Nakamoto Himeka from being a Nogizaka46 idol to becoming a therapist (psychological counseling)

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Former Nogizaka46 member Nakamoto Himeka (25) was an idol and it made her happy.

As a first gen member known as “Himetan” who passed the audition back in August 2011 at the age of 15, she had a lot of fun.

It was destiny for the Hiroshima-based third year student who attended local dance classes since the first grade of elementary school and started singing and attending an acting school at fourth grade.

But then it all came to a stop in 2017 as she started noticing she couldn’t attend live rehearsals, her legs would freeze, her tears won’t stop and she couldn’t leave the house and go to any Nogizaka46 activities because she was mentally unstable.

Nakamoto was diagnosed with “adjustment disorder” and she made one final live performance with the group on a radio show in December 2017.

By January 2018, her Nogizaka46 was closed and on November 2018, she opened her official website and she announced that she would be going into a new career path and that was to get into psychological counseling. She studied at Waseda University and received her certification as a therapist.

While she may not be an idol any longer, she still continues to use her celebrity status to promote mental health well-being and in April 2022, she was featured on AnAn’s new series on Femcare.

You can learn more about Nakamoto Himeka through her blog on her website.

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