Among the artists I call "mes coups de coeurs", I would like to lay great emphasis on the Japanese artists whose work is famous in their homeland or in the English-speaking countries and unfortunately almost unknown in the European countries. Those people of huge talent have in common an unconventional lifestyle, a great sense of humour and artistic creativeness.


Ramo Nakajima 中島らも

(April 3, 1952 - July 26, 2004) was a respected Japanese cult novelist, essayist, copywriter, and also appeared frequently on Japanese TV as an actor. He was born in Amagasaki City, Hyōgo Prefecture.
Click on 頭の中カユいんだto read the French
He worked for a publishing company for 5 years, where he became famous for his catchy advertisements and commercials. He was given his own advice column in Asahi Shinbun, called the "Lighthearted Worry Column," which highlighted his strange and unique sense of humor and made him a household name.
He began to work as a freelance copywriter in 1987, and in his free time, wrote the novels that would give him his cult following in Japan, as well as a variety of rakugo(落語 traditional Japanese Comic Storytelling), essays, scripts and short stories.
His best-known work includes the novels "Tonight, from Every Bar in Town" (13th Eiji Yoshikawa New Author Prize), "The Pigs of Gadara" (Mystery Writers of Japan Award), and "The Night of Human Models" (Naoki Prize).


After his success in novels, he then expanded into theater, producing "Laugh-to-Death Lilliput Army", as well as creating his own rock band, "PISS" of which he was the lead singer and guitar player.
After the band dissolved, he then formed "Ramo and the Mother's Boys", where he played rhythm guitar and sang.


Nakajima was known for his wild lifestyle and his constant use of drugs and alcohol. His appearances on television in the late 1990s and early 2000s were always an audience draw because of his slurred speech--probably from years of alcohol and drug abuse) --and humorous personality.

He was arrested and convicted of marijuana possession in 2003; he was sentenced to five years incarceration. He was put into a mental hospital for a brief period, and then served his 10-month sentence, with a suspended sentence of 5 years. He then released an essay about his trials in prison called "The Prison Diet".

Prison Diet 		After his release, he plunged back into alcoholism. On July 15, 2004, after drinking late at a bar, he fell down a staircase and suffered serious head injuries. He never recovered, dying on July 26, 2004.

References :
The article is largely extracted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The neutrality of this article from Wikipedia is being disputed, please consult "Lullar data" for further information.
Apart from the above mentioned references, I have so far found hardly any article about Ramo Nakajima in foreign languages. If someone is interested in writing out a more developed articles about him and need help, I would be pleased to contribute.