From the NHK morning drama Himawari to GTO, Kyumei Byoto 24 Ji, Majo no Joken, Yamato Nadeshiko, the taiga drama Toshiie to Matsu, and the phenomenon that became Kaseifu no Mita, Nanako Matsushima has appeared in some of the most memorable Japanese television dramas of the past three decades.
Born on October 13, 1973 in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Matsushima was scouted as a teenager and began her career as a model.
Her breakthrough as an actress came in 1996, when she was cast as heroine Nozomi Minamida in the NHK morning drama Himawari.
In 1998, she played Azusa Fuyutsuki in GTO, where she co-starred with actor Takashi Sorimachi.
The following years brought a remarkable run of major roles: Kyumei Byoto 24 Ji, Majo no Joken and Kori no Sekai in 1999, Yamato Nadeshiko in 2000, and Toshiie to Matsu in 2002.
In 2011, Kaseifu no Mita became another defining work in her career.
She has continued working across television, film and narration, appearing more recently in the 2023 taiga drama What Will You Do, Ieyasu?, the 2025 morning drama Anpan, and the 2026 TV Asahi drama Okome no Onna.
From October 12, 2026, she also returns to Kyumei Byoto 24 Ji for its sixth series, co-starring once again with Yosuke Eguchi.
The character Kaede Kojima, who began the series in 1999 as a medical intern, is now deputy director of an emergency medical center and in a position to mentor younger doctors.
As of October 4, 2026, Matsushima is 52 and will turn 53 on October 13.
She has long been associated with elegance, a graceful silhouette and polished beauty, but her own beauty and wellness habits reveal something much more substantial beneath that image.
Serums, eye care, sheet masks and UV protection.
Strength training that became more serious in her mid-30s.
Deadlifts using a 105 kg barbell.
Multiple weekly sessions of strength training and Pilates.
Walking on a treadmill at home.
A diet that pays attention to hydration and protein.
And in her 50s, travel, new hobbies and even kickboxing.
Behind those habits are also years of learning from physical discomfort, raising two daughters, developing her own standards for what to wear and keep, and gradually changing the way she handles worry.
Taken together, Nanako Matsushima’s beauty philosophy is less about one single beauty technique and more about maintaining her skin, strength, posture, mindset, relationships and daily life as one connected whole.
Nanako Matsushima Profile
Date of birth: October 13, 1973
Birthplace: Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan
Occupation: Actress
Major acting breakthrough: 1996 NHK morning drama Himawari
Selected works: GTO, Kyumei Byoto 24 Ji, Majo no Joken, Yamato Nadeshiko, Toshiie to Matsu, Kaseifu no Mita, What Will You Do, Ieyasu?, Anpan, Okome no Onna
Husband: Actor Takashi Sorimachi
Family: Two daughters
As of October 4, 2026: Age 52
From Modeling to Himawari, GTO and Yamato Nadeshiko: Nanako Matsushima’s 30-Year Acting Career
Nanako Matsushima entered the entertainment industry as a teenager.
She was scouted at around 16 and began working as a model.
Her major turning point as an actress came in 1996.
She was chosen to play heroine Nozomi Minamida in the NHK morning drama Himawari, a role that brought her national recognition.
What followed was an extraordinary sequence of high-profile projects.
In 1998 came GTO.
In 1999, Kyumei Byoto 24 Ji, Majo no Joken and Kori no Sekai.
In 2000, Yamato Nadeshiko.
And in 2002, she co-starred with Toshiaki Karasawa in the NHK taiga drama Toshiie to Matsu.
💡 GTO became a turning point in both work and life
Matsushima played teacher Azusa Fuyutsuki in the 1998 drama GTO, where she co-starred with Takashi Sorimachi. The two later married and went on to raise two daughters together.
Her film work has included titles such as Ring, Whiteout, Bizan and The Crimes That Bind.
In 2011, she took on one of her most memorable roles in Kaseifu no Mita, playing housekeeper Akari Mita with an unusually restrained emotional style.
Although she was long associated with glamorous heroines and strong professional women, she has continued expanding that image through different types of characters.
Matsushima has described herself as naturally curious and interested in experiences or roles that she might not have chosen on her own.
When preparing for a character, she often begins by looking for points of similarity between herself and the role.
