Tragedy crushes some people, twists and mangles them in ways from which they never recover. Others emerge stronger, as if all the pressure had fused to produce a diamond. Violin prodigy Diana Yukawa shows such sparkle.

The 15-year-old teenager was born a month after her Japanese father died in the worst airplane disaster in history -- the Japan Airlines crash that killed 520 people on a mountain in Ueno, Gunma Prefecture, on Aug. 12, 1985.

The story of how she has come to shine so brightly and at such a young age has captured the imagination of the Japanese public since the release this September of her debut CD. "La Campanella" shot to the top of the HMV classical music charts in Japan, and the young Londoner soon found herself a magazine cover girl in the country of her birth.

The attention swirling around Yukawa now caps a momentous year in her young life that began with a debut concerto performance at St. James' Cathedral in London last November and ends with a recital Dec. 11 at Tokyo's Kioi Hall.

If all this seems confoundingly grownup stuff, even for a talented and ambitious teen, it is a relief to see she is still enough of a kid to get a kick out of playing at the first anniversary of Harajuku's Pizza Express -- one of her favorite hangouts in her home suburb of Wimbledon.

But even here, as the tiny virtuoso settles into a chair to chat, she finds herself picking up pieces of her father's life.

As she begins to talk, her English mother, Catherine Bayly, at her side, a slick-dressed Japanese man sweeps over to applaud her performance. It is rock music photographer Herbie Yamaguchi, who, she later explains, met her father in London years before her birth.

"He says my father gave him a very special message of inspiration when he was a struggling photographer in London, and thinking of giving up. My father told him 'You have pure eyes,' and said he should follow his dream," Yukawa said, her own eyes glittering as she explained that the book of photographs Yamaguchi went on to produce is titled "After the Dream in London."

Yukawa's father himself had wanted to become a professional pianist but ultimately chose banking as his career. "His heart was heavy because he could not follow his own artistic dream," Yukawa said.

She insists, however, that she had not become a violinist in deference to his own unrealized ambition or his hopes for her.

"The fact that I wanted that and he wanted that is a coincidence," she said. "I knew that I wanted to play violin from the time I first picked one up when I was 5."

Yukawa has gained high praise in her short career: Her teacher, Roger Friend, the first British violinist to lead the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, once predicted that she will become "one of the great violinists of her generation."

However, it is a pursuit intertwined with the wreckage of her past. She vividly illustrates this on the CD with a moving interpretation of "Ue o Muite Aruko." Better known overseas as "The Sukiyaki Song," it was made popular by Kyu Sakamoto, who died with her father on the Boeing 747.

Yukawa admits that she draws on thoughts about her father when she performs.

"Of course my father is attached in some way (when I play)," she said. "The message in the CD is dedicated to my father and all people involved in the crash. My father will always be connected with me at the moment."

Yukawa speaks candidly without any hint of emotion, but the loss of a parent she never knew looms large in her life.

"You want to know what he looked like when he was sleeping, things that he said, his habits . . . These are things you will never know," she said. "You should not have to experience such loss. All the other people connected to these people . . . so many wounds."

Even the knowledge that he was her father is something she has never been allowed to take for granted.

Despite Akihisa Yukawa's 10-year relationship with their mother Catherine, Japan Airlines forced Diana and her older sister Cassie to prove that they were his legal offspring to be eligible for compensation.

"Now I can have his name on my birth certificate. I felt in a way it was unnecessary, but I really felt a sense of closure. I can say he is my father and you can't dispute it."

London's High Court ruled in their favor this March, "at the same time I got the contract for the CD," Yukawa said.

A month before the CD was released in Japan, Yukawa returned to the crash site for a second anniversary performance. The emotions hadn't subsided.

"When I went this year I did not think it would be as difficult. But it was worse. I had to stop playing because I felt a kind of communication . . . and, look, for the past 15 years of life I've known I had a father, but reality really kicked in this time."

The attention paid to her tragic background is no bother, yet.

"If you are going to release a CD, you are going to be in the public eye. I'm not going to keep a secret or hide. It is natural that people want to know about me, about my past."

At present, Yukawa is preparing for the CD's release in the U.K. and hopes it will also gain a release in the U.S.

"Of course the CD is great, but I can't just be a recording artist. It is a good time for me to make my debut as a performance artist in Japan," she said.

The next phase for the young artist will be to return to the music sheets.

"I want to learn more repertoire so if suddenly everything takes off I'm ready. I'm at the right age to study. By the time I am 18 or 19 I should know everything and that is the time I can really concertize."

All this may sound a great burden for someone whose peers are hanging out at the mall, but Yukawa cites other acclaimed musicians who began their careers even younger, and among whom she is eager to take her place.

"I want people to listen to my music and say I'm a violinist," she said.

Through music, perhaps Yukawa has found a way to turn the tears of a tragedy into jewels of beauty, both for her audience and herself.

"If anyone can find any kind of joy from listening to my music then I'm very happy."