Shoko Nakagawa

Name: Shoko Nakagawa, Shokotan, Shokotasu
Japanese name: 中川翔子
Birthdate: 5-5, 1985
Origin Tokyo, Japan
Genre(s) Japanese Pop
Occupation(s) idol, model, Comedienne, Singer, TV Personality and Presenter
Years active 2001-present
Nakagawa loves to draw. When she was younger, she had wanted to grow up and become a mangaka. Many of her illustrations are available at her talent agency's profile website. In 2006 she began Shocotan Quest, a series only found at that website. She also became part of the illustrating group Jump Damashii.
Shoko Nakagawa Information
When she was five, Nakagawa Shouko was given horror manga by her father to read, his reason being that she couldn't become an adult without reading them. As a result of her father's influences, Nakagawa loves 80s idol music, anime, and old video games. She is considered to be something of a nerd because of it. This started her love for sentai, and after watching Mirai Sentai Timeranger, Nakagawa wanted to become a gravure idol like Katsumura Mika. Katsumura played the pink ranger Yuri in the series, and was also a gravure idol with several photobooks and DVDs out. Nakagawa studied all of these to prepare for her own debut as a gravure idol. Nakagawa was chosen as one of the winners of Miss Magazine 2002, which helped to boost her popularity some. In 2004 Nakagawa got to be in the show Men B with her idol Katsumura and the two became like sisters.

Shoko Nakagawa is a female Japanese idol and multi-talented celebrity (an actress, seiyū (voice actor), illustrator, and singer). She is the daughter of Katsuhiko Nakagawa, a famous celebrity in Japan in the 1980s. Her blood type is A.

She is represented by the Watanabe Entertainment talent agency. Her nickname is Shokotan. (In the blog by Mika Kaneda, who appeared with her on "ōsama no Brunch", she is called Shokotasu). She is left-handed.

She has listed Bruce Lee, the idol Seiko Matsuda, the anime characters Vegeta and Trunks of Dragon Ball Z/GT, and Sephiroth of Final Fantasy VII, as people she respects.

She is famous for liking manga and anime, and also enjoys watching professional boxing.

Shoko Nakagawa is also a huge fan of Bruce Lee and kung fu movies in general, even owning a pair of pink nunchucks. Nakagawa mastered Cantonese and would visit Hong Kong with her mother frequently, and even got to meet Jackie Chan by chance during one of these visits. She drew an illustration of him; this drawing now hangs in Chan's Hong Kong office.


Shoko Nakagawa Life
In 1994, when she was nine, her father 1980s Japanese celebrity, Katsuhiko Nakagawa died of leukaemia at the age of 32, and from then on she was raised by her mother alone.
In 2001 she won the Grand Prix award at the Popolo Girl Audition, thus making her debut in the entertainment world.
At the time of her debut, she belonged to the Jackie Chan talent agency.
Later, on the "Yume-Ga-Oka Residence" programme on SKY PerfecTV!, she was given a Jackie Chan photobook by Midorikawa Shobō, who were guests on the show. She commented "I thought he was an enemy of Bruce Lee's", apparently referring to Enter the Dragon, but this is a curious statement, given that she belonged to the Jackie Chan talent agency and has also met Jackie Chan himself.
In 2002 she was chosen as Miss Shōnen Magazine 2002.
In 2004, when she appeared in a brief section of "Kangaeru Hito" ("People who think") on the Fuji TV network, she showed her ability as an illustrator, which won her a regular place on the later version of the programme which started with minor changes in early 2005, "Kangaeru Hitokoma" ("Thinking about one frame [of a cartoon strip]").
From May 2005, for just under a year, she appeared as a regular on the TBS programme "ōsama no Brunch", which made her well-known among the general public.
In July 2006, she released her debut CD, "Brilliant Dream". It entered the Oricon chart at number 29, with initial sales of 6313 CDs.