The DU Lounge

In high school I had a best friend who was a second gen Japanese/American and we sometimes would play chess at his house after school while listening to music. One of the tunes that came up frequently was Sukiyaki.
Ahh, a simpler time.

Also, this brought me to running across the story on the internet and an article from last year about his widow:

Kyu Sakamoto’s Widow Yukiko Kashiwagi Talks About 40 Years Since JAL Plane Crash
Actress Yukiko Kashiwagi, who lost her husband, well-known singer Kyu Sakamoto, in a Japan Airlines passenger plane crash on Aug. 12, 1985, told The Yomiuri Shimbun that she has been focusing on enjoying every moment like there’s no tomorrow ever since the accident.
Kashiwagi, 77, said she suffered a great sense of loss.
“My mind became empty. I could not do a thing,” she said. Kashiwagi and Sakamoto had married in December 1971 and were blessed with two daughters. But their happy days together were cut short by Sakamoto’s death. He was 43.

As 40 years have passed since the accident, Kashiwagi said she feels the passage of time as the number of people who do not know about the accident has increased. https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/society/general-news/20250812-274987/

(The photo was taken in July of last year. She was 77. I'm not yet 77 and she looks a whole lot better than I do. To me she looks like maybe early 50s.)