Love Letter actress and J-pop star Miho Nakayama found dead at Tokyo home

Japanese actress Miho Nakayama was found dead in the bathtub in her Ebisu home in Tokyo on Friday (Dec 6). She was 54.

When Nakayama failed to show up at work, a member of her team went to her home and found her unresponsive. The paramedics confirmed her death at the scene, local media reported.

Affectionately known by her fans as Miporin, Nakayama is best known for her performance in the 1995 movie Love Letter, a film that garnered international acclaim and earned her several best actress awards.

Referred to as Japan’s most beautiful woman at the peak of her career, Nakayama starred in numerous popular television series, including A Sleeping Forest (1998) alongside the heartthrob Takuya Kimura and was also a J-pop singer.

She was one of the biggest all-round pop stars to emerge from Japan in the 1980s – at the height of J-pop's influence.

She married Hitonari Tsuji in 2002 and moved to Paris. She gave birth to a son the following year. The couple divorced in 2014 after Nakayama was photographed kissing a younger man on the street, resulting in Tsuji having custody of their son.

The Love Letter star later staged a comeback in Japan, through acting in films and on stage.

The 54-year-old was due to appear in the Osaka performance of Miho Nakayama Christmas Concert 2024 in Billboard Live at Billboard Live Osaka on the day of her death, ahead of a 40th anniversary national concert tour.

The show was cancelled due to her poor health.

The cause of her death is under investigation.