Miho Nakayama

Miho Nakayama (March 1, 1970 – December 6, 2024) was a Japanese singer and actress. She was affiliated with Big Apple Co. , Ltd. Nakayama is nicknamed Miporin (ミポリン), and sometimes uses the pseudonyms Mizuho Kitayama (北山 瑞穂, Kitayama Mizuho) or Issaque (一咲(いっさく), Issaku) when she writes the lyrics.

Nakayama made her debut on 21 June 1985 with her single "C", as well as a starring role in the film Be-Bop High School. Throughout her career as a singer and actress, Nakayama recorded 22 studio albums and scored eight No. 1 singles on Oricon's charts; two of them selling over a million copies each. 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[8] and the 18th Hochi Film Awards. Nakayama was nominated for a Best Actress Japanese Academy Award in 1998 for her role in Tokyo Biyori, and has appeared in a number of TV series including Love Story (2001).