# Miho Nakayama

Miho Nakayama (中山 美穂, Nakayama Miho, 1 March 1970 – 6 December 2024) was a Japanese singer and actress. She made her debut in the 1985 drama Maido Osawagase Shimasu, where her performance led to instant stardom. Nakayama released her debut single, "C", shortly after, and finished the year with her film debut in the blockbuster Be-Bop High School. She became one of the most popular idols during its "Golden Age" in the 1980s. Nicknamed Miporin (ミポリン), Nakayama occasionally used the pseudonyms Mizuho Kitayama (北山 瑞穂, Kitayama Mizuho) or Issaque (一咲, Issaku) when she wrote song lyrics.
After pivoting towards a dance-oriented sound, she achieved five consecutive number one singles. Her best known songs from this period include "Waku Waku Sasete", "50/50", "Catch Me" and "You're My Only Shinin' Star". In the 1990s, she wrote lyrics and recorded ballads, resulting in several platinum singles and her biggest sales: "Tōi Machi no Doko ka de..." (1991), "Sekaijū no Dare Yori Kitto" (1992) with Wands, and "Tada Nakitaku Naru no" (1994).
Nakayama received positive reviews for her lead roles in Love Letter (1995) and Tokyo Weather (1997).

## Early life and education

Nakayama was born on 1 March 1970, in Saku, Nagano. After her mother remarried, her family moved to Koganei, Tokyo, where Nakayama attended Koganei Municipal Junior High School.

## Career
### Singing

After a talent scout discovered her in Harajuku, Nakayama debuted on 21 June 1985 with her single "C", and with her starring role in the film Be-Bop High School. Throughout her career as a singer and actress, she recorded 22 studio albums and scored eight No. 1 singles on Oricon charts, two of which sold over one million copies each. She also starred in a 1987 Famicom Disk System dating sim produced by Nintendo titled Nakayama Miho no Tokimeki High School, in which she played a high school student who tries to conceal her actual identity.
By the 1990s, her artistry began to mature as she penned lyrics and recorded ballads, resulting in several platinum singles and her biggest sales: "Tōi Machi no Doko ka de..." (1991), "Sekaijū no Dare Yori Kitto" (1992) with Wands, and "Tada Nakitaku Naru no" (1994). Nicknamed Miporin (ミポリン), Nakayama occasionally used the pseudonyms Mizuho Kitayama (北山 瑞穂, Kitayama Mizuho) or Issaque (一咲, Issaku) when she wrote song lyrics.

### Acting

In 1995, director Shunji Iwai cast Nakayama in the starring dual roles of Hiroko Watanabe and Itsuki Fujii in the film Love Letter. 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 17th Yokohama Film Festival and the 18th Hochi Film Awards.
On 8 November 2021, Nakayama starred alongside King & Prince member Yuta Jinguji in the stage play Aoi no Ue/Yoroboshi (『葵上』『弱法師』, Lady Aoi/Weak Lawyer) at The Globe Tokyo. The play ran until December 5.
From 1985, she was represented by Big Apple Co., Ltd.

## Awards

Nakayama was nominated for a Best Actress Japanese Academy Award in 1998 for her role in Tokyo Biyori, and has appeared in numerous TV series including Love Story (2001).

## Personal life

Nakayama's younger sister is Shinobu Nakayama, also an actress and retired pop singer. She also has a younger brother named Tomoaki.
Two years after her friend Yasuko Endō died by suicide, Nakayama wrote the lyrics and composed the music for the song, "Long Distance to Heaven," that she performed during a 1988 concert tour. A requiem for Endō, the song commemorated Endō's cancelled debut single "In the Distance." It was included in her July 1988 album Mind Game, and mentioned in her 1991 essay collection P.S. I Love You. Without specifying Endō's name, Nakayama wrote about her in her 2009 photo essay collection Nazenara Yasashii Machi ga Atta Kara.
In 2002, Nakayama married musician Hitonari Tsuji after an eight-month relationship. They moved to Paris, where they had a son a year later. In 2014, Nakayama and Tsuji divorced, and Nakayama moved back to Japan, with Tsuji retaining custody of their son.

