The son of the late Miho Nakayama, a beloved Japanese national actress familiar to domestic fans for films such as the movie Love Letter, reportedly renounced an inheritance worth about 20 billion yen, drawing attention to the background of the decision.
Miho Nakayama was a Japanese singer and actress who received much love. At the height of her career in the 1980s and 1990s she was considered the most beautiful woman in Japan and, as a star of numerous popular TV shows and a J-pop singer, captured the hearts of fans.
Miho Nakayama gained international acclaim with the film Love Letter directed by Shunji Iwai, and she also appeared in many works such as Tokyo Whirlwind and Saonara Itsuka. In 2018 she co-starred with Kim Jae Wook in the film Nabijam. As a singer she sold more than 17 million albums, earning widespread love in Japan as a "national actress" and "national singer."
Miho Nakayama suddenly died on Dec. 6, 2024, at the age of 54, delivering a huge shock. She was found dead at her home in Shibuya, Tokyo; an agency official discovered her collapsed in the bathtub in the bathroom and reported it, but she was already deceased. No suicide note or drugs were found at the scene.
Miho Nakayama had a son with her musician ex-husband Hitonari Tsuji. With Nakayama's sudden passing, attention turned to the inheritance issue, and controversy arose because it remained unresolved even a year after her death.
On the 4th, local media reported that Nakayama's son chose not to inherit an estate worth 2 billion yen (approximately 18.923 billion won). Local outlets said Nakayama had an estate of about 2 billion yen, including real estate, copyrights and deposits accumulated through activities as an actress and singer.
Local media cited inheritance tax as the reason Nakayama's son decided to renounce the inheritance. After his parents' divorce, Nakayama's son moved to France and lived apart for a long time; after learning of the obituary they reunited after about 10 years, but despite being a legal heir he is said to have renounced the inheritance due to Japan's high inheritance tax structure.
Japan applies a high tax rate of up to 55% on inheritances above a certain amount, and heirs must pay 1.1 billion yen in cash within 10 months of the start of inheritance. Because the estate includes assets that are difficult to liquidate, such as real estate and copyrights, accepting the inheritance would make asset sales or borrowing unavoidable, so the son renounced the inheritance. Local media even criticized the system, asking, 'Is Japan's 55% inheritance tax the world's worst law?'
[OSEN]