Kaho Nakamura

**Kaho Nakamura** (中村佳穂, *Nakamura Kaho*, born May 26, 1992) is a Japanese singer-songwriter from Kyoto. She studied at Seika University and initially wanted to become an artist before turning to music. Her debut studio album *AINOU* was released on November 7, 2018. She is the voice of Suzu Naito in *Belle*.

It was revealed that the two met several years ago at a concert in Nara. Nakamura said in a statement, "実は監督とは、数年前に、奈良でライブをした時にお会いしていて...楽屋に届いた一升瓶を見て「どなたからですか？」と会場の方に聞いたら、「細田監督からです」と言われ、まさかと思っていたら、その奥に監督がいらしたんです。そこからのご縁で何度か演奏をご覧いただいて、本当に気さくに話しかけてくれる素敵な方だなと思っていたのですが、今回オーディションに参加し、まさかこんなご縁に繋がるとは思っていませんでした。今まで歌を歌うことしかしてこなかったので、アフレコでは最初は監督がおっしゃることを聞いただけでは理解できない部分が多かったのですが、日が経つにつれ、"あ、すずはこういう人なんだ"と、監督の意図が少しずつ見え、だんだん楽しくなっていきました。初めての経験で何から練習したら良いのか分からなかったので、ベルの時はヒールの高いパンプスを履き、すずの時にはなるべく低い靴を履いて喋ってみたりと、服装に手伝ってもらいながら、すずとベルを演じ分けました。細田監督の作品の出会いは、高校生の頃、梅田で母と『時をかける少女』を観に行った思い出があります。そんな自分がまさか細田監督の作品に参加することになるなんて、嬉しい気持ちです。"

## Director's commentary

In one interview, Mamoru Hosoda explained his decision of casting Suzu/Belle, "We considered many options from musical actors, some voice actors who can sing, and regular actors that can sing because both of these characters have a lot of singing parts so obviously we went that route. We also auditioned many musicians and among them, Kaho Nakamura really stood out and she is really well-known amongst music fans but she isn't a music icon, yet. The reason why we picked her was her ability to express emotions behind the lyrics and even though the songs are in Japanese, I thought that her words and sound were definitely picked up the emotions from her sound. I hope that the viewers feel the same way about her voice and my choice of casting!"

To *Cinema Daily US*, who commented upon Nakamura's no previous experience in acting, Hosoda responded, "I was looking for an actor who could sing a song, a voice actor who could also sing and a musical actor as well. At that time, I was only able to see the parts that were good at singing, so there were a lot of people who might get high scores in karaoke, but the fact that they're good at singing didn't mean they couldn't express themselves as an actor as well. [...] Under such circumstances, I found Kaho Nakamura was a special person. I listened without prejudice when she auditioned, but she was very real and vivid. She had a very different approach than an actor. [...] It was great to find her. She's not a very famous person, but I was happy that many people saw this movie in Japan and knew that there was a great musician like Nakamura."

## References

1. ↑ "Nakamura Kaho: Creating Music People Resonate with". *Wasshoi! Magazine*. April 21, 2021.
2. ↑ ""Dragon and Freckles Princess" Main character Suzu / Bell role of musician Kaho Nakamura, also in charge of the song in the play". *Natalie*. June 2, 2021.
3. ↑ "Director Mamoru Hosoda for the Movie BELLE". *Animé K*. January 20, 2022.
4. ↑ Hosoki, Nobuhiro (January 17, 2022). "An Exclusive Interview with Director Mamoru Hosoda on "Belle"". *Cinema Daily US*.

## External links

* Kaho Nakamura on IMDb
* Kaho Nakamura on Instagram
* Kaho Nakamura on Spotify
* Kaho Nakamura on Twitter
* Kaho Nakamura on YouTube