, better known by her

stage name A stage name is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. Such professional aliases are adopted for a wide variety of reasons and they may be similar, or nearly identical, to an individu ...

, was a Japanese cabaret hostess and fashion model, who was known as a featured model on the popular gyaru fashion magazine '' Koakuma Ageha''."Deceased gal model's dream realizes, a meeting of children with incurable diseases is held"
October 24, 2009, '' Chiba Nippo''

Early life and education

Born in Isawa, Iwate, Sumire grew up the child of a

single mother A single parent is a person who has a child or children but does not have a spouse or live-in partner to assist in the upbringing or support of the child. Reasons for becoming a single parent include divorce, break-up, abandonment, becoming wid ...

in a small town. While in high school she dreamed of becoming a

fashion designer Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fashion in ...

Career

After high school, she began working as a hostess at a

Sendai is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Miyagi Prefecture, the largest city in the Tōhoku region. , the city had a population of 1,091,407 in 525,828 households, and is one of Japan's 20 Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, desig ...

hostess club, in order to raise the money she needed to start her career in

fashion design Fashion design is the Art (skill), art of applying design, aesthetics, clothing construction and natural beauty to clothing and its Fashion accessory, accessories. It is influenced by culture and different trends, and has varied over time and plac ...

. She took her genji name "Sumire" from Shonan no Kaze's 2006 single "Junrenka" (), immediately becoming a successful hostess at the club until, at the age of 20, she was approached by '' Koakuma Agehas editor in the club about modeling. She then began to appear in the magazine as a model."Profile of Sumire"
'' Spysee'' Sumire immediately gained enormous popularity among ''Ageha'' readers and began modeling for the non-Ageha scenes such as the Sendai Collection show. She moved to

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

in March 2009 to pursue modeling and her real dream of becoming a fashion designer."Sumire-san, a model for the likes of 'Koakuma Ageha', dies of brain hemorrhage."
June 13, 2009, ''

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'' She launched her own fashion brand named "Divas" while working as a model. On June 10, 2009, when

Gackt , better known by his mononymous stage name Gackt (stylized as GACKT), is a Japanese musician, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. Born in Okinawa, Japan, to a Ryukyuan family, Gackt learned the piano at a young age and was raise ...

's single " Koakuma Heaven" was released, its cover featured Sumire along with other ''Ageha'' models such as

Sayaka Araki is a Japanese fashion model, disc jockey, and businesswoman. She is best known for her stint as a model for the ''Koakuma Ageha'' cabaret-gyaru fashion magazine. She was a major contributor to ''Koakuma Ageha'' for 4 years and 10 months, since the ...

and

Sayo Hayakawa is a Japanese fashion model. She is best known for her stint as a main model for the ''Koakuma Ageha'' cabaret-gyaru fashion magazine. Hayakawa is well known as a former prominent cabaret hostess. After retiring from nightwork in 2010, she sti ...

Death

On June 11, 2009, Sumire was found dead at age 21 in her condominium by her agency's staff. Prior to her death she had complained of headaches, and the cause of death was later determined to be due to a

brain hemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as cerebral bleed, intraparenchymal bleed, and hemorrhagic stroke, or haemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain, into its ventricles, or into both. It is one kind of bleed ...

Legacy

Sumire was well known for her charity work for children in need. She began doing charity work when she was a middle school girl, and her charity work had become more active since early 2009 when she joined the Japan Welfare Children and Families Association after she found out that fellow model(s) had donated money to the association. She donated all the profits from the necklace which she designed and released on the Fancy & Co accessory company, and attended several charity events related to children with incurable diseases in May. After her death, her friends and fellow models founded a charity organization, "H=and Project", with the concept of "succeeding Sumire's willingness". "H=and Project" consists of numerous fashion models and has provided help mainly to children with incurable diseases or disabilities, poverty-stricken children outside Japan (

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in particular), and sometimes to the likes of environmental projects and animal welfare projects."Summary report of H=and Project"
''H=and Project''

References

External links

Official website

Official blog
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Ameba An amoeba (; less commonly spelled ameba or amœba; plural ''am(o)ebas'' or ''am(o)ebae'' ), often called an amoeboid, is a type of cell or unicellular organism with the ability to alter its shape, primarily by extending and retracting pseudop ...