Yoshika Yuhnagi (優奈木よしか, February 8, 1983 - January 4, 2001), better known simply as Yoshika or Yuhnagi (夕凪 / ゆーなぎ), was a Japanese fashion model. Born in

Yahatahigashi-ku, Kitakyūshū is a Wards of Japan, ward of Kitakyūshū, Fukuoka Prefecture, Fukuoka, Japan. It is the second smallest ward in Kitakyūshū after Tobata-ku, Kitakyūshū, Tobata ward at only 36.36 square kilometres. Residents have a very high average age, on ...

to parents from

Kumamoto is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Kumamoto Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, Japan. , the city has an estimated population of 738,907 and a population density of 1,893 people per km2. The total area is 390.32 km2. had a populat ...

and

Okinawa most commonly refers to: * Okinawa Prefecture, Japan's southernmost prefecture * Okinawa Island, the largest island of Okinawa Prefecture * Okinawa Islands, an island group including Okinawa itself * Okinawa (city), the second largest city in th ...

, Yuhnagi grew up in the city and began both professional and commercial fashion modeling at the age of 11. Her early commercial appearances were for Fukuoka-local teen magazines.

Nishinippon Shimbun The is a Japanese language daily newspaper published by the . As of 2022, it had a circulation of about 467,000 (total of morning and evening editions). It is headquartered in Fukuoka, which accounts for the bulk of its circulation, and is also ...

(Kitakyushu & Kyochiku) January 7, 2001

Biography

History

After being discovered by a

Shogakukan is a Japanese publisher of comics, magazines, light novels, dictionaries, literature, non-fiction, home media, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but ...

's magazine editor, at the age of 12, she began appearing in a number of well-known fashion magazines such as Vivi and Seventeen under her several stage names, and also in several TV / print ads. She signed exclusive contracts with at least 9 fashion houses in her first 3 years of modeling. She was notorious for her violence against people especially men such as male designers, and her alcohol issues as she was a heavy drinker. One of her alcohol-related incidents took place in August 2000, when she was arrested together with another fashion model, allegedly her friend

Anna Tsuchiya is a Japanese singer, actress and semi-retired model. Since 2005, she is primarily known as a singer.Oricon p ...

, after running full-naked on Omiya's mainstreet and in a public high school filled with hundreds of students, while under the influence of a large amount of alcohol. Tsuchiya (also naked but shown only from the waist up for short times) chased Yuhnagi but failed to catch her, and then Yuhnagi assaulted a policeman who subdued Tsuchiya, and eventually she was arrested.Jitsuwa Nuckles '06 May Gohgai .121- Million Publicing

TV Saitama abbreviated TVS, doing business as is a Japanese fee-free terrestrial commercial television broadcasting company headquartered in Urawa-ku, Saitama City, Saitama Prefecture, Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located ...

's News 930 channel reported this incident, but sank their names for a voluntary restraint related to the Youth Act law, describing Yuhnagi as a "rampaging young girl with dyed, pink-colored hair and some heavy accent, a professional model". In late 2000, as a high-featured teenage model with a rapidly rising popularity, she appeared on several television programs which included

TV Asahi JOEX-DTV (channel 5), branded as , and better known as , is a Japanese television station serving the Kanto region as the flagship station of the All-Nippon News Network. It is owned-and-operated by the a subsidiary of , itself controlled by ...

's ''Tonight 2'' and TBS's ''Wonderful''.

Death

On January 4, 2001, after drinking too much Shochu,

Vodka Vodka ( ; is a clear distilled beverage, distilled alcoholic beverage. Its varieties originated in Poland and Russia. Vodka is composed mainly of water and ethanol but sometimes with traces of impurities and flavourings. Traditionally, it is ...

and

Dom Perignon Dom or DOM may refer to: People and fictional characters * Dom (given name), including fictional characters * Dom (surname) * Dom La Nena (born 1989), stage name of Brazilian-born cellist, singer and songwriter Dominique Pinto * Dom people, an et ...

, Yuhnagi slept in a park located near her condominium and was frozen, eventually died of

hypothermia Hypothermia is defined as a body core temperature below in humans. Symptoms depend on the temperature. In mild hypothermia, there is shivering and mental confusion. In moderate hypothermia, shivering stops and confusion increases. In severe ...

, at the age of 17. She was not an

alcoholic Alcoholism is the continued drinking of alcohol despite it causing problems. Some definitions require evidence of dependence and withdrawal. Problematic use of alcohol has been mentioned in the earliest historical records. The World Hea ...

in medical terms, but some witnesses assumed that she in her later days would drink not for pleasure, as it seemed more like an obsession as if she was possessed by something.

Legacy

Near the end of 2010, according to Natsuki Kato's column on the

Nikkei BP , commonly known as , is a book and magazine publisher based in Tokyo, Japan. The company was established as , a joint venture of Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) and McGraw-Hill in 1969, and it became a wholly owned subsidiary of Nikkei in 1988. Ni ...

magazine, several Kyushu-born fashion models, including Rena Takeshita, paid tribute to Yuhnagi with a special banquet in Otsu. As of 2011, ten years after her death, her name has still not been forgotten in her homeland, the Northern Kyushu area. A Fukuoka-based lifestyle magazine named ''Fukuoka-mon'' conducted a poll in March 2011, on which Yoshika was named one of the five most popular fashion models among women in their twenties there.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yuhnagi, Yoshika Japanese female models 1983 births 2001 deaths People from Kitakyushu People from Yahatahigashi, Kitakyūshū Alcohol-related deaths in Japan Deaths from hypothermia