She looks for emotions or ways of thinking she can recognize within herself, then uses those points of connection to understand the character more deeply.
There was a time when she felt conflicted about repeatedly being seen as a powerful woman or career woman, but over time she came to accept that image as one meaningful part of her career.
💡 She begins a role by finding something she shares with the character
Rather than approaching a character only from the outside, Matsushima searches for emotions and qualities she can recognize in herself. That becomes an entry point into understanding the role.
In 2024, she returned as Azusa Fuyutsuki in GTO Revival, appearing once again with Sorimachi.
In 2025, she played Tomiko Yanai in the NHK morning drama Anpan.
Long before appearing in that drama, she had already become very familiar with the world of Anpanman through motherhood.
While raising her daughters, she practiced drawing the characters so much that she could reproduce Baikinman, Dokin-chan and Shokupanman as well.
💡 She practiced drawing Anpanman characters for her daughters
Her connection with Anpanman began long before Anpan. While raising her children, she practiced the characters repeatedly until she could draw several of them herself.
In 2026, Matsushima took the lead in TV Asahi’s Okome no Onna, her first starring role in a TV Asahi serial drama and her first starring serial-drama role in nine years.
She even proposed cutting her hair short to better suit the character.
Then in autumn 2026, another major career milestone arrived.
Kyumei Byoto 24 Ji returned for a sixth series after a 13-year break.
Yosuke Eguchi’s Issei Shindo and Matsushima’s Kaede Kojima were reunited on screen.
In 1999, Kaede had been a medical intern learning under Shindo.
By the 2026 series, she has become deputy director of the emergency medical center, mentoring younger doctors while also helping improve the emergency-care system.
💡 Kaede Kojima grew from intern to deputy director over 27 years
Matsushima first played Kaede in 1999. In the 2026 series, the character has moved into a leadership role, allowing the passage of time in Matsushima’s own career to echo through the character.
Thirty years after Himawari, Matsushima continues to build on the image that made her famous while adding new sides to it.
Nanako Matsushima’s Skincare and UV Care: Serum, Eye Care and Sheet Masks
Matsushima’s approach to skincare is built around maintaining a simple foundation and adding what her skin seems to need at the time.
Earlier in life, moisturizing formed the core of her routine.
From her 40s onward, she gradually added serums, eye care and other steps.
She has described adjusting her routine according to how her skin feels, such as adding cream when lotion alone does not feel sufficient.
One specific product she previously named as a favorite was BARAKA Lotus Booster Serum.
At the time, she said she had been repeatedly using it for around six months.
Her preferred timing was immediately after bathing.
💡 Booster serum straight after bathing
When she was using the lotus booster serum, Matsushima applied it immediately after getting out of the bath. Even the timing of her skincare was part of her routine.
She also uses sheet masks after days with greater sun exposure or after spending time on an airplane.
Her UV-care habits have also been influenced by her daughters.
After watching one of her daughters reapply sunscreen carefully during the day, Matsushima began reapplying a spray sunscreen over makeup herself.
💡 Beauty advice moves both ways between mother and daughters
Matsushima and her daughters share ideas and pick up habits from one another. Her sunscreen reapplication routine is one example of that exchange.
In 2025, she also named SHISEIDO Future Solution LX Concentrated Brightening Softener as a lotion she was using.
Her routine has gradually expanded to include serum, eye care, sheet masks and UV care, while still remaining responsive to the condition of her skin.
Matsushima also combines home care with selected professional treatments.
In 2025, she mentioned continuing an Indian-style abdominal massage.
In 2024, she also said that she had incorporated INDIBA sessions roughly once a month.
Eat well.
Move the body.
Work up a sweat.
Then support the skin with appropriate moisturizing and care.
For Matsushima, skincare is closely connected to the rest of daily life rather than existing as a separate routine.
105 kg Deadlifts, Strength Training and Pilates: How Matsushima Builds a Body for Work and Life
One of the most surprising parts of Matsushima’s beauty and wellness routine is the intensity of her training.
Her graceful public image sits alongside a very serious approach to strength.
She began exercising more deliberately in her mid-30s.
One important reason was the physical demand of wearing kimono for long periods on set.
During the 2002 taiga drama Toshiie to Matsu, she experienced strain around her neck and back while spending long hours in traditional costume.