## Death and impact

Nakayama was found dead in her house by her staff in Ebisu, Shibuya, Tokyo, on 6 December 2024, at the age of 54. Her Christmas show in Osaka had been scheduled for that day, but it had been canceled due to her poor health. According to investigators, Nakayama's colleague visited her house after finding out that she did not show up for work that day. Police later announced that they found no signs of foul play after conducting an autopsy, while agency Big Apple said in a statement that Nakayama died due to an accident while she was bathing. The agency added that they are considering the possibility of hosting a public life celebration for Nakayama. On 12 December, Nakayama's remains were cremated at a private funeral attended by her sister Shinobu.
A special tribute concert to commemorate Nakayama's 40th anniversary will be held at NHK Hall on 18 June 2025. The venue was originally planned by Nakayama as the penultimate show of her 2025 tour.

## Discography
### Studio albums

* C (1985)
* After School (1985)
* Summer Breeze (1986)
* Exotique (1986)
* One and Only (1987)
* Catch the Nite (1988)
* Mind Game (1988)
* Angel Hearts (1988)
* Hide 'n' Seek (1989)
* Merry Merry (1989)
* All for You (1990)
* Jeweluna (1990)
* Dé eaya (1991)
* Mellow (1992)
* Wagamama na Actress (1993)
* Pure White (1994)
* Mid Blue (1995)
* Deep Lip French (1996)
* Groovin' Blue (1997)
* Olive (1998)
* Manifesto (1999)
* Neuf Neuf (2019)

## Filmography
### Film

| Release date | Title | Distributor | Role | Director | Co-stars | Theme song |
| 12/14/1985 | Be-Bop High School | Tōei Co., Ltd. | Kyōko Izumi | Hiroyuki Nasu | Kojiro Shimizu, Tōru Nakamura, Masumi Miyazaki | Miho Nakayama/"Be-Bop High School" |
| 8/9/1986 | Be-Bop High School: Kōkō Yotarō Elegy | Tōei Co., Ltd. | Kyōko Izumi | Hiroyuki Nasu | Kojiro Shimizu, Tōru Nakamura, Masumi Miyazaki | Miho Nakayama/"Jingi Aishite Moraimasu" |
| 8/26/1989 | Who Do I Choose? | Toho | Nobuko Kuwata | Shūsuke Kaneko | Hiroyuki Sanada, Tōru Kazama, Rie Miyazawa | Miho Nakayama/"Virgin Eyes" |
| 8/31/1991 | Nami no Kazu dake Dakishimete | Toho | Mariko Tanaka | Yasuo Baba | Yuji Oda, Yuki Matsushita, Tetsuya Bessho | |
| 3/25/1995 | Love Letter | Herald Ace | Hiroko Watanabe/Itsuki Fujii | Shunji Iwai | Etsushi Toyokawa, Miki Sakai, Takashi Kashiwabara | |
| 10/18/1997 | Tokyo Weather | Toho | Yōko Shimatsu | Naoto Takenaka | Naoto Takenaka, Takako Matsu, Tomokazu Miura | Taeko Ōnuki/"Himawari" |
| 1/23/2010 | Sayonara Someday | Asmik Ace | Kutsuko Manaka | John H. Lee | Hidetoshi Nishijima, Yuriko Ishida, Takehiro Hira, Takahiro Nishijima, Masaya Kato | Mika Nakashima/"Always" |
| 10/6/2012 | I Have to Buy New Shoes | Tōei Co., Ltd. | Aoi Teshigawara | Eriko Kitagawa | Osamu Mukai, Mirei Kiritani | |
| 4/27/2018 | Marmalade Boy | Warner Bros. | Chiyako Matsuura | Ryūichi Hiroki | Hinako Sakurai, Ryo Yoshizawa, Michitaka Tsutsui, Shōsuke Tanihara, Rei Dan | GReeeeN/"Koi" |
| 5/12/2018 | Butterfly Sleep | Kadokawa Pictures | Ryoko Matsumura | Jeong Jae-eun | Kim Jae-wook, Anna Ishibashi, Shun Sugata, Masanobu Katsumura, Masatoshi Nagase | |
| 1/25/2019 | Ai Uta: My Promise to Nakuhito | Tōei Co., Ltd. | Saeko Hashino | Taisuke Kawamura | Ryusei Yokohama, Kaya Kiyohara, Hiroki Iijima, Riko Narumi, Naomi Zaizen | GReeeeN/"Yakusoku x No title" |
| 10/25/2019 | 108: Revenge and Adventure of Goro Kaiba | Phantom Film Co., Ltd. | Ayako Kaiba | Suzuki Matsuo | Suzuki Matsuo, Shunsuke Daitō, Louis Kurihara, LiLiCo, Seizō Fukumoto | Gen Hoshino/"Yoru no Bōto" |
| 1/17/2020 | Last Letter | Toho | Sakae | Shunji Iwai | Takako Matsu, Masaharu Fukuyama, Suzu Hirose, Nana Mori, Etsushi Toyokawa | Nana Mori/"Kaeru no Uta" |
| 5/6/2022 | Lesson in Murder | The KlockWorx Co., Ltd. | Eriko Kakei | Kazuya Shiraishi | Sadao Abe, Kenshi Okada, Takanori Iwata, Yū Miyazaki | |

