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The world lost Japanese talent, model, and LGBTQ+ activist ryuchell on July 12th. What follows is a brief look at the life and legacy of someone who inspired people around the world – and who will be sorely missed.
Warning: the following article discusses topics of suicide. If you are sensitive to the topic, please do not read further. If you need help, call the phone numbers listed at the end of the article.
What happened
A manager at talent agency Higakikaku in Shibuya, Tokyo arrived at the company building on the afternoon of July 12th to find ryuchell, age 27, passed out on the floor. They did not recover consciousness.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department has opened an investigation and is treating ryuchell’s death as a case of suicide.
ryuchell is survived by their life partner (legally ex-wife) peco and their five-year-old son.
peco and ryuchell married in 2016 and became parents in 2018. The couple divorced in August 2022 and ended their legal status as husband and wife. They continued their relationship as “life partners.”
Life partner peco In disbelief
peco released a first statement on her Instagram account (@pecotecooo) the day after ryuchell’s passing.
The 1256-character-long statement was posted in the caption under a photo of a rainbow over Miami where peco and her son were joined by ryuchell just days before.
According to the Instagram post, the family had been in Miami for their son’s summer school program. peco and her son had been making a long stay on the island by themselves until ryuchell flew out to Guam–––to stay only for a day–––on July 10th.
ryuchell made the trip so that the three could celebrate their son’s birthday a day earlier. On July 11th, their son’s real birthday, ryuchell had to fly back to Japan for work.
When the parents dropped off their son at school on the 11th, ryuchell said their goodbye to their son.
“When you come back to Japan I’ll pick you up at the airport, okay?” –––A goodbye that peco writes she “never thought would become the real goodbye.”
Afterwards, ryuchell and peco had brunch together.
“We updated each other about different stuff. We laughed so hard that we held our stomachs and cried. I told them to have a safe trip home.”
“And then I got the news on July 12th. I couldn’t believe any of it to be true.”
peco and her son returned to Japan on the 13th.
LGBTQ+ advocate
Online condolences have been pouring in for the past 48 hours, to which peco expressed her gratitude in her Instagram statement. These include words of appreciation for ryuchell’s contributions to spreading self-love and acceptance for the LGBTQ+ community in Japan.
One of ryuchell’s most recent public appearances was on stage at Tokyo Rainbow Pride, one of Asia’s largest LGBTQ+ events in Yoyogi Park, Tokyo on April 23rd.
The city has hosted Tokyo Rainbow Pride for 12 years annually and invited ryuchell to host the event for the past 5 years.
Before the event’s closing acts, ryuchell took to the microphone to confess their own struggles with self-acceptance.
“To be honest, the way I live my life isn’t so perfect. I’m still searching for love in myself. I think that some of you also want to live a certain way but worry that it would misalign you with society. I think that some of you also can’t live by your true colors.”
ryuchell went on to advocate for every individual’s right to define love and relationships for themselves.
“We have the right to choose how love takes shape in the colors that only you and whoever you love can create. That’s what I, personally, have decided to believe.”
ryuchell did not explicitly share what they meant by what decisions they made and how they moved forward. But the likely reference is to their divorce from peco last year on August 25th when the two announced their decision to “stay together as a family in a new shape.” At the time, ryuchell said they no longer wanted to be bound by strict male gender roles.
TV spokesperson against transphobia
ryuchell was an outspoken advocate for the LGBTQ+ community in televised debates about legislation related to gender equality and a critic of transphobic comments from legislators themselves.
Earlier this year, when the National Diet was debating over proposals for LGBT laws, a point of contention was whether the words “discrimination is unforgivable” should be included or not, Hard-right members of the LDP strongly opposed this language.
LDP former foreign minister Nakasone Hirofumi voiced his disapproval saying, “If a person who has a male body but says they are a woman goes into the women’s bathroom at a train station or so and gets told to leave, they get to call that discrimination!”
ryuchell clapped back by pointing out the law’s supposed purpose to protect vulnerable citizens who cannot fully protect themselves from discrimination. They shared their support to including the words “discrimination is unforgivable” but noted that the issues of LGBTQ+ regarding baths and toilets deserve their own discussion and are separate from the case at hand.
Evolving identity met with love and hate
Following the announcement by ryuchell and peco to end their divorce and start a new family dynamic, ryuchell told the public how the title of a husband did not align with who they truly are.
“Although I am proud to be a father from the bottom of my heart, I have been struggling to be a husband because of how I’ve restricted myself to the title.”
“As there have been more opportunities to talk about my life as a husband, there has been a widening gap between my true self and the ryuchell that is hiding the real me.”
Referencing ryuchell’s journey of self-discovery, peco’s Instagram post from this week following ryuchell’s death shares how she felt in response to their changes.
