is a Japanese singer and actress. She is affiliated with Big Apple Co., Ltd. Nakayama is nicknamed , and sometimes uses the pseudonyms or when she writes the lyrics.

Biography

History

Nakayama was born in

Saku, Nagano is a city located in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 99,131 in 41,522 households, and a population density of 230 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Saku is located in east-central ...

, Japan. Following her mother's remarriage, her family moved to

Koganei, Tokyo is a Cities of Japan, city located in the Western Tokyo, western portion of Tokyo, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 123,698 in 61,832 households. The total area of the city is so the population density is about 11,000 persons per ...

. There, Nakayama attended Koganei Municipal Junior High School.

Idol career

After being discovered by a talent scout while shopping in

Harajuku is a district in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. Harajuku is the common name given to a geographic area spreading from Harajuku Station to Omotesando, corresponding on official maps of Shibuya ward as Jingūmae 1 chōme to 4 chōme. In popular refer ...

, she made her debut on 21 June 1985 with her single " C", as well as a starring role in the film ''

Be-Bop High School is a manga series by Kazuhiro Kiuchi that was published in sequential parts in Kodansha's ''seinen'' manga magazine ''Young Magazine'' from 1983 to 2003. It has been adapted into seven live-action films, a video game, and an OVA ani ...

''. Throughout her career as a singer and actress, Nakayama recorded 22 studio albums and scored eight No. 1 singles on

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in Nov ...

's charts; two of them selling over a million copies each. She also starred in a

Famicom Disk System The commonly shortened to the Famicom Disk System or just Disk System, is a peripheral for Nintendo's Nintendo Entertainment System, Family Computer home video game console, released only in Japan on February 21, 1986. It uses proprietary flopp ...

dating sim Dating sims, or , are video game subgenre of simulation games with romantic elements. Dating sims are often dialog-heavy and focus on time management. The player must befriend and carefully build and maintain a relationship with one or more ...

made by Nintendo titled ''

Nakayama Miho no Tokimeki High School is a 1987 in video gaming, 1987 dating sim developed by Square (video game company), Square and Nintendo Research & Development 1, Nintendo R&D1, and published by Nintendo exclusively in Japan for the Famicom Disk System. The game was released on ...

'', in which she played a high school student trying to mask her true identity.

Acting career

In 1995, director

Shunji Iwai is a Japanese film director, video artist, writer and documentary maker. Life and career Iwai was born in Sendai, Miyagi, Japan. He attended Yokohama National University, graduating in 1987. In 1988 he started out in the Japanese entertainment ...

cast Nakayama in the starring dual roles of Hiroko Watanabe and Itsuki Fujii in the film ''

Love Letter A love letter is an expression of love in written form. However delivered, the letter may be anything from a short and simple message of love to a lengthy explanation and description of feelings. History One of the oldest references to a lo ...

''. The film was a huge box-office success, and Nakayama won Best Actress awards for her role in the film at the 38th

Blue Ribbon Awards The are film-specific prizes awarded solely by movie critics and writers in Tokyo, Japan. The awards were established in 1950 by which is composed of film correspondents from seven Tokyo-based sports newspapers. In 1961, the six major Japanes ...

, the 17th

Yokohama Film Festival The is an annual awards ceremony held in Yokohama, Japan. Ten films are chosen as the best of the year and various awards are given to personnel. The first festival, held on February 3, 1980, was a small affair by fans and film critics. In 1994, ...

and the 18th

Hochi Film Award The are film-specific prizes awarded by the ''Hochi Shimbun , previously known as , is a Japanese-language daily sports newspaper. In 2002, it had a circulation of a million copies a day. It is an affiliate newspaper of ''Yomiuri Shimbun''. ...

s. Nakayama was nominated for a Best Actress

Japanese Academy Award The , often called the Japan Academy Prize, the Japan Academy Awards, and the Japanese Academy Awards, is a series of awards given annually since 1978 by the Japan Academy Film Prize Association (日本アカデミー賞協会, ''Nippon Akademii- ...

in 1998 for her role in ''Tokyo Biyori,'' and has appeared in a number of TV series including ''Love Story'' (2001). On 8 November 2021, Nakayama starred alongside

King & Prince King & Prince is a five-member Japanese idol group under Johnny & Associates that debuted in 2018. The group was originally a Johnny's Jr. unit, ''Mr. King vs Mr. Prince'' that was composed of 2 separate units: Mr. King and Prince. The units lat ...

member Yuta Jinguji in the stage play at The Globe Tokyo. The play runs until December 5.

Personal life

Nakayama's younger sister is

Shinobu Nakayama is an actress and a former J-pop singer. The younger sister of singer and actress Miho Nakayama, she released her first single on 2 November 1988; her final release as a J-pop artist was on 1 March 1991. Nakayama was also a member of the short-l ...