Remembering that experience, she worked with a personal trainer before filming the 2023 taiga drama What Will You Do, Ieyasu?, focusing particularly on her back.
She separated strength training from Pilates sessions and used each for a different purpose.
One of her gym exercises was especially memorable: a deadlift using a 105 kg barbell.
She would slowly raise the bar to around knee height and lower it again, performing three repetitions.
At that time, she was doing strength training about twice a week and machine Pilates around twice a week as well.
💡 Nanako Matsushima trained with a 105 kg barbell
Behind the elegant kimono appearances was serious strength work. She trained the muscles needed to support demanding costumes and long filming days.
Her Pilates sessions were also substantial, using machines and keeping her moving for much of an hour.
Rather than treating exercise as one generic routine, she thinks about which areas need support for a particular role.
In 2024, VOGUE JAPAN reported that there were periods when she trained with weights three times a week and did Pilates twice a week.
She continued gym training and Pilates in 2025.
Even ordinary movements can become a small opportunity for body awareness.
When carrying a bag, for example, she has talked about gripping more through the little-finger side of the hand, keeping the elbow closer to the body and being aware of the muscles around the side of the torso.
💡 Even carrying a bag can become part of body awareness
Her training does not stop when she leaves the gym. Matsushima brings small adjustments into everyday movements and learns from feedback from her trainer.
On days when she cannot get to the gym, she may walk for around 50 minutes on a treadmill at home.
Then in 2026, she added another activity.
To prepare for the quick, agile movement required by her role in Okome no Onna, she started kickboxing.
💡 She started kickboxing at 52
After years of strength training and Pilates, Matsushima added kickboxing in 2026 as another way to prepare for a physically active role.
Her belief in maintaining a body that can move comfortably is also rooted in personal experience.
In a 2024 VOGUE JAPAN interview, she spoke about going through a period of physical difficulty after childbirth and continuing to manage that discomfort for more than a decade while raising her children and working.
That experience changed the way she thinks about physical well-being.
Being able to move her own body comfortably became, in her view, an important form of richness in life.
💡 Her focus on a “body that can move” comes from long experience
Years of managing physical discomfort helped shape the way Matsushima now approaches exercise, food and awareness of her own condition.
Handle long filming days.
Wear demanding costumes comfortably.
Move in the way a role requires.
And enjoy everyday life.
For Matsushima, strength is a practical foundation for both work and life.
Three Meals, Rice, Protein and Natto: How Nanako Matsushima’s Diet Changed in Her 40s
Matsushima’s relationship with food changed significantly during her 40s.
At one point after turning 40, she experimented with reducing carbohydrates at dinner.
Through that experience, she gradually realized that a routine built around eating what she needs and staying active suited her better.
From her late 40s, she began placing more importance on eating well.
Her basic pattern now is three meals a day.
She pays attention to overall balance and continues to include rice in her meals.
She then pairs that with regular movement.
💡 In her late 40s, she returned to eating rice regularly
Rather than simplifying her diet further, Matsushima found a rhythm that combines eating what her body needs with regular physical activity.
In her 50s, she became more conscious of both hydration and protein.
Along with convenient protein drinks or supplements, she also increases foods such as:
Eggs.
Natto.
Yogurt.
Fish.
On busy days, she may combine ingredients into a rice bowl for efficiency.
In a 2025 interview, she described a dinner made by stir-frying pork, kimchi, natto and garlic chives, serving the mixture over rice and adding soup on the side.
💡 One of her quick dinners: pork, kimchi, natto and garlic chives over rice
She keeps different types of meat in the freezer and combines ingredients so that she can still prepare food at home even when work is busy.
She enjoys eating out too, while cooking at home more often in everyday life.
Cooking lets her adjust the portion to what feels right that day, and she also enjoys the concentration involved in preparing a meal.
In fact, Matsushima has said that she likes periods of complete focus, whether that is cooking or exercise.
Concentrating on one thing becomes a way to switch mental gears during a busy schedule.
New Year is also strongly connected with family and food.
Relatives gather for Kanto-style ozoni soup, osechi dishes and soba noodles handmade by her father-in-law.
The family may also visit a shrine together, while Matsushima has talked about enjoying golf with her nephew.
💡 New Year includes her father-in-law’s handmade soba
Family meals, ozoni, osechi and handmade noodles are part of her New Year routine, offering a glimpse of a relaxed family side that contrasts with her polished public image.
