'Love Letter' Nakayama Miho Found Dead at Home (Comprehensive)

Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department Investigating Exact Cause of Death

Japanese actress Nakayama Miho, who gained great popularity with the movie 'Love Letter (1995)', has passed away at the age of 54.

According to major Japanese media such as TV Asahi and Yomiuri Shimbun on the 6th, she was found dead in the bathroom of her home in Shibuya, Tokyo, at noon that day. A representative from the talent agency who reported to the Metropolitan Police Department stated, "We could not reach her, so we visited her home and found her collapsed in the bathtub." Nakayama had planned to hold a Christmas concert in Osaka that day but canceled the performance due to poor health. The Metropolitan Police Department is investigating the exact cause of death.

Nakayama was an actress who started as an idol singer. Since her debut in 1985, she pursued both singing and acting. She became known in Korea through director Iwai Shunji's 'Love Letter'. The film depicts events that unfold as a woman who cannot forget her deceased lover and a middle school classmate with the same name as the lover exchange letters. It was released domestically in 1999, attracting 1.4 million viewers, and was re-released several times afterward. The scene where Nakayama shouts "Ogenkidesuka, Watashi wa genkidesu (How are you? I am fine)" in the snow-covered Hokkaido wilderness is remembered as a famous scene, parodied many times in Korea.

She also frequently interacted with Korean filmmakers. She starred in director Lee Jae-han's 'Sayonara Itsuka' in 2010 and worked with Kim Jae-wook in director Jung Jae-eun's 'Napijam' in 2017. In 2017, she visited the Busan International Film Festival and talked about films with actress Moon So-ri.

Nakayama married musician and novelist Tsuji Hitonari, famous for the novel 'Between Calm and Passion', in June 2002 but divorced in July 2014. Her younger sibling is actress Nakayama Shinobu.