Neru Nagahama


Neru Nagahama is a Japanese tarento and former member of the girl groups Keyakizaka46 and Hiragana Keyakizaka46.

Early life

Nagahama was born in Nagasaki Prefecture. Between the ages of 3 to 7, she lived on Nakadōri Island, a remote part of Nagasaki in the Gotō Islands.
During high school, Nagahama appeared as a participant in the All Japan High School Quiz Championship, a game show for high school students. She advanced to the prefectural-level championships.

Career

Nagahama auditioned to be a part of Keyakizaka46; however, despite impressing the judges, she withdrew before the final round of auditions due to her parents' opposition. Later, her parents changed their minds after attending a Nogizaka46 concert in Fukuoka and allowed Nagahama to participate in the new group. With the support of the judges from the auditions, Nagahama officially joined Keyakizaka on November 2015 during the group's weekly variety show, Keyakitte, Kakenai? However, she was designated as a member of a subgroup named Hiragana Keyakizaka46. Auditions for the subgroup began soon after.
Nagahama made her musical debut with Keyakizaka46's first single, Silent Majority, though only appearing on a B-side song, "Noriokureta Bus". She made her first title song appearance in the second single, Sekai ni wa Ai Shika Nai, and also sang a solo song, "Mata Atte Kudasai". Although eleven new members joined Hiragana Keyakizaka46 in May 2016, Nagahama continued to appear in songs by both the main group and subgroup, the only member in Hiragana Keyakizaka46 to do so. On September 2017, she transferred permanently to the main Keyakizaka46 group.
On December 2017, Kodansha announced that they will be publishing a photo-book featuring Nagahama photographed on the Gotō Islands, her hometown. Nagahama was the first member of Keyakizaka46 to release such a book. The photo-book, titled Kokokara, sold 98,000 copies in its opening week, a record only topped by Mai Shiraishi's photo-book released earlier in the year. Her photo-book was also awarded by JR Kyushu for promoting tourism within Kyushu. Nagahama was also given the title "tourism ambassador" by Nagasaki.
Nagahama has appeared in all singles up until Kuroi Hitsuji, and was also included in crossover groups such as Sakamichi AKB and IZ4648. After the release of Kuroi Hitsuji in March 2019, Nagahama announced her resignation from the group, citing personal reasons. She officially left the group on 30 July 2019 with a farewell event at Makuhari Messe.
On July 7, 2020, Nagahama returned to the entertainment industry and joined the regular cast of the documentary/variety show , co-produced by Kansai TV and Fuji TV. She also launched her official website and Twitter account.

Discography

Keyakizaka46

Other appearances