For Matsushima, food supports physical training, stamina for work and time with family.
In her 50s, eating well and staying active have become two connected parts of the same lifestyle.
Husband Takashi Sorimachi, Two Daughters and a Spontaneous Ise Trip: Family and New Interests in Her 50s
Takashi Sorimachi is an important part of Matsushima’s personal story.
The two met while working together on the 1998 drama GTO.
Their relationship later developed, and they married in 2001.
Their first daughter was born in 2004 and their second in 2007.
Matsushima continued acting while also going through pregnancy, childbirth and raising two children.
In a 2024 VOGUE JAPAN interview, she spoke about conversations with Sorimachi around growing older together and caring for their bodies as they age.
She also hopes to pass on to her daughters the habit of paying attention to the body, thinking about food and making movement part of daily life.
Health is not the only thing she wants to pass on.
When choosing clothes or everyday possessions, Matsushima values the idea of having one’s own standards.
She pays attention to silhouette, fabric and texture, and tends to choose simple, high-quality pieces.
When she finds something she truly likes, she keeps it for years.
She has even said that she may wear the same coat for a decade.
💡 She may wear the same coat for 10 years
Matsushima looks closely at shape, fabric and quality, then keeps pieces she genuinely likes. Her elegant image is closely connected to the way she chooses rather than simply how much she owns.
In parenting, she has tried to encourage simple thinking when problems arise and to respect another person’s view as much as her own.
💡 Her daughters’ location-sharing surprised her
Matsushima was surprised to learn that her daughters and their friends shared smartphone location information with each other. Rather than dismissing it, she listened to how their generation thinks about it.
In 2025, her eldest daughter reached the age of her coming-of-age ceremony.
Reuniting with other mothers she had known through her daughter made Matsushima feel that one phase of raising children had reached a turning point.
It also encouraged her to think about what she wanted from her own next stage of life.
One idea that became increasingly important in her 50s was being more spontaneous.
A memorable example was a one-night, two-day trip to Ise with a friend.
The plan came together quickly.
They arrived the day before, ate dinner at an izakaya, stayed in a business hotel near the station and woke at 4 a.m. the next morning.
They left at 5 a.m., watched the sunrise, visited both the outer and inner shrines of Ise Jingu, saw the sacred horse and brought Akafuku sweets home for the family.
💡 Her spontaneous Ise trip: business hotel, 4 a.m. wake-up and Akafuku
The trip was simple, fast and unpretentious. It became one example of Matsushima learning to act more freely on things she wants to experience in her 50s.
When she first told Sorimachi about the trip, he reportedly asked whether she would be all right going without him.
Matsushima chose to go with her friend and later shared the experience with her husband.
She has said that the experience also led to the couple going out together more often.
From 2023, the pair appeared together for the first time in a SHISEIDO MEN advertising campaign.
They also reunited on screen in GTO Revival in 2024.
In 2026, both were leading television dramas around the same period.
At home, their conversations can still be wonderfully ordinary, including practical questions about what time each person will finish work and whether they will be able to eat dinner together.
💡 Even star couples ask, “What time are you finishing today?”
Behind two high-profile acting careers is an everyday rhythm of coordinating schedules, dinner and family life.
Nanako Matsushima in Her 50s: Skincare, Food, Strength and a Mindset Built Around Staying Active
As of October 4, 2026, Nanako Matsushima is 52.
It is also 30 years since Himawari established her as a major actress.
She began as a teenage model.
She became an NHK morning-drama heroine.
She met Takashi Sorimachi through GTO.
She played a medical intern in Kyumei Byoto 24 Ji.
She became one of the defining romantic-drama heroines of her era in Yamato Nadeshiko.
She led a taiga drama with Toshiie to Matsu.
She created a completely different image in Kaseifu no Mita.
And after Anpan and Okome no Onna, she returned once again to Kyumei Byoto 24 Ji.
Her beauty and wellness habits have evolved in much the same way.
She added serums and eye care to a routine once centered mainly on moisturizing.
She uses sheet masks after greater UV exposure.
She learned to reapply sunscreen more carefully after watching her daughter.
Her meals now emphasize three regular meals, rice, hydration and protein.
She strengthened her back for kimono roles and took up kickboxing when a new character required sharper physical movement.