### Television series

| Broadcast dates | Title | Network | Role | Co-stars | Theme song |
| 1/8–3/26 (1985) | Maido Osawagase Shimasu | TBS | Nodoka Mori | Akira Onodera, Kazuya Kimura, Hiroko Shino | C-C-B/"Romantic ga Tomaranai" |
| 4/12/1985 | Uchi no Ko ni Kagitte..., Part 2, Episode 1 (guest appearance) | TBS | Nobuko Takaoka | Masakazu Tamura, Aiko Morishita, George Tokoro, Reiko Nakamura, Nobuko Miyamoto | |
| 8/20–9/25 (1985) | Story of a Summer Experience | TBS | Yuki Sugimoto | Naoko Amihama, Shōjotai, Yoshi Ikuzō, Eri Ishida, Arthur Kuroda | Miho Nakayama/"C" |
| 12/10/1985 – 3/25/1986 | Maido Osawagase Shimasu, Part 2 | TBS | Nodoka Mori | Akira Onodera, Kazuya Kimura, Hiroko Shino | C-C-B/"Kūsō Kiss" |
| 10/13/1986–3/23/1987 | Sailor Suit Rebel Alliance | Nippon TV | Miho Yamagata | Nobuko Sendō, Risa Yamamoto, Kyōko Gotō, Ren Osugi, Kazuki Minabuchi | A-JARI/"Shadow of Love" |
| 10/16–12/18 (1986) | Na-ma-i-ki Zakari | Fuji TV | Kayoko Kinoshita | Shigeyuki Nakamura, Kahori Torii, Yōichi Yamamoto, Taiji Yano, Chiaki Watanabe | Miho Nakayama/"Waku Waku Sasete" |
| 4/14–6/16 (1987) | Mama Is an Idol (1987) | TBS | herself | Kunihiko Mitamura, Kumiko Goto, Masatoshi Nagase | Miho Nakayama/"Hade!!!" |
| 10/22–12/24 (1987) | Ohima nara Kite yo ne! | Fuji TV | Nozomi Satake/Yōko Hirose | Yu-ki Matsumura, Shizuka Kudo, Kazuhiko Kanayama | Miho Nakayama/"Catch Me" |
| 1987 | Maido Osawagase Shimasu, Part 3 (guest appearance) | TBS | Nodoka Mori | Hiroshi Katsuno, Risa Tachibana | |
| 7/8–9/23 (1988) | Waka-Okusama wa Ude-Makuri! | TBS | Tomoko Hirose | Kunihiko Mitamura, Noriko Sengoku, Mari Nishio, Jun Miho, Kazuyuki Matsuzawa | Miho Nakayama/"Mermaid" |
| 1/16–3/20 (1989) | Can't Take My Eyes Off You! | Fuji TV | Hitomi Takagi | Momoko Kikuchi, Tomoko Fujita, Kōyō Maeda, Gitan Ōtsuru | Mariko Murai/"Dōshiyō mo naku Renai (Love Affair)" |
| 1/12–3/30 (1990) | Graduation | TBS | Kaori Kinoshita | Yūji Oda, Nobuko Sendō, Michiko Kawai, Koji Matoba | Dreams Come True/"Egao no Yukue" |
| 10/15–12/17 (1990) | Wonderful One-Sided Love | Fuji TV | Keiko Yoda | Toshiro Yanagiba, Emi Wakui, Mikihisa Azuma, Ken Ishiguro | Miho Nakayama/"Aishiterutte Iwanai!" |
| 10/7–12/16 (1991) | When I Really Miss You, but You Are Not Here... | Fuji TV | Miyoko Oki | Gitan Ōtsuru, Kenji Moriwaki, Fumiya Fujii, Tōru Kazama | Miho Nakayama/"Tōi Machi no Doko ka de..." |
| 1/5–12/13 (1992) | NHK Taiga drama: Nobunaga: King of Zipangu | NHK | Nene | Naoto Ogata, Momoko Kikuchi, Jirō Hiramiki, Tōru Nakamura | |
| 10/14–12/23 (1992) | Somebody Loves Her | Fuji TV | Tsubasa Takano | Jinpachi Nezu, Kōji Matoba, Mayu Tsuruta | Miho Nakayama & Wands/"Sekaijū no Dare Yori Kitto" |
| 1/7–3/25 (1994) | Moshimo Negai ga Kanau nara | TBS | Mirai Mōri | Masatoshi Hamada, Takashi Hamazaki, Kōki Okada, Marina Watanabe | Miho Nakayama/"Tada Nakitaku Naru no" |
