Chloë Constance Kriebel Metcalf died in her home in Kawasaki, Japan, on February 29, 2024, from a suddenly acute illness. She was thirty-six years old. It is fitting that she died on a rare date, as she was an extraordinary person.
Chloë was born in Seattle, Washington, but grew up in Northampton, where she attended the Smith College Campus School through grade six, the Williston Northampton School through grade eight, and then Northampton High School, from which she graduated as co-valedictorian in 2006. While she was in high school, she received special permission to take courses at Smith College, including four years of intensive Japanese, and most school days commuted up and down Elm Street on a kick scooter. After high school she moved to Montreal to study at McGill University, where she majored in biology and linguistics with a minor in Japanese. A junior year abroad at Sofia University in Tokyo was funded in part by a Japanese government grant awarded for her exceptional fluency. She returned to McGill for her senior year, which was to be her last in the western hemisphere. After graduating in 2010, she moved to Yokohama to work as a translator by day and pursue her musical ambitions as a rock songwriter and performer by night.
She was at work on the 43rd floor of her office building in Yokohama when the Tohoku earthquake hit in 2011. The building swayed and furniture rolled across floors. It was days before employees could safely be allowed to leave. They slept on the floor and ate from vending machines. Later she evacuated for a time to Osaka to avoid radiation from the nuclear plant meltdown in Fukushima. None of this undermined her resolve to make a life in Japan.
Throughout her life Chloë was driven by intense enthusiasms, creativity, and determination. Her passions included singing, acting, writing, playing the piano, drawing, costume design and sewing, botany, photography, coin collecting, art-rock music, science fiction, travel, and esoteric mysticism. She maintained a website of translations of her favorite Japanese band’s song lyrics, which acquired an international following and led to her creating a side business helping non-Japanese fans acquire concert tickets and CDs, and acting as a tour guide for their visits to Japan. These friends hosted her in turn, notably for a tour of Russia in which she performed with dancer Amy Gray in a number of cities including St. Petersburg.
The first band she fronted in Japan was called The The Kuro, but she hadn’t yet found the musicians who could help her fully realize her complex compositions. That changed after she met Kazunari Ishizaka, who approached her after one of her performances to say, “I am the guitarist you need.” She agreed, and their musical and personal collaboration, and the group Alien Idol which they founded together, was the great satisfaction of her creative life.
Chafing at the strictures of corporate employment, she came to work for years as a freelance translator, on projects as diverse as manga and scientific textbooks. At the time of her death she held what she described as her dream job with the company Abracadabra, translating Japanese pop culture materials for international fans.
Chloë’s parents, George Kriebel and Sarah Metcalf, and her brother Simon Metcalf ’09, traveled to Japan after learning of Chloë’s death to meet with her friends and deal with her affairs. A traditional Japanese cremation was performed there, along with a memorial service, which was gratifyingly well-attended. Her many mourners spoke of her talents, intellect, dramatic flair, beauty, charisma and kindness.
In addition to her immediate family, Chloë is survived by aunts, uncles and numerous cousins.
A local memorial service will be held on Saturday, May 11, at 1:30 p.m. at the Unitarian Society of Northampton and Florence, which Chloë attended throughout her childhood and youth. All are welcome.
