I haven't heard very much from her since her first and, I believe, only appearance thus far on the Kohaku Utagassen in 2007 but singer-songwriter/actress Ataru Nakamura（中村中）made quite the splash even for someone who had been invited onto NHK's New Year's Eve special. The Tokyo native became the first transgender woman to appear as a participant on the show after announcing her status the previous year.
Although I hadn't been aware of it until recently, Nakamura's Wikipedia profile states that she has performed both rock/pop and enka tunes. I've known just her pop tunes so I would be interested in checking out her enka material. However for her first article on KKP, I wanted to give her "Hadaka Denkyu" (Bare Light Bulb) some focus.
Her 6th single was released in November 2007 and "Hadaka Denkyu" is an elegant love ballad about one person trying to persuade another to take the relationship to the next level. At this point, I'm not quite sure where the bare light bulb comes in as an analogy but the song is wonderful as a tenderhearted and reassuring invitation (with a hint of country) for those who are reticent and/or fearful of romance.
The single ranked in at No. 87. It's also included on Nakamura's 2nd album "Watashi wo Daite Kudasai"（私を抱いて下さい...Please Hold Me） which came out a month after the single. It peaked at No. 38 on the album charts. The above video has the album version which has an extended outro. "Hadaka Denkyu" wasn't the song that she performed on the Kohaku but let's see about getting that one covered soon enough.
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