Dandy Boyfriend Dancing in Sweet Memories: In Search of Meiko Nakahara

Hello, J-Canuck here. I'd like to thank and introduce a new contributor onto "Kayo Kyoku Plus", Oliver Ebisuno92, who wanted to first give his thoughts on his affinity and whereabouts for the City Pop singer Meiko Nakahara（中原めいこ）. Also, Oliver has his own website called "Watching Asia Film Reviews" covering East Asia and South Asia. Give that a look-see as well! Now, allow me to hand it over to him.

It has been over three years since I discovered the online phenomenon of City Pop and engrossed myself in the wider realm of Kayokyoku music. My journey started a bit anti-climatically (sorry, no Plastic Love!) when I accidentally heard Kaoru Akimoto’s Dress Down, followed subsequently by Meiko Nakahara’s Yakimochi-Yaki Rhumba Boy. From that point on I was convinced that in-between the layers of funky riffs, jazz, synthpop waves, disco and the presets of Yamaha DX-7 lies the meaning of the universe itself.

If City Pop fans look up carefully into the depths of the internet, they will most certainly find what their favourite artist is up to nowadays (most of them have Japanese blogs, twitter, instagram, or youtube accounts), but in some cases, there is absolutely no info at all. Meiko Nakahara is one of these examples. A wonderful singer with an extraordinary voice who gave us 12 albums and (roughly) 100 unforgettable songs. She completely vanished from the public spotlight after ending her career in 1991.

Where is she now? Is she still alive? (She would be 61 years old if that were the case) Does she know about the internet revival of her works? So many questions and no answers at all. Let’s take a closer look at what we do know about the great Meiko Nakahara:

She was born on the 8th of May, 1959 in Chiba Prefecture, Japan, as Meiko Obara. Allegedly, since the early years at school, she had an affinity for music, playing instruments as well as composing her own pieces. As a result, she was determined to enter the music industry.

Her debut single Kon’ya Dake Dance Dance Dance was released in 1982, but it was not until two years later when Meiko made a breakthrough with her another single called Kimitachi Kiwi Papaya Mango dane. In addition to this, the singer made a name for herself in the realm of anime, providing memorable themes (such as Ro Ro Ro Russian Roulette, Dance in the Memories or Kagami no Naka no Actress) for anime shows, including Dirty Pair and Kimagure Orange Road.

In a magazine interview from the 1980s, Meiko stated that her father was angry at her that she had not enrolled into college. Additionally, he was against the idea of her making a living out of show business, but he eventually warmed up to the concept, when he saw that Meiko enjoyed her work. The interview was translated in April, 2020 by a City Pop fan Laurence Bourke, but it is not available since YouTube removed the video from the platform together with Laurence’s other translations of popular songs.

While working on her albums, Meiko was not afraid to compose and write songs for other artists, which she allegedly continued to do after her retirement. For instance, she wrote for the fellow singer Yu Hayami as well as Vivian Hsu and the idol group Checkicco. I have also read rumours that she composed music scores for motion pictures, but this piece of information remains unconfirmed to date: Japanese wikipedia does not list anything, whereas IMDb specifies only Meiko’s participation in music videos.

Meiko will be remembered by her fans as the woman for all seasons, not just a J-pop idol or passing starlet but a true artist who was not afraid of mixing synth-pop vibes with bossa nova, jazz, disco, and funk. Nowadays, one can enjoy Meiko’s unforgettable hits either online or through physical media (vinyls and CDs sold in Japan). We cannot also forget about Meiko’s aesthetic-filled music videos and live performances which (still) can be accessed on YouTube.

There is absolutely no information as to what happened to Meiko Nakahara after the 1990s. In 2010, there was a band launched which called itself LOTOS: Meiko Nakahara Tribute Band, but they do not seem to know about Meiko's whereabouts either. I read through their blog and it appears that they were searching for Meiko in the late 2000s. I even sent a message to them, but received no response. Moreover, I also reached out to the Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers, and Publishers, but again, did not receive any response.

In the age of globalism when people can track down Shia LaBeouf’s revolutionary flag, accurately confirm Tommy Wiseau’s nationality, and even find missing relatives of Anthony Wong, no one has yet been able to find out what happened to Meiko Nakahara...

Some fans claim that Meiko passed away, others spread romantic rumours that she is out there, running a family business in Chiba (Allegedly, her parents owned a gas station). If Meiko is indeed alive, then she must be living under a changed name, not her artist pseudonym. That’s why it is so difficult to find any kind of update on her. I dare to say that the mystery behind Meiko is very similar to the case of Japanese actress Megumi Odaka. Known from her numerous appearances in Godzilla films, the actress completely dropped from the face of the earth in the early 2000s when she retired from acting. However, it was not until recently when Megumi started making appearances at American conventions and even gave a wonderful interview at a G-Fest panel in 2018.

So, in my opinion, there is still hope that we may find out what happened to the great Meiko Nakahara. Who knows? Maybe one day she will set up a facebook account like Miho Fujiwara, launch an instagram like Momoko Kikuchi, or create a YouTube channel like Mami Auykawa. I really do not want this small article to turn into the #Search4Meiko manifesto, because I realise that even past legends want to keep things private. However, Nakahara Meiko-san should at least know that she became a cultural icon. From tribute bands through fan artwork to cosplays, her works are continuously being appreciated by the fans in Japan and overseas.

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Acknowledgements: My thanks go to J-Canuck for allowing me to post this article on Kayo Kyoku Plus blog. I would also like to thank Jaing, the founder City Pop group on Facebook, for his support on this project since day one. My words of appreciation also go to Sakura Jane for allowing me to use her cosplay picture, and Laurence Bourke for trying to help me out. Meiko Nakahara artwork belongs to Superior_Sarge, the admin of r/MeikoNakahara subreddit.