Koharu Kusumi (久住 小春 Kusumi Koharu?, born July 15, 1992 in Nagaoka, Niigata, Japan), is a former J-pop singer and voice actress, and currently a model. She joined Morning Musume as the only seventh generation member and as the youngest soloist to debut in Hello! Project, being only twelve years old when she joined. Before she joined Morning Musume, she was the captain of her school's volleyball team. Kusumi's audition process and debut was documented during the 2005 episodes of TV Tokyo television show Hello! Morning. She is currently a member in Dream Morning Musume, a J-pop group with former Musume members.
Biography
Koharu Kusumi joined Morning Musume in 2005 as the only seventh generation member, a feat which earned her the nickname "Miracle" from producer Tsunku. She made her debut on the single "Iroppoi Jirettai".
Kusumi was a member of the Hello! Project kickball team Metro Rabbits H.P. from its formation in the beginning of 2006, and from April 2006 to March 2009, she was the voice actress for Kirari Tsukishima, the main character in the anime Kirarin Revolution.
In early 2007, Kusumi was chosen to be a member of Morning Musume Tanjō 10nen Kinentai — a unit created to celebrate Morning Musume's 10th anniversary as a group. Morning Musume Tanjō 10nen Kinentai also consisted of Kaori Iida, Natsumi Abe, Maki Goto and Risa Niigaki. Their first single, "Bokura ga Ikiru My Asia" (僕らが生きるMy Asia?), was released on January 24, 2007.
Apart from her activities in aforementioned units, Kusumi was also a member of Kira Pika with C-ute's Mai Hagiwara and MilkyWay with Hello Pro Egg members Yuu Kikkawa and Sayaka Kitahara. Both units were formed for the Kirarin Revolution anime, which ended in March 2009. Kusumi is currently a regular on the TV Tokyo children's show Oha Suta, appearing every Tuesday.
In 2009, Kusumi was assigned to be a part of ZYX-α, a revival of ZYX, along with Risa Niigaki, Erika Umeda, Saki Ogawa, Ayaka Wada, Momoko Tsugunaga, Chinami Tokunaga, and Maasa Sudo.
On September 19, 2009, Tsunku announced that Kusumi would graduate from Morning Musume and Hello! Project on December 6, at the final performance of Morning Musume's 2009 fall tour, Nine Smile.[1][2] According to Kusumi's official announcement, she had interests in becoming a model.[3] She later stated she would also like to try other career paths, such as comedy.[4] Roughly 4,000 fans attended the graduation concert.[5] Her graduation marked the end of the longest stable lineup of Morning Musume, as it was the first change in the group's roster since the departure of Miki Fujimoto two and a half years earlier, in June 2007.
After her graduation, she opened her own blog, and was announced to be joining "M-Line", the official fanclub of former Morning Musume members. She continued to appear on Oha Suta, as well as Oha Coro, and, as well as her modeling, branched out into food and health, appearing in a series of advertisements.
Singles# Title Release date 1 "Koi Kana" (恋☆カナ?) July 12, 2006 2 "Balalaika" (バラライカ?) October 25, 2006 3 "Happy" (Happy☆彡?)[7] May 2, 2007 4 "Chance!" (チャンス!?) November 7, 2007 5 "Papancake" (パパンケーキ?) July 16, 2008 6 "Hapi Hapi Sunday!" (はぴ☆はぴ サンデー!?)[8] February 4, 2009
Albums and mini-albums# Title Release date – Kirarin Revolution Song Selection (きらりん☆レボリューション ソング・セレクション?) October 18, 2006 1 Mitsuboshi (☆☆☆(みつぼし)?) February 28, 2007 – Kirarin Revolution Song Selection Vol. 2 (きらりん☆レボリューション・ソング・セレクション2?) September 12, 2007 2 Kirarin Land (きらりん☆ランド?) December 19, 2007 – Kirarin Revolution Song Selection Vol. 3 (きらりん☆レボリューション・ソング・セレクション3?) July 23, 2008 – Kirarin Revolution Song Selection Vol. 4 (きらりん☆レボリューション・ソング・セレクション4?) August 27, 2008 3 Kirari to Fuyu (きらりと冬?) December 17, 2008 – Kirarin Revolution Song Selection Vol. 5 (きらりん☆レボリューション・ソング・セレクション5?) March 18, 2009 – Best Kirari (ベスト☆きらり?) March 11, 2009
Photobooks# Title[9] Release date Publisher ISBN Description 1 Koharu Kusumi (久住小春?) March 24, 2006 Wani Books ISBN 978-4-8470-2923-3 First Solo photobook 2 Pop (POP 久住小春ソロ写真集?) September 20, 2007 Kadokawa Publishing Group ISBN 978-4-04-894499-1 Second solo photobook 3 Koharu Nikki (久住小春写真集「小春日記。」?) July 25, 2008 Wani Books ISBN 978-4-8470-4102-0 Third solo photobook – Happy Memorial Photobook (月島きらり starring 久住小春(モーニング娘。)『ハッピーメモリアル☆フォトブック?) December 1, 2008 Shogakukan ISBN 978-4-09-132290-6 Released for Kirarin Revolution, credited as Kirari Tsukishima starring Koharu Kusumi (Morning Musume) 4 Sugar Doll (久住小春写真集「Sugar Doll」?) September 27, 2009 Wani Books ISBN 978-4-8470-4202-7 Fourth solo photobook
Television showsShow Start date End date Station Hello! Morning (ハロー!モーニング。?) 2005 April 1, 2007 TV Tokyo Musume Dokyu! (娘DOKYU!?) July 4, 2005 December 6, 2009 Oha Suta (おはスタ?, as Kirari Tsukishima) 2006 March 27, 2009 Oha Suta (おはスタ?, as Herself) March 28, 2009 Ongoing Kirarin Revolution (きらりん☆レボリューション?, as Kirari Tsukishima (voice)) April 7, 2006 March 27, 2009 Haromoni@ (ハロモニ@?) April 8, 2007 September 28, 2008 Chichin Puipui February 20, 2009