| 1/9–3/20 (1995) | FOR YOU | Fuji TV | Yayoi Yoshikura | Masanobu Takashima, Katsunori Takahashi, Hiroko Moriguchi, Shingo Katori | Miho Nakayama/"Hero" |
| 10/14–12/16 (1996) | Delicious Relations | Fuji TV | Momoe Fujiwara | Toshiaki Karasawa, Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, Naoko Iijima | Miho Nakayama/"Mirai e no Present" |
| 10/8–12/24 (1998) | Nemureru Mori | Fuji TV | Minako Ōba | Takuya Kimura, Tōru Nakamura, Yūsuke Santamaria | Mariya Takeuchi/"Camouflage" |
| 1/10–3/20 (2000) | Love 2000 | Fuji TV | Rieru Mashiro | Takeshi Kaneshiro, Yukie Nakama, Mikihisa Azuma | Do As Infinity/"Yesterday & Today" |
| 4/15–6/24 (2001) | Love Story | TBS | Misaki Sutō | Etsushi Toyokawa, Haruhiko Katō, Shingo Katori, Yūka | Spitz/"Haruka" |
| 10/7–12/16 (2002) | Home and Away | Fuji TV | Kaede Nakamori | Naomi Nishida, Kōtarō Koizumi, Wakana Sakai | day after tomorrow/"Hello, Everybody!" |
| 5/25–7/13 (2014) | Platonic | NHK BS Premium | Sara Mochizuki | Tsuyoshi Domoto, Kōtarō Koizumi, Mei Nagano | |
| 8/20–9/10 (2016) | Love of the Wise Man | Wowow | Mayuko Takanaka | Ryō Ryūsei, Saki Takaoka, Seiichi Tanabe | |
| 4/17–6/26 (2017) | The Noble Detective | Fuji TV | Tanaka (maid) | Masaki Aiba, Emi Takei, Yukie Nakama | Arashi/"I'll Be There" |
| 1/7–1/28 (2018) | The Makioka Sisters | NHK BS Premium | Tsuruko Makioka | Saki Takaoka, Ayumi Ito, Yuri Nakamura | |
| 10/11–12/13 (2018) | Like Shooting Stars in the Twilight | Fuji TV | Mariko Takizawa | Kuranosuke Sasaki, Hitomi Kuroki, Ryūsei Fujii | Ken Hirai/"Half of Me" |
| 5/10/2019 | The Women of Tokyo's 23 Wards (Episode 5: The Woman of Itabashi Ward) | Wowow | Kaoru | Mafia Kajita, Yū Asakawa, Shigemitsu Ogi | |
| 10/25/2019 | Time Limit Investigator (Episode 3, guest appearance) | TV Asahi | Machiko Kotobuki | Joe Odagiri, Kumiko Aso, Tetsuya Bessho | |
| 1/11–2/29 (2020) | Things You Can Know by Looking at Them | Wowow | Momoko Uchida | Tae Kimura, Yuko Oshima, Yusuke Kamiji, Hiroshi Nagano, Katsuhisa Namase | |
| 3/19/2021 | Three-Star Bar in Tokyo's West Ogikubo District (Episode 6) | Mainichi Broadcasting | Naomi Saigawa | Keita Machida, Kisetsu Fujiwara, Win Morisaki | I Don't Like Mondays./"Entertainer" |
| 4/30–7/2 (2021) | Keishichō Zero-Gakari Seikatsu Anzenka Nande mo Sōdan-shitsu (Season 5) | TV Tokyo | Rei Hoshina | Kōtarō Koizumi, Yuki Matsushita | Hideaki Tokunaga/"Tomorrow" |
| 7/31–9/18 (2021) | The High School Heroes | TV Asahi | Ruriko Manaka | Taishō Iwasaki, Yūto Nasu, Ryūga Satō, Naoki Fujii, Issei Kanasashi, Hidaka Ukisho | KAT-TUN/"Euphoria" |
| 7/18/2022 | Renovation Like Magic (Episode 1, guest appearance) | Kansai TV・Fuji TV | Machi Nishizaki | Haru, Shotaro Mamiya | |

