Tokunaga Yoshiya, drummer with the pop group Checkers, died yesterday at a Yokohama hospital of tongue cancer. He was 40. Checkers were one of the most popular boy bands of the 1980s, formed in Fukuoka in 1981, and produced one of Japan’s leading pop singers in Fujii Fumiya (photo, 42). They broke up in 1992 but there had been hopes of a band reunion in recent years. “Kurobe,” the youngest member of the band, announced on his web site last September that he was undergoing treatment. He appeared to have made a good recovery when he played at a concert with rock band Wild-G in January, but was readmitted to hospital soon after.