, better known by her stage name , is a Japanese actress and former

idol Idol or Idols may refer to: Religion and philosophy * Cult image, a human-made object that is venerated or worshipped for the deity, spirit or daemon that it embodies or represents * Murti, a devotional image of a deity or saint used during puja ...

singer.

Biography

Nana Okada got her start in show business in the

TV Asahi JOEX-DTV (channel 5), branded as , and better known as , is a Japanese television station serving the Kanto region as the flagship station of the All-Nippon News Network. It is owned-and-operated by the a subsidiary of , itself controlled by ...

program ''"Anata o Star Ni!"'' (You Are a Star!) in 1974. She was signed to NAV Records and released her first single, ''"Hitorigoto"'' (Soliloquy), in May 1975. In the spring of 1976 she released her biggest hit and signature song ''"''" (The Hills of Youth), which reached the

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that ...

top 30. Other top 40 hits would follow, such as ''"''Wakai Kisetsu" (The Young Season), ''"''Teami no Present''"'' (Hand-knitted Present) and ''"''Soyokaze to Watashi''"'' (The Breeze And I). Her last single was released in 1986. Nana Okada has also acted in movies and

drama series In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular su ...

. In May 1977, a man armed with a knife invaded Okada's apartment and held her captive for five hours before escaping. Okada was injured on both hands, but was otherwise not physically assaulted. The perpetrator was never identified, and Okada suffered a decline in popularity due to the media reporting which damaged her "innocent" image. When author and former

yakuza , also known as , are members of transnational organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. The Japanese police and media (by request of the police) call them , while the yakuza call themselves . The English equivalent for the term ''yak ...

George Abe interviewed Okada for ''

Weekly Asahi Geinō , often shortened to simply ''Asahi Geinō'' or , is a shūkanshi founded by Hirotomo Takei and published by Tokuma Shoten in Japan. It was first published under the title in January 1946, though the title and size were changed to the current on ...

'' years later, he revealed that he had been her admirer, and that when serving time in the

Tokyo Detention House The is a correctional facility in Katsushika, Tokyo. The prison, which is operated by the Ministry of Justice (Japan), Ministry of Justice, is one of seven penal system of Japan, detention centres that carry out executions in Japan. It is used t ...

, he had met a fellow inmate who claimed to be the perpetrator of the crime and had beaten him up so severely that he would suffer "lifetime injuries".

Discography

Singles

# Hitorigoto (10 May 1975) # Jogakusei (25 Aug. 1975) # Kuchizuke (10 Dec. 1975) # Seishun no Sakamichi (10 Mar. 1976) # Wakai Kisetsu (10 Jun. 1976) # Teami no Present (10 Sep. 1976) # Kazaranai Seishun (21 Dec. 1976) # Soyokaze to Watashi (10 Apr. 1977) # Love Step Jump (10 Jul. 1977) # Kyūai Senka (25 Sep. 1977) # Bye-bye Lullaby (10 Feb. 1978) # Dame Desuka (25 Apr. 1978) # Shonan Kaigan Dori (21 Sep. 1978) # Kake (21 Mar. 1979) # Quiet Dance (21 Oct. 1980) # It's For You c/w Nagai Yoru (5 Feb. 1986)

Albums

# Nana no Hitorigoto (25 Jul. 1975) # Akogare (10 Dec. 1975) # Seventeen! Okada Nana Birthday Concert (10 May 1976) # Akushu Shiyou yo (25 Aug. 1976) # Okada Nana Original Best Collection (Nov. 1976) # 77 Atarashii Nikkichou (25 Feb. 1977) # Cream Soda (25 Aug. 1977) # Okada Nana Best 24 (Dec. 1977) # Bye-bye Lullaby / Ai no Finale (25 Mar. 1978) # Mr. Arranger (5 Nov. 1978)

Filmography

Films

* '' G.I. Samurai'' (1979) - Kazuko Arai * ''Nomugi Pass II'' (1982) - Ai Kawai * '' Hometown'' (1983) - Fuku * '' Hakujasho'' (1983) - Yasue * '' Okinawan Boys'' (1983) * ''

Legend of the Eight Samurai is a 1983 Japanese fantasyLawrence Ellsworth. "Legend of the Eight Samurai". Cinema of Swords. Globe Pequot. 2023. p170& 171. film directed by Kinji Fukasaku. The script is adapted from Toshio Kamata's 1982 novel ''Shin Satomi Hakkenden'' (新� ...

'' (1983) - Hamaji * '' Love & Pop'' (1998) - Hiromi's Mother * ''The Book Peddler'' (2016) - Kyoko Akamatsu * ''Our Journey of 50 Years'' (2026) - Mayumi Nakatani

Television

* ''Oretachi no Tabi'' (1975) - Mayumi Nakatani * ''

The Unfettered Shogun (Abarenbō Shōgun) was a Japanese television program on the TV Asahi network. Set in the eighteenth century, it showed fictitious events in the life of Yoshimune, the eighth Tokugawa ''shōgun''. The program started in 1978 under the title '' ...

'' (1979) - Episode 59 as Osen and Episode 82 as Yukitori * '' Momotarō-zamurai'' (1980) - Okyō * ''

Sanga Moyu ''Sanga Moyu'' (山河燃ゆ) is a Japanese television drama based on the 1983 novel ''Futatsu no Sokoku'' (二つの祖国) by Toyoko Yamazaki. It was NHK's taiga drama in 1984. Synopsis The Amo family lives in Los Angeles, California. Two of ...

'' (1984)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Okada, Nana 1959 births Japanese women singers Japanese idols Living people