The common thread is an ability to reassess what she needs at each stage of life and each stage of work.
Her thinking was also shaped by more than a decade of physical discomfort following childbirth.
In a 2024 interview, she described being able to keep her body in a state where it can move comfortably as an important kind of richness.
Serum has a place.
Eye care has a place.
Sheet masks have a place.
So do food, strength, sweating, posture and maintaining a lighter state of mind.
💡 In her 50s, Matsushima values being able to move comfortably
Rather than focusing only on numbers, she places importance on maintaining a body that allows her to work, travel and enjoy daily life with confidence.
Her mental habits have evolved as well.
Matsushima has described herself as someone who once tended to worry ahead and imagine many possible scenarios.
Over time, she became more aware of the patterns that triggered those thoughts.
She has gradually developed the idea of not worrying about something before it has actually happened, while directing more attention to what is in front of her now.
💡 A former worrier who learned to focus on the present
Just as she studies her body, Matsushima has learned to observe her thought patterns and bring her attention back to the situation that actually exists now.
One unexpected tool for organizing her thoughts has been interviews.
When promoting a project, she may answer questions from many different media outlets in a single day.
Speaking repeatedly about the same role forces her to put thoughts into words.
She has said that this process of output helps organize and deepen her own thinking.
💡 Interviews have become a way to organize her thoughts
Repeatedly explaining a character or idea helps Matsushima clarify what she really thinks. A routine part of being an actress has also become a tool for self-understanding.
She also enjoys books, listening to people and following the news.
She has described wandering into bookstores and unexpectedly finding words that feel relevant to her at that moment.
If she had unlimited time to study something new, she has said she would like to learn psychology.
She is fascinated by how people change depending on their environment — in the way they think, speak and even dress.
That curiosity naturally overlaps with her work as an actress, where understanding why people behave the way they do is central to building a character.
💡 If she had the time, she would study psychology
Her curiosity extends far beyond beauty and fitness. Even in her 50s, Matsushima remains interested in how people think, change and respond to their surroundings.
She also places relatively little emphasis on numbers such as age or weight, preferring the broader idea of respecting each person and allowing them to feel comfortable in their own life.
Her approach to fashion reflects the same thinking.
She enjoys wearing clothes that lift her mood.
She considers fabric and silhouette carefully, and when something suits her, she may keep it for a decade.
In beauty, fashion and wellness, having her own standard for what feels right has become increasingly important.
In her 50s, she travels when she feels inspired to go.
She starts new forms of exercise.
She takes on new roles.
She remains curious about learning.
And she continues creating new experiences with her husband as well.
Looking across Nanako Matsushima’s beauty and wellness habits, one idea ties everything together: pay attention to the changes that come with age and life, then choose the skincare, food, movement and mindset that suit the person you are now.
For decades, Matsushima has been seen as one of Japan’s most elegant actresses.
Behind that image is someone who can deadlift 105 kg, prepare a simple natto rice bowl, learn UV habits from her daughter, wear the same coat for 10 years and wake at 4 a.m. for a spontaneous trip to Ise.
There is also the perspective that came from years of physical difficulty, the mental habits she developed from understanding her own tendency to worry, and the curiosity that still makes her want to learn more.
For Matsushima, beauty includes skincare, nourishing meals, a body that can move, family time, thoughtful choices, mental flexibility and the curiosity to keep trying something new.
That is the beauty and wellness philosophy Nanako Matsushima is showing in her 50s.
References
・Seventh Avenue | Nanako Matsushima Official Profile and Career
・VOGUE JAPAN | Nanako Matsushima on Beauty, Luxury, Health and Life in Her 50s
・VOGUE JAPAN | Nanako Matsushima: Ageless Sophistication
・Bist / 美ST ONLINE | Nanako Matsushima’s Beauty and Health Habits
・美ST ONLINE | Food, Exercise and Beauty Habits in Her 50s
・美ST ONLINE | Family, Travel and New Interests in Her 50s
・Fuji TV | Kyumei Byoto 24 Ji Season 6 Official Information
・TV Asahi | Okome no Onna Official Information
・ORICON NEWS | Nanako Matsushima Profile, Marriage and Family
・SHISEIDO | SHISEIDO MEN Campaign Featuring Takashi Sorimachi and Nanako Matsushima