### Television movies

| Broadcast date | Title | Network | Role | Co-stars |
| 3/3/1986 | Monday Drama Land: Fujiko Fujio's Dream Camera | Fuji TV | Sayoko Shiratori | Kyoko Koizumi, Yōko Oginome |
| 5/15/1986 | Thursday Drama Street: Aitsu to Watashi | Fuji TV | Keiko Nishida | Yu-ki Matsumura, Kyoko Enami, Yumiko Fujita, Ayumi Tsuchiya |
| 4/2/1987 | Tuesday Super Wide: Hanjuku Widow! Mibōjin wa Jūhassai | TV Asahi | Tamao Suzumoto | Shingo Tsurumi |
| 10/2/1987 | Papa wa Newscaster (special edition, guest appearance) | TBS | herself | Masakazu Tamura, Honami Suzuki, Jun Fubuki |
| 12/20/1988 | Tuesday Super Wide: Mismatch | TV Asahi | Tamaki Sugihara | Shizuka Kudo, Masanori Sera |
| 4/19/1990 | Tales of the Unusual: Fearful Touch | Fuji TV | Satomi Ayukawa | Johnny Ōkura |
| 12/26/1990 | Chūshingura | TBS | Okaru | Takeshi Kitano (Beat Takeshi), Keiko Takeshita, Takanori Jinnai, Claude Maki, Masami Shimojō |
| 1/23/1991 | Suiyō Gurando Roman: Itsuka, Sarejio Kyōkai de | Nippon TV | Taeko Yamamoto | Eisaku Yoshida |
| 8/27/1992 | Drama City '92: Ai shite iru to Kaite Mita | Yomiuri TV | | Nobuyuki Ishii, Mayumi Hasegawa |
| 1/3/1994 | New Spring Drama Special '94: Aogeba Tōtoshi (Episode 1: "Ni-nen C-gumi no Kiseki") | Fuji TV | Chiaki Sawai | Teruyoshi Uchimura, Rie Tomosaka |
| 12/23/1995 | Seiya no Kiseki (Episode 2: "Seisha ga Machi ni Yattekuru") | Fuji TV | Satsuki Nonomura | Hiroyuki Sanada |
| 8/27/1999 | True Horror Stories: That Summer's Visitor | Fuji TV | Shōko Morii | Yōsuke Kubozuka, Kazuko Yoshiyuki |
| 12/30/2001 | Meoto Manzai | TBS | Nobuko Tsujimoto | Etsushi Toyokawa (dir.), Masahiro Kōmoto, Tatsuo Nadaka, Adeyto |
