Transgender Japanese TV star Ryuchell, 27, is found dead by the manager in the agency’s office – a day after their ex-wife posted a photo of their son celebrating his fifth birthday
- Ryuji Higa, better known as Ryuchell, was found unconscious in his Tokyo office
A transgender Japanese model and TV personality has been found dead in their agency’s Tokyo office by their manager.
Ryuji Higa, better known as Ryuchell, was found unconscious in the building on Wednesday night and pronounced dead shortly afterwards.
The police are investigating whether the 27-year-old fashion influencer, who announced last year that he no longer identifies as a man, committed suicide. Their cause of death has not yet been confirmed, police said The Japanese Times.
Ryuchell was found dead a day after his model ex-wife Tetsuko Okuhira, better known as Peco, posted a photo of their son celebrating his fifth birthday with a large cake.
The couple, who met when they were 18, got married in 2016 and had their son two years later. But in August last year, they announced them divorced after Ryuchell said they no longer identified as male — a move that sparked backlash online.
The couple said they were getting divorced to start a “new kind of family” where they would raise their child together.
Ryuji Higa, better known as Ryuchell (pictured at the Tokyo Rainbow Pride event on April 23), was found unconscious in the building on Wednesday night and pronounced dead shortly after
Ryuchell married model Tetsuko Okuhira, better known as Peco (pictured), in 2016 and had their son two years later. But in August last year, they announced their separation after Ryuchell said they no longer identified as a man – a move that led to backlash online
Ryuchell was found dead a day after his model ex-wife Tetsuko Okuhira, better known as Peco, posted a photo of their son celebrating his fifth birthday with a large cake (pictured)
Ryuchell said in an interview last year that they had struggled with his image as the “ideal husband” when they questioned their gender identity before coming out to Peco.
“Being able to fall in love with a woman allowed me to imagine a life completely different from what I thought I would have and taught me joys I didn’t know existed,” they told Japanese women’s magazine Terribly in September.
“Somewhere along the way I started to struggle with the idea of being the ‘ideal man’ and the ‘ideal husband’ and who I really was.”
But Ryuchell was harshly criticized for coming out and in February she and Peco appeared in a YouTube video in which the model defended her ex-husband and said she supported them as they discovered their gender identity.
Ryuchell, who moved to Tokyo after graduating from high school to work in the fashion industry, had gained recognition in Kapan for their role in popularizing a genderless dress style.
Ryuchell performs on stage at the Tokyo Rainbow Pride 2023, an event promoting the understanding of life and sexual diversity in Tokyo, Japan, on April 23. Today Ryuchell was found dead in Tokyo
Pictured: Ryuchell appears at an event in Tokyo last August — the month she and Peco announced their separation because Ryuchell no longer identified as a man
In the months following their divorce, Ryuchell became an influential LGBTQ advocate in Japan and often spoke at Japan’s Pride events — but with the notoriety came a flurry of abuse from users who criticized the TV personality for being a nun. -gender conformity.
Police are investigating whether Ryuchell committed suicide amid the spate of abuse.
Shortly after their deaths were announced, phrases such as “character assassination” and “Ryuchell” began to gain popularity on Twitter in Japan.
The son of Peco and Ryuchell is currently overseas on the US island of Guam in the Western Pacific. On Tuesday, Peco posted a photo of a cake for his fifth birthday. She has yet to respond to Ryuchell’s death.
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