To follow Hide-san

Matsumoto, 33-year-old former lead guitarist of the X Japan group who was known as Hide, hanged himself at his Tokyo apartment last weekend. He did not leave any suicide note.

On Sunday, a 17-year-old girl hanged herself at a hotel in the western city of Osaka where she was staying with her family.

A 14-year-old girl in Tokyo was the second copycat victim on Monday.

And at the seaside city of Chiba near Tokyo, an 18-year-old woman, wearing a T-shirt printed with the dead star8217;s name, threw herself from a viaduct on Monday. She remains in a coma.

Inanother tragedy, two male fans of Matsumoto were killed in a car crash early Thursday while driving from Osaka to Tokyo to attend his funeral, police said. Six others were injured.

The 18-year-old driver of the vehicle, who was seriously injured, had apparently dozed off during the overnight trip, police said.

Representatives from Matsumoto8217;s office implored fans this week not to mimic the rock star8217;s suicide, saying it was not what he would have wanted.

Yoshiki Hayashi, 32, who was the group8217;s leader, told a news conference on Wednesday: 8220;Please never do it. Hide would be the most saddened by such a thing.8221;

The group, enormously popular in the late 1980s and early 1990s, broke up last December. Matsumoto, whose trademark included pink hair, carried on with a solo career. He was also involved in charitable activities to encourage bone marrow donors. When his funeral was held on Thursday, more than 25,000 mourning fans lined up for two km around a Buddhist temple in Tokyo8217;s Tsukiji district. Someeven estimated the number at 50,000.

While there were occasional outbursts from frantic fans, the procession was mostly orderly. Mourners, many of them with dyed hair like X Japan members, waited quietly for hours to pay tribute.

Many youngsters fainted during the funeral. Some 56 were treated at hospitals and about 200 were given treatment at the scene.

Psychiatrist Rika Kayama told the Asahi Shimbun that the orderly behaviour of the fans at the funeral, in contrast to their aggressive looks, mirrored the mentality of the current younger generation.

8220;They have contradictions within themselves. While seeking to be different from others by sporting deviant fashion, they also want to share the feeling of oneness with others. This contradiction appears to be strong among young people these days.8221; She said X Japan, with its aggressive fashion, was probably the way for youngsters to satisfy those two different needs to be different and to become one with others.