, who is also an actress and former pop singer. She also has a younger brother named Tomoaki. Nakayama had been signed to the same Box Corporation and before debut, became friends with

Yasuko Endō was a Japanese model and actress who, set to debut as an Japanese idol, idol singer, committed suicide at age 17. She is not to be confused with narrator Yasuko Endō (遠藤泰子) or later actress Yasuko Endō (遠藤靖子). Biography Endō ...

. Two years after Endō's suicide, Nakayama performed song called "Long Distance Tengoku e" during concert tour 1988. As an homage to the title of Endō's cancelled debut single "In the Distance", it was held as a requiem for her. Nakayama wrote the lyrics and composed the song herself. The song title changed to "Long Distance To The Heaven", and it was included on the album ''

Mind Game Playing mind games (also power games or head games) is the largely conscious struggle for psychological one-upmanship, often employing passive–aggressive behavior to specifically demoralize or dis-empower the thinking subject, making the ag ...

'', released July that year. She touched about this song in the 1991 essay collection ''P.S. I Love You''. Also in the 2009 collection ''Nazenara Yasashii Machi ga Atta Kara'', Endō is written about with name excluded. Nakayama married musician

Hitonari Tsuji is a Tokyo-born Japanese writer, composer, and film director. In his film and singing work he uses the name Jinsei Tsuji, an alternative reading of the Japanese writing of his name. He debuted as a writer in 1989. His books and stories have been ...

in 2002 after an eight-month relationship and they both moved to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

before she gave birth to their son a year later. They divorced in 2014, and Nakayama moved back to Japan, with Tsuji retaining custody of their son.

Discography

;Studio albums * '' C'' (1985) * '' After School'' (1985) * '' Summer Breeze'' (1986) * '' Exotique'' (1986) * ''

One and Only One And Only ( ja, ワンアンドオンリー, link=no, foaled 23 February 2011) is a Japanese Thoroughbred racehorse and sire best known for his win in the 2014 Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby). He showed great promise as a juvenile in 2013 when ...

'' (1987) * ''

Catch the Nite is the sixth studio album by Japanese entertainer Miho Nakayama. Released through King Records on February 10, 1988, the album features the No. 1 single " Catch Me". It was produced by Toshiki Kadomatsu, who composed majority of the album's songs ...

'' (1988) * ''

Angel Hearts is the eighth studio album by Japanese entertainer Miho Nakayama. Released through King Records on December 5, 1988, the album features the No. 1 single "Witches". "Sweetest Lover", "Too Fast, Too Close", and "Try or Cry" were featured in Nakayam ...

'' (1988) * ''

Hide 'n' Seek is the ninth studio album by Japanese entertainer Miho Nakayama. Released through King Records on September 5, 1989, the album features the single " Virgin Eyes", as well as a re-recording of her 1988 No. 1 hit " You're My Only Shinin' Star". It ...

'' (1989) * ''

Merry Merry is the tenth studio album by Japanese entertainer Miho Nakayama. Released through King Records on December 5, 1989, it is a Christmas-themed album, featuring five song covers, two original songs written by Nakayama (under the pseudonym "Mizuho Ki ...

'' (1989) * '' All for You'' (1990) * ''

Jeweluna is the 12th studio album by Japanese entertainer Miho Nakayama. Released through King Records on July 18, 1990, the album features the singles " Megamitachi no Bōken" and " Kore kara no I Love You". The album peaked at No. 3 on Oricon , est ...

'' (1990) * '' Dé eaya'' (1991) * '' Mellow'' (1992) * ''

Wagamama na Actress is the 15th studio album by Japanese entertainer Miho Nakayama. Released through King Records on June 23, 1993, it is Nakayama's fifth studio release (after ''One and Only'', ''Mind Game'', ''Merry Merry'', and '' Dé eaya'') to not feature a si ...

'' (1993) * '' Pure White'' (1994) * '' Mid Blue'' (1995) * '' Deep Lip French'' (1996) * ''

Groovin' Blue ''Groovin' Blue'' is an album by saxophonist Curtis Amy and drummer Frank Butler recorded in late 1960 and early 1961 for the Pacific Jazz label.Olive The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'', meaning 'European olive' in Latin, is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin. When in shrub form, it is known as ''Olea europaea'' ...

'' (1998) * ''

Manifesto A manifesto is a published declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of the issuer, be it an individual, group, political party or government. A manifesto usually accepts a previously published opinion or public consensus or promotes a ...

