Nobuko Otowa

Nobuko Otowa was a Japanese actress. She appeared in 134 films between 1950 and 1994. She gave up a career as a star to appear in Story of a Beloved Wife and became the mistress of the director Kaneto Shindo. She later married him in 1977 after his previous wife divorced him and then died. She posthumously won the award for best supporting actress at the 19th Japan Academy Prize for A Last Note, having been diagnosed with terminal liver cancer during its production. Half of her ashes are scattered on the island of Sukune in Mihara, Hiroshima where The Naked Island was filmed.