Koharu Kusumi

**Koharu Kusumi** is a model, actress, TV personality and singer. She is currently a model for the fashion magazine CanCam. She is a former member of the idol group Morning Musume and is part of the side unit Dream Morning Musume.

Kusumi joined Morning Musume in 2005 as the only seventh generation member, being only twelve years old when she joined. Shortly after joining, she was given the role of Tsukishima Kirari for the anime Kirarin☆Revolution. She became the youngest Hello! Project soloist to debut following the release of "Koi☆Kana." She graduated from Morning Musume and Hello! Project on December 6, 2009 to pursue a career in modeling.

As a Hello! Project soloist under the name Tsukishima Kirari starring Kusumi Koharu (Morning Musume), her highest selling single is Balalaika with 72,709 copies. Her lowest selling single is Hapi☆Hapi Sunday! with 14,468 copies sold.

## History

### Early Life

Kusumi Koharu was born on July 15, 1992 in the village of Washima in Niigata, Japan (now part of Nagaoka City).

Prior to joining Morning Musume, Kusumi was the captain of her school's volleyball team.

In 2005, Kusumi auditioned for Morning Musume Audition 2005 and successfully passed. She joined Morning Musume in May 2005 as the only seventh generation member.

### 2006-2009

Kusumi has been a member of the Hello! Project kickball team, Metro Rabbits H.P., since its formation in the beginning of the year. Starting on April 7, she was the voice actress for Tsukishima Kirarin, the main character in the anime Kirarin☆Revolution.

Early in the year, Kusumi was chosen to be a member of Morning Musume Tanjou 10nen Kinentai— a unit created to celebrate Morning Musume's 10th anniversary as a group. Morning Musume Tanjou 10nen Kinentai also consisted of Kaori Iida, Natsumi Abe, Maki Goto and Risa Niigaki. Their first single, "Bokura ga Ikiru MY ASIA," was released on January 24, 2007.

Apart from her activities in the aforementioned units, Kusumi was also a member of Kira☆Pika with ℃-ute's Hagiwara Mai and MilkyWay with Hello Pro Kenshuusei members Kikkawa Yuu and Kitahara Sayaka. Both units were formed for the Kirarin☆Revolution anime, which ended in March 2009. Kusumi ibecame a regular on TV Tokyo children's show Oha Suta, appearing every Tuesday.

Kusumi was assigned to be a part of the new shuffle group, ZYX-α along with Risa Niigaki, Umeda Erika, Ogawa Saki, Wada Ayaka, Tsugunaga Momoko, Tokunaga Chinami, and Sudo Maasa.

After the first performance at Morning Musume's 2009 Fall Tour Nine Smile, a shocking announcement was made that Kusumi would graduate from Morning Musume and Hello! Project in December 2009. According to the official announcement, she was planning to be a model, similar to Umeda Erika (℃-ute)'s graduation purpose.

Her graduation marked the end of the longest stable lineup of Morning Musume (the group had gone just over two years without any change in membership, the longest in its history), as it was the first change in the group's roster since the departures of Hitomi Yoshizawa and Miki Fujimoto in 2007.

### After Morning Musume

Junjun, Linlin and Berryz Koubou's Natsuyaki Miyabi and Kusumi performed in Shanghai in June as a special 4-nin unit called Ex-ceed!.

Both volumes of her photobook, "Sugar Doll," were created and released as apps for the Android phone on July 14, 2010.

Kusumi announced on her blog that she would appear in a new commercial for Yamazaki brand "Funwari Shokupan" (white bread) that aired on July 16.

Later on, it was announced that she and the past Morning Musume members that were still under Up-Front, formed the group Dream Morning Musume. The group debuted in late April with their first album Dorimusu ①, covering Morning Musume classic songs.

On September 24, it was announced that Kusumi had signed with a new modeling agency called ILLUME.

On October 12, it was announced that Kusumi was going to miss the Dream Morning Musume event on due to the stomach flu.

In late fall, she recorded a new song, Asaasamba, which was released as a digital single. Asaasamba can be found on Petit Best 12, as a bonus track.

On January 19th, Kusumi appeared on Youngtown radio show, filling in for Aika Mitsui, with Sayumi Michishige and Kikkawa Yuu. During that radio show, Kusumi revealed that the only reason why she auditioned for Morning Musume was to get into the entertainment industry and become a model. She chose to graduate from Morning Musume at the age of 17 in order to model for CanCam. She considers CanCam a 'step up' from Morning Musume. Kusumi also revealed that she disliked the male fanbase she had as an idol and likes her female fanbase as a model.

In August, Kusumi participated in the Idol Koushien event. During the event, Kusumi mainly performed Kirarin☆Revolution songs.

On December 20, Kusumi appeared in the stage play Shiritsu Hasuhasu Onna Gakuin as a guest performer.

In March, Kusumi graduated from Oha Suta.

Beginning on July 22, Kusumi starred in the TV Drama Again!! as Abe Tamaki, the leader of the American-styled cheer team. The TV drama will run through the summer season, with ten episodes in total.

On July 23, Kusumi announced on her blog that she graduated from being an exclusive model for *CanCam* magazine following her last appearance in the September 2015 issue.

On September 15, it was announced that Kusumi would be leaving the *Otoboke POPS* talk show from October.

On January 9, Kusumi started hosting a weekly radio show titled *Kusumi Koharu Kohappy Time* on FM PORT. On April 1, Kusumi started hosting a second radio program called *Kusumi Koharu no MEDIASHIP927* on BSN.

On November 30, Kusumi's contract with J.P ROOM was not renewed and she had decided to leave UP-FRONT GROUP entirely. However, she would stay in the entertainment industry.

Kusumi's radio show *Kusumi Koharu no MEDIASHIP927* ended on March 31.

On April 7, it was announced that Kusumi had signed with the Oscar Promotion on New Year's Day, after completing her contract with J.P ROOM at the end of last November. It was also announced that she would also be starring in *Joshuu Seven*, her first TV drama since joining the company, beginning on April 21.

On September 14, Kusumi announced she was cast for season five of the drama *Doctor-X*, which would begin on October 13. Her character is a nurse named Nagamori Haruna.

On November 16, Kusumi released her fifth solo photobook and her first since she graduated as an idol eight years before, titled *moment*.

On July 20, Kusumi revealed that she would be the voice of Gabby Duran in the Japanese dub of the Disney Channel original series, *Gabby Duran & the Unsittables*.

## Appearance

Koharu wears a white cardigan over a black shirt, white trousers and white shoes. She has a black messy ponytail.

## Trivia

* Kusumi was initially with Chick Hicks for one episode of the Little Bill Gets Grounded series, but she dumped him after realizing that he was a troublemaker, possibly due to his atrocious behavior. This leads to her choosing Kevin Shiftright as her new adoptive husband.
* Her official YouTube username is SexyPrincess Est. 1991.