Neko Oikawa 及川 眠子
Born	(1960-02-10) February 10, 1960 (age 64) Wakayama, Wakayama, Japan
Genres	J-pop pop rock anison
Occupation(s)	Lyricist
Years active	1985–present
Website	oikawaneko.com

Neko Oikawa ( 及川 眠子, Oikawa Neko, born February 10, 1960) is a Japanese lyricist who has written J-pop and anime theme songs over her career. ^{[1] [2]}

Biography

Neko Oikawa was born in Wakayama, Wakayama. She made her songwriting debut in 1985 with Kanako Wada's "Passing Through", which won the Mitsubishi Minica Mascot Song Contest. ^[1] During her time with Fuji Pacific Music, Oikawa wrote songs for numerous Japanese idols; most notably the duo Wink. In 1989, her song " Samishii Nettaigyo" for Wink won the Grand Prix at the 31st Japan Record Awards and the 22nd All Japan Wired Broadcasting Awards. ^[3] In 1994, her song "Tokyo" for Yashiki Takajin won the Yomiuri TV Best Award and Special Award at the All Japan Cable Broadcasting Awards. ^[2]

Oikawa's most well-known song outside Japan is " A Cruel Angel's Thesis", recorded by Yoko Takahashi for the 1995 anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion. ^[1] The song has been ranked by Joysound as the most popular song on karaoke. ^{[4] [5]} According to Oikawa, she receives between 1 and 1.5 yen for every time every time the song is played at a karaoke hall. Combined with the royalties from the Evangelion pachinko machines, Oikawa receives no less than ¥30 million annually from the song alone. ^{[6] [2]}

In 2017, Oikawa set up the Neko Oikawa Nonfiction Award (及川眠子ノンフィクション賞, Oikawa Neko Nonfikushon Shō) to encourage more writers to do nonfiction works. ^[4]

Personal life

Oikawa had an affair with a Turkish man 18 years her junior in 2000 and traveled to Turkey to marry him in 2005. In their 13 years of marriage, they had only been together one-third of the time. She started going in debt during the marriage to the point where it reached ¥ 70 million by the time she filed for divorce in 2018. Oikawa published her biography Hakon (破婚, Breakdown), which detailed the last days of her marriage. ^{[7] [2]}

Works

Oikawa's works include the following:

Shoko Aida

• "Tapestry"

Agnes Chan

• "Propose"

Rina Chinen

• "Pride + Joy"

Shizuka Kudo

• "Sora no Shōmen"

Anthony Lun

• "Ai ga Aru kara"

Alisa Mizuki

• "Yasashii Yoru ni Aimashō"

Akina Nakamori

• " Genshi, Onna wa Taiyō Datta"

Yōko Oginome

• "Himawari"
• "Sunao na Koi"
• "Heaven"
• "Shiawase wa Sunadokei no Yō ni"
• "Always"

Noriko Sakai

• "Eve no Tamago"
• "Namida Hitotsubu"

Shonentai

• "Excuse"

Super Monkey's

• " Aishite Muscat"
• "Wagamama wo Yurushite"

Yoko Takahashi

• " A Cruel Angel's Thesis"
• "Tamashii no Refrain"

Yashiki Takajin

• "Tokyo"

Wink

Tokusatsu themes

• " Ninpuu Sentai Hurricaneger"
• " Juken Sentai Gekiranger"
• " Shuriken Sentai Ninninger"
• " Ultraman Max"

References

External links

• Official website
• Neko Oikawa on Twitter (in Japanese)
• Neko Oikawa discography at MusicBrainz
• Neko Oikawa discography at Discogs