'' (1999) * '' Neuf Neuf'' (2019)

Filmography

Film

*''

'' (1985) – Kyōko Izumi *''

Who Do I Choose? is a Japanese film directed by Shūsuke Kaneko. For her role in this film, actress Rie Miyazawa won the Nikkan Sports Film Award for Best New Talent. Cinematographer Kenji Takama won the Yokohama Film Festival The is an annual awards ceremon ...

'' (1989) – Nobuko Kuwata *''

'' (1995) – Hiroko Watanabe and Itsuki Fujii *''

Marmalade Boy is a shōjo manga series by Wataru Yoshizumi. It was published by Shueisha in the magazine '' Ribon'' from May 1992 to October 1995 and collected in eight ''tankōbon'' volumes. The series was adapted by Toei Animation as a 76-episode an ...

'' (2018) *''Butterfly Sleep'' (2018) *''Aiuta: My Promise to Nakuhito'' (2019) *'' 108: Revenge and Adventure of Goro Kaiba'' (2019) – Ayako Kaiba *'' Last Letter'' (2020) – Sakae *''Lesson in Murder'' (2022) – Eriko Kakei

Television

*''Maido Osawagase Shimasu'' (1985) – Nodoka Mori *'' Uchi no Ko ni Kagitte...'' (1985) – Nobuko Takaoka *''Natsu Taiken Monogatari'' (1985) – Yuki Sugimoto *''Na-ma-i-ki Mori'' (1986) - Kayoko Kinoshita *''Mama wa Idol'' (1987–88) – herself *''Suteki na Kataomoi'' (1990) – Keiko Yoda/Nana Hayashi *''Aitai Toki ni Anata wa Inai'' (1991) – Miyoko Oki *''Nobunaga: King of Zipangu'' (1992) – Nene *''

Nemureru Mori is a drama that aired on Fuji TV. It first aired in Japan from 8 October 1998 to 24 December 1998. It is written by Nozawa Hisashi, starring Miho Nakayama and Takuya Kimura, and features music by Mariya Takeuchi (Theme song – Camouflage) and ...

'' (1998) – Minako Ōba *''W's Tragedy'' (2019) – Yoshie

''
Kōhaku Uta Gassen , more commonly known simply as ''Kōhaku'', is an annual New Year's Eve television special produced by Japanese public broadcaster NHK. It is broadcast live simultaneously on television and radio, nationally and internationally by the NHK net ...
'' appearances

Bibliography

* ''Issho Kenmei Nakayama Miho Photo Collection'' (1985,

Wani Books is a Japanese publishing company focused on manga-related publication, including magazines and books. The company was established in November 1979. It publishes a manga magazine called ''Comic Gum''. Magazines published ''Wink Up'' is an idol ...

) - Photo Collection * ''Toumei de Iru Yo, Meippai Onna no Ko'' (1985, Wani Books) - Essay Collection * ''Miho Ganbaru'' (1986, Shueisha) - Photo Collection * ''Docchi ni Suru no.'' (1989,

Shueisha (lit. "Gathering of Intellect Publishing Co., Ltd.") is a Japanese company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The company was established in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The foll ...

) - Photo Collection * ''Ambivalence Nakayama Miho Shashinshu'' (1989, Wani Books) - Photo Collection * ''SCENA miho nakayama pictorial'' (1991, Wani Books) - Photo Collection * ''P.S. I LOVE YOU'' (1991, Nippon Hassou Shuppan and

Fusosha Publishing is a Japanese publishing company wholly owned by Fuji Media Holdings and part of the Fujisankei Communications Group. History Fuji TV established Living Magazine Co. , Ltd as a publishing business. In 1984, the company name was changed from Liv ...

) - Essay Collection * ''LETTERS in Love Letter''（Nakayama Miho Photo Collection） (1995, Wani Books) - Photo Collection * ''Nakayama Miho in Eiga Tokyo Biyori'' (1997, Wani Books) - Photo Collection * ''Atashi to Watashi'' (1997,

Gentosha is a Japanese publisher, headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo. Gentosha publishes manga magazine ''Comic Birz'', Web comic magazines '' GENZO'', ''SPICA'', '' Comic MAGNA'', literary magazines '' Lynx'', ''papyrus'', as well as business magazine ''GOET ...

) - Novel * ''ANGEL'' (1998, Wani Books) - Photo Collection * ''Nazenara Yasashii Machi ga Atta Kara'' (2009, Shueisha) - Photo Essay Collection

References

External links

* * * * *
Miho Nakayama
at Oricon
Miho Nakayama
at Idol.ne.jp {{DEFAULTSORT:Nakayama, Miho 1970 births Living people People from Nagano Prefecture People from Koganei, Tokyo Japanese actresses Japanese idols Japanese women pop singers Japanese expatriates in France English-language singers from Japan King Records (Japan) artists 21st-century Japanese singers 21st-century Japanese women singers