Japanese actress Miho Nakayama, 54, found dead in bathtub; she had been in poor health

Japanese actress Miho Nakayama at the Mandarin Oriental Tokyo in Tokyo, Japan in 2009 to promote Sayonara Itsuka, one of many films in which she appeared. Nakayama was found dead at home on December 6, 2024. - Photo: Junko Kimura/Getty Images

TOKYO: Japanese actress Miho Nakayama, best known for her role in the 1995 film Love Letter, has been found dead in her home in Tokyo’s Ebisu district on Friday (Dec 6). She was 54.

Nakayama was one of the biggest all-round pop stars to emerge from Japan in the 1980s, the period when J-pop was phenomenally successful across Asia and each week’s Oricon chart – the Japanese music chart – was closely followed by fans no less fervent than today’s K-pop supporters.