Mother of Japan popstar Utada plunges to death

Agence France-Presse

Posted at Aug 22 2013 06:33 PM | Updated as of Aug 23 2013 02:34 AM

TOKYO - The mother of Japanese pop singer Hikaru Utada has been found dead after plunging from a 13th storey apartment in an apparent suicide, reports said Thursday.

Police believe Keiko Fuji, 62, jumped to her death from the Tokyo home she shared with a man in his 30s, Jiji Press said, adding foul play was not suspected.

Fuji was well-known in Japan during the 1960s and 1970s for her "enka" -- a popular folk singing style.

Her daughter, whose 1999 debut album "First Love" is one of Japan's biggest-ever sellers, has had commercial success in Taiwan, the Philippines and Thailand, as well as Britain, France, Germany and North America.

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