Japanese bowling pioneer Ritsuko Nakayama, first woman to bowl professional perfect game, dies at 84

Ritsuko Nakayama, a pioneering Japanese professional bowler who helped drive the sport’s popularity in the 1970s, has died aged 84. Her death was announced by the Japan Professional Bowling Association, which said she had been receiving treatment for an unspecified health condition.

Nakayama switched from volleyball after her corporate team folded and qualified as a professional bowler in 1969, placing second in the first women’s qualification test. She was among 13 women in that inaugural group and, the following year, became the first woman to bowl a perfect game in professional competition. Her fame also reached television: a 1971 shampoo advert helped give her the nickname “Sawayaka Ritsuko-san”.