Mika Nakashima

How it changed

Born and raised in Kyushu as the youngest of three children, Nakashima grew up in Hioki, Kagoshima, where she said there was "nothing there, only enka"^[1] She began listening to enka singer Eiko Segawa and studied classical Japanese dance, but hoped to work in fashion magazines because she was too short to become a model.^[1] At age 17, she attended an audition not knowing what it was for and was chosen from 3,000 girls to be the actress in a fall 2001 Fuji TV drama.^[2] She played the heroine Mirai Shimazaki and sang the theme song "Stars," which became her debut single on Sony Music Associated Records in November 2001.^[2]

Following the completion of junior high, Nakashima chose to forgo high school and started working when she turned 15.^[1] The release of "Crescent Moon," her second single, was capped at 100,000 copies, and every copy was purchased by the end of its debut day.^[3] For the International Premiere of Nana 2 at the IFC Center in New York City, Nakashima was joined by Yui Ichikawa in 2006.^[1] Volleyball player Kunihiro Shimizu and Nakashima wed on December 25, 2014, and their divorce was made public on February 2, 2018.^[4]

What the maker and period sources say

Another Tokyo Hive article revealed that Nakashima would release a cover album titled Zutto Suki Datta: All My Covers on March 12, 2014, featuring songs she had loved since her teenage years.^[5] That cover album included a cover of Dreams Come True's "Yasashii Kiss o Shite".^[5]