Departures of note

Nobue Matsubara was a Japanese enka singer from Ōita Prefecture who debuted in 1979 with the single "Onna no Defune." That same year she won the New Artist Award at the Japan Record Awards, launching a career that made her a recognized voice in the genre. She appeared on the NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen year-end music program seven times, beginning in 1985.

Suffering from weak kidneys since childhood, Matsubara continued performing while managing her illness. In 2009 she publicly revealed that she had undergone a living-donor kidney transplant from her elder brother. She died on 13 September 2026 in a Tokyo hospital at the age of 65, having been hospitalized the previous morning after complaining of poor health.