wave Super Line"
Yuki had been writing a lot of songs to put together an album. Being free from her band, she wanted to experiment with completely new styles and methods for writing songs. For the songs "66db" and "Byuu byuu" were entirely composed by Yuki and each instrument was played by her. For many of the songs on her upcoming album she would create melodies in her head and write lyrics for it, and then think of a musician or band she was close with to help her professionally compose it. For her next single, Prism, which was released in March, she called for the help of Andy Strummer, who performed the music in the song. For the rest of the album many artists that Yuki was a fan of such as Spitz, Zoobombs, and Asa-chang helped Yuki create her songs as it was her first time performing music on her own. Aiha Higurashi worked with Yuki again and her backup vocals as well as guitar playing can be heard in the first few songs on the album. The last five songs on the album were composed only by Yuki. At this time one of Yuki's favorite artists was Yoko Ono and she talked about how her music have her inspiration while creating this album. Because Yuki wanted a different sound to match the meaning of each song, and every one had music played by different people, the album brought a new, unique and powerful style to Yuki. She put her whole heart into the album, wanting to establish herself and introduce music through her mind. Yuki herself described it as her following her instinct to find her way out of darkness through music, and the songs being an outlet for her freedom. It's the reason she chose to title the album "PRISMIC" because it was meant to be the sound of light, and also what is depicted in the video for the song Prism. She said she wanted someone, just one person, to feel connected with that emotions in the album, and that's all she needed to be successful.
Finally, at the end of March the album was released and was a huge success. It landed number 3 on the Oricon weekly charts. The day of it's release Yuki traveled to Shibuya to rehearse for her first ever tour as a solo artist where she would play 16 shows at 8 different locations. The tour's shows was filmed but it was never available for sale on DVD.
In April Yuki stopped by a cafe called Orange Spice and met a girl who was a huge fan of her. Yuki took a picture with her and even let the girl come along with her on a small shopping trip. Then again in April, while Yuki was in Fukuoka Yuki met another girl who was a fan and gave her rice balls to Yuki as a gift, but Yuki shared it with the girl.
In June, Yuki released "66db" as her 3rd single even though the song already appeared on her first album, with the b-side as "Byuu byuu"
It was then that Yuki decided to take a trip to Hakodate and visit her home. But sadly, she learned that her mother had passed away. Yuki was very upset and wrote a letter to her mother, apologizing for everything her mother was disappointed in her for, and that they had never made up.
In July Yuki went to a concert of her husband Yoichi as he performed solo as YO-KING.
Then, in July Yuki went to get a complete check up, and learned that she was pregnant. With this news, she told her husband and he celebrated one last drink with her. After Yuki announced this, fans and friends congratulated her and Yoichi. Yuki immediately gave up smoking, and also went to get another health screening to make sure her body was healthy enough for her baby.
In August she returned to Hakodate again to celebrate her father's birthday and tell him the news of her pregnancy.
After returning to Tokyo, Yuki began writing more songs. In November she went to Toei Studio to shoot the video for her next single, "Stand Up! Sister!" It was the first video in which she shot while pregnant. It was officially released 2 weeks after that, with the b-side as "Koibito-yo" which was meant to be a soft-rock love ballad.
To end the year, Yuki held a party for all the staff members that worked on her "Sleep" project with her and planned another photo shoot about being pregnant.
2003: Age 31
Yuki began writing new songs on her own for her next album. She planned to go for a melodic 70's rock and acoustic tunes. The album dealt with love, communication, and growing up. It was called "Commune" and became the most emotional album to Yuki. The entire recording of "Commune" was done while she was pregnant and a majority of the songs are influenced by her pregnancy. For the next two music videos Yuki appeared in, she was pregnant. She released her next single "Sentimental Journey" in February and then her 6th single "Hummingbird" a month later. For both music videos, as well as "Stand Up! Sister!" she worked with the highly-respected female director, Nagi Noda. For both "Hummingbird" and "Sentimental Journey" the two came up with the idea of shooting a story in one long, continuous shot. For "Sentimental Journey" it took 90 young girls wearing the same dress and wigs that resembled Yuki's hair standing in a choreographed line as the camera panned along them.
A few days later, Yuki traveled to Okinawa to do a photo shoot for "Sleep" where she posed her pregnant stomach which had now grown larger. She also wrote about bringing a new life into the world and wanted to look natural and wear white for the photos.