“Last year, they confided in me with courage about everything they had been holding back. We clashed a lot, but they directed their thinking towards putting our son first.”
ryuchell would continue a partnership with peco and co-parent their son. Later on, ryuchell expressed that their sexual orientation is towards men, which suggests that they and peco remained on a friendly basis but dated other people. ryuchell gradually altered their appearance to a more traditionally feminine look.
(Anonymous) best friend weighs in
For these changes in ryuchell’s relationship with peco and their personal style, internet trolls attacked ryuchell daily with an onslaught of verbal insults.
An unnamed best friend of ryuchell who last saw them in April believes that criticism on social media was the most likely trigger of the unfortunate death. Other Japanese stars, such as Kimura Hana, have also suffered greatly under the weight of online abuse.
Hateful comments that accuse ryuchell of abandoning their child and ridiculing their choice to become more feminine flowed in like a tide. But publicly, ryuchell didn’t flinch. Turning a deaf ear, they continued to play a bright persona.
The best friend noticed a change in ryuchell during their last dinner together, around the time that they had started female hormone therapy. Their last contact was via text in June. The friend said, “They showed no signs of depression.”
ryuchell’s roots
ryuchell’s birthname is Higa Ryūji (比嘉龍二).
They were born on September 29th 1995 to a Hispanic American father (a former US military officer) and a Japanese mother in Ginowan City, Okinawa. They had five siblings and ryuchell was the youngest.
Their parents divorced when they were 3 years old. Once ryuchell became an adult, they would send money to each parent to look after them.
ryuchell stayed in Ginowan until deciding to go to high school outside of their hometown. Their earlier schooling years were spent in fear of standing out, which prompted them to find a new setting for unapologetic self-expression.
Before entering high school, they began posting themselves on social media with blue color contact lenses and makeup. They’d show their hair done in curls with fashionable outfits.
ryuchell moved to Tokyo in 2014. Thrift store SUPER WEGO scouted them on Twitter and asked them to join the store’s staff.
It was at this job that ryuchell met peco, their future wife and later life partner.
ryuchell’s TV career and celebrity fame took off in 2015 when they made an appearance on the show gyouretsu-no-dekiru-houritsu-soudanjo (行列のできる法律相談所), or the legal help desk with a waiting line.
Mourning and remembering
peco shared an Instagram story on July 14th asking that fans and media give her and her family the space to grieve. People have shown up in front of her house, posted hateful comments about ryuchell after their death, and done other disrespectful things to those in mourning.
Be cautious of how you express your grievances as it can be triggering for others.
For access to help, refer to the information below.
If you are in Japan you can call the following numbers:
0570-064-556 for kokoro-no-kenkou-soudan (こころの健康相談) operated by prefectorial and city organizations.
0570-783-556 for inochi-no-denwa (いのちの電話) operated by Federation of Inochi No Denwa.
0120-061-338 for #inochi-SOS (＃いのちSOS) operated by jisatsu-taisaku-shien-sentā (自殺対策支援センター), or suicide prevention support center.
0120-0-78310 for Children’s SOS Support Desk operated by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology.
If you are in the US call 911 for emergencies and 988 for the suicide hotline.
If you want to know your country’s suicide hotline, click the link here.
What to read next
Kimura Hana’s Death Sparks Anti-Bullying Outcry
Sources
[1] タレントryuchellさん死亡 東京・渋谷区の事務所で. Yahoo! News Japan
[2] 「最近ホルモンバランスが悪い…」急死のryuchellさんが友人に明かしていた“ホントの胸の内”「痛いことは絶対しない」「女の子は本当大変なんだ」. Yahoo! News Japan
[3] pecoさんSNS更新心境つづる。peco・Instagramに「りゅうちぇるが亡くなった」と投稿された。「ぺこ＆りゅうちぇる」として人気集めた。｜ZIP!2023年07月14日. YouTube
[4] ryuchell、LGBTQイベントで声詰まらせ「自分の心にしかない愛や幸せがある」訴え. 日刊スポーツ
[5] ryuchell LGBTQ法案「差別」文言入りに賛成も 中曽根氏のトイレ発言には「全く別」. Sponichi Annex
[6] ryuchellさん死去後もネット中傷続き「本当に人間じゃないと思った」三崎優太氏が激怒「この社会は腐ってる」. Yahoo! News Japan
[7] りゅうちぇるの生い立ちまとめ！幼少期や学生時代の画像や学歴経歴を紹介. きのこ王国
[8] 「りゅうの選択をどう思う？」急逝したryuchellが“アパレル時代からの親友”に最後に漏らした不安「女性ホルモンとネットのバッシングと…」.文春オンライン
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