| 3/20/2012 | Dorama Tokubetsu Kikaku: Shūchaku-eki – Twilight Express no Koi | TBS | Chie Takatsu | Kōichi Satō, Hiroko Nakajima, Sae Shimizu, Chieko Ichikawa, Midori Kimura |
| 6/25/2013 | Shiawase ni naru Mittsu no Kaimono: Manshon o Katta Onna | Kansai TV | Mutsumi Ando | Reika Kirishima, Tasuku Emoto, Yutaka Matsushige |
| 3/29/2017 | Special Drama: Seichō Matsumoto, A Barren Forest | TV Tokyo | Miyuki Etō | Noriyuki Higashiyama, Yukiyoshi Ozawa, Saki Aibu |
| 10/14/2017 | Tales of the Unusual: Fall 2017 Special Edition – "Freestyle Mom" | Fuji TV | Fusako Hosokawa | Yosuke Asari, Serai Takagi, Seikō Itō |
| 4/19/2018 | The Woman of Unresolved Mystery: Women Document Detectives | TV Asahi | Izumi Shimano | Kyōka Suzuki, Haru, Kenichi Endō, Junji Takada, Asuka Kudo |
| 5/18/2019 | Confidence Man JP Special: Unsei-hen | Fuji TV | Wakaba Watanabe | Masami Nagasawa, Masahiro Higashide, Fumiyo Kohinata, Kazuki Kitamura, Ryōko Hirosue |
| 11/23/2019 | The Tragedy of W | NHK BS Premium | Yoshie Watsuji | Tao Tsuchiya, Rie Mimura, Shinya Owada, Mari Natsuki, Kenichi Okamoto |

#### Kōhaku Uta Gassen appearances

| Year / broadcast | Appearance number | Song | Appearance order | Contender | Notes |
| 1988 (Shōwa 63) / 39th | Debut | "Witches" | 1/21 | Hikaru Genji | |
| 1989 (Heisei 1) / 40th | 2 | "Virgin Eyes" | 10/27 | Otokogumi | |
| 1990 (Heisei 2) / 41st | 3 | "Aishiterutte Iwanai!" | 2/29 | Eisaku Yoshida | |
| 1991 (Heisei 3) / 42nd | 4 | "Rosa" | 3/28 | Eisaku Yoshida | |
| 1992 (Heisei 4) / 43rd | 5 | "Sekaijū no Dare Yori Kitto" (with Wands) | 10/28 | Shonentai | Also performed a cover of "Candy Candy" with Chisato Moritaka and Hikaru Nishida. |
| 1993 (Heisei 5) / 44th | 6 | "Shiawase ni Naru Tame ni" | 14/26 | Shonentai | |
| 1994 (Heisei 6) / 45th | 7 | "Tada Nakitaku Naru no" | 8/25 | Fumiya Fujii | |