In March, The Rolling Stones came to Japan to perform and Yuki, being a huge fan of them, went to see them. A few days later, her second album, "Commune" was released but didn't reach as much success as her previous album.
Then on April 18th, Yuki gave birth to her first son. Yuki took several months off, with no activity, to recover and take care of her child. But in September she was ready for her second tour to perform the songs on her second album. It was called "Sweet Home Rock N' Roll Tour" and would later became her first concert DVD to become available.
Around this time, Yuki and her husband Yoichi were contacted by the Japanese female pop duo HALCALI who wanted them to write a song for their upcoming album. They agreed and together the two wrote the song "Densetsu no Futari" and provided the music and lyrics for the girls.
In December Yuki also performed live for a show called "From Diva's Country"
2004: Age 32
Early in the year, after going to a show in Iwamizawa Yuki made a trip to Hakodate to introduce her family to her new baby. She then began work on her next singles "Home Sweet Home" and "Hello, Goodbye" as well as shooting the videos for them. She then met her staff for "Sleep" at Tsutaya Rolling Hills for another photo shoot only a few days later. In September she played a show at Hibiya Outdoor Music Hall. A month later the sinlge and music video for "Home Sweet Home" was released. And a month after that her 8th single "Hello, Goodbye" followed.
In March, Yuki's 3rd autobiography/diary came out. In this book she wrote about the her entire relationship with Yoichi and about becoming a mother. It included handwritten pages by Yuki and photos of her personal life. As well as drawings by Yuki. The cover featured a drawing done by Yuki of her and Yoichi nude with Yuki wearing a wedding veil.
At the end of the year Yuki put on her own concert called "Joy to the world, Joy to the music" in honor of the next album she was working on.
Yuki began recording songs for her new album in January. She performed her newest song "JOY" at a small venue before it was even recorded.
In late January her next single was officially released. "JOY" became one of Yuki's most successful songs and drew her many new fans. The song won "Best Video of the Year" award as well. It was at this time Yuki began to tackle a new style, with more high-energy pop rock songs. By February her 3rd album "joy" was released. It became a #1 album for 11 weeks. One month later Yuki, after returning from Okinawa for a friend's wedding began preparing for her next tour, "TOUR joy" and campaigning in various cities. Early in March, Yuki's first DVD as a solo artist was released which contained all the music videos leading up to this point, as well as behind the scenes footage of the making of them.
Then sadly, on March 17 Yuki's son died of unknown causes in his sleep at the age of 2. Nobody heard anything from Yuki for a long time after this. Her child's death was on the news as many fans mourned. Many fans sent her letters expressing their condolences. Finally Yuki came out and thanked all her fans, but her and Yoichi would not discuss their child's death publicly.
The cause of death was determined as SIDS.
Yuki cancelled all of her concerts and she did not appear on television on dates she was scheduled to.
The original music videos for her next two singles "Dramatic" and "Nagai Yume" that had been shot were never released because of her son's death. Yuki did not want them to be seen. Instead an animation mixed with live footage from the Sweet Home tour was put together for "Dramatic". For "Nagai Yume" an animated story with Yukinko was made. Her 10th single "Nagai Yume" was written about her son's journey into the afterlife and the guilt she felt herself. The cover shows Yuki holding a large rabbit with a tear running down her face. The words "nagai yume" appear in childlike handwriting in front of a starry sky in the background.
Besides this, a few of the songs on that would appear on Yuki's next album "WAVE" are meant to be about her child's death. "Birthday" has lyrics that suggest this.
A few months later Yuki un-cancelled her shows and went on tour. The concert was recorded and put on DVD to be released the next year. This was right after her previous tour became available for sale.
Yuki's next single "Yorokobi no tane" was released in September with the b-side "Kubiwa" and was the last single of the year.
2006: Age 34
Yuki began the year with releasing her new single "Melancholinista" and it was highly successful. She also released her second concert DVD of the "joy" tour she had just finished.
Soon after this, Yuki learned that she was pregnant again. She slowed down her music activities except for writing another single "Fugainaiya". By the time it was time to shoot the music video for the song, Yuki's stomach had grown almost entirely. She dressed in a red dress, with a big chair around her, and a fake cat in her lap to hide her pregnant stomach.
On August 29, her second son was born.
Then, only a few days later on September 9th her 4th album "WAVE" was finally released. It became the second #1 album in her solo career.
For several months Yuki took the time to take care of her child and worked on writing songs. But she released no new music and did no performances for the rest of the year.
2007: Age 35
It was almost half a year of no new music from Yuki. In May, however, she introduced a special new song "Biscuit" that was only available through cellphone download on the Sony Music website. A few months later the PV for the song was released.
In August came Yuki's 15th single "Hoshikizu Sunset" and another PV that Yuki did not appear in.
This year was the year that marked Yuki's five years of being a solo artist. In honor of this, Yuki planned many big events. Her first single collection "five-star" featured all the singles from the first five years in 2 discs. It became a #1 album. About a month later Yuki began her "YUKI LIVE f-star" tour that would go into next year.
In December Yuki released her last single and PV of the year, "Wonderline"
2008: Age 36
Early in the year Yuki finished her previous tour and recorded footage from a show played at Nippon Budokan. Around this time she provided an interview where she talked about her solo debut and the past five years. All of this footage was collected and put on a DVD that she released in April. It also featured special extras that Yuki starred in and directed. The DVD had a special birthday theme to it and was Yuki's 5th concert DVD. A month before Yuki came out with Yuki Video 2, collecting all the PV's and promotional TV-spot ads for all of Yuki's music for the past 3 years.
In April she came out with a new single "Kisha ni notte". On her website she expressed that song was about a time she thinks about a lot, when she was 20 years old riding the train from Tokyo to Kyoto and seeing it for the first time. She said she had nobody but "a lover" waiting for her at the end of it but did not explain who it was. The PV was meant to have a home movie feel to it.
Around the end of the year Yuki discovered she was pregnant again and had no activity for the rest of the year.
2009: Age 37
It was in February that Yuki announced to her fans that she welcome another child this year.
In March, Yuki released another new single "Rendezvous" the b-side "Miss Yesterday" was used as the theme song for the film "Instant Numa"
On May 31 Yuki gave birth a third time to another son.
Then in November, Yuki released her last single of the year "Cosmic Box"
2010: Age 38
February Yuki was asked to perform her newest song "Ureshikutte dakiau yo" on the special 1000th episode of Music Station, having been a frequent guest on there. It was her first television performance in years. The song was released as her 20th single on Yuki's birthday a few days later.
In March, Yuki was then ready to release her 5th album, "Ureshikutte dakiau yo" The album showed another dramatic new style for Yuki with a lot of the songs having a classical jazz sound to it. The album became another #1 album.
In June Yuki was ready to perform in a special two-day show she had planned for months. At Bunkamura Orchard Hall, Yuki played 21 songs on stage with a full orchestra behind her. Each song was a new orchestrated arrangement, and also featured special instrumental pieces.
In July Yuki began a promotional tour for the album called "YUKI Concert Tour 2010 Ureshikutte Dakiau yo" although the concerts were not recorded for DVD. After she finished the tour, her 21st single "Futari no Story" was released. For the PV Yuki contacted popular actor, Ryo Kase, who had starred in the film that Yuki's song "Miss Yesterday" was featured in. Ryo agreed to star in Yuki's music video. The song was meant to be in the point of view of a man, so Yuki dressed up as a boy and had Ryo be a woman and wear a dress.
In September Yuki collaborating with the famous composer, Jazztronik, and the two wrote the song "Bedtime Story"
In December Yuki released a special album containing all the orchestral songs from her performance at Bunkamura Orchard Hall. The album titled "The Present" 2010.6.14,15 Bunkamura Orchard Hall.
2011: Age 39
Yuki announced a new single "Himitsu" in March, but when the original released date came, it was moved to April due to the earthquake and tsunami in Tohoku, Japan. On her website Yuki expressed her thoughts on the earthquake and wished good thoughts and safety to everyone's families.
In July Yuki came out with another single "Hello!". The PV featured multiple clones of Yuki dancing and racing on a track. A few weeks later Yuki announced a special contest that all her fans could participate in. The contestants were to recreate the PV for Hello! with the exact choreographed moves in the video. Whoever had the best submission would win
2012: Age 40
Yuki made the records as the first female musician to perform at Tokyo Dome as a band and as a solo artist.
