Kusumi Koharu

Koharu Kusumi (久住 小春, Kusumi Koharu, born July 15, 1992 in Nagaoka, Niigata, Japan), is a J-pop singer and voice actress in Hello! Project. 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.

2005
Koharu Kusumi joined Morning Musume in 2005 as the only seventh generation member.

2006
Kusumi has been a member of the Hello! Project kickball team Metro Rabbits H.P. since its formation in the beginning of 2006. Since April 7, 2006, she has been the voice actress for Kirari Tsukishima, the main character in the anime Kirarin Revolution.

2007
In early 2007, Kusumi was chosen to be a member of Morning Musume Tanjō 10 Nen Kinentai —a unit created to celebrate Morning Musume's 10th anniversary as a group. Morning Musume Tanjō 10 Nen 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.

2009
Apart from her activities in aforementioned units, Kusumi is also a member of Kira Pika with °C-ute's Hagiwara Mai and Milky Way with Hello Project Eggs members Kikkawa Yuu (who also auditioned for Morning Musume back in 2006) and Kitahara Sayaka. 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 apart of the new shuffle group, ZYX a along with Niigaki Risa, Umeda Erika, Ogawa Saki, Wada Ayaka, Tsugunaga Momoko, and Sudou 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 is planning to be a model, similar to Umeda Erika (°C-ute)'s graduation purpose. Her graduation will mark the end of the longest stable lineup of Morning Musume (the group had gone just over 2 years without any change in membership, the longest in its history), as it will be the first change in the group's roster since the departures of Yoshizawa Hitomi and Fujimoto Miki in 2007

2010
Jun Jun, Lin Lin, Miyabi and former Morning Musume member Koharu performed in Shanghai during 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.

Koharu announced on her blog that she will appear in a new commercial for Yamazaki brand "Funwari Shokupan" (white bread) that aired on July 16, 2010.

Profile

 * Name: Kusumi Koharu (久住小春)
 * Nickname: Koha, Kussun, Koha-chan, Miracle-chan
 * Birthday: 1992-07-15
 * Birthplace: Niigata, Japan
 * Blood Type: A
 * Height: 166cm
 * Hobby: Volleyball, which she began in 3rd grade and was captain
 * Favorite food: Umeboshi flavored snacks, fruit
 * Favorite color: Pink
 * Favorite sort of guy: Kind
 * Favorite celebrities: Morning Musume & Amuro Namie
 * Favorite H!P Member: Fujimoto Miki
 * Audition Song: Furusato
 * Family: Father, Mother, older sister, older brother
 * Hello! Project groups:
 * Morning Musume (2005–2009)
 * Wonderful Hearts (2006–2009)
 * Morning Musume Tanjou 10nen Kinentai (2007)
 * Kira Pika (2007)
 * MilkyWay (2008–2009)

Discography and releases
The following singles and albums are released under the artist name Kirari Tsukishima starring Koharu Kusumi (Morning Musume).

Trivia

 * She is the second Morning Musume member to come from Niigata, following Ogawa Makoto.
 * The word "miracle" is used in relation to Kusumi a lot (whether as a nickname or as a catchphrase) because the 7th generation auditions were to find the "ace" for Morning Musume, whom Tsunku dubbed would be a "miracle."
 * During her audition, she stated that she prefers the "cool" images over "cute," and stated Yoshizawa Hitomi and Fujimoto Miki as the members she admires the most. She has also stated that Fujimoto Miki is her favorite celebrity on both Hello! Morning and Ongaku Senshi MUSIC FIGHTER.
 * Her audition song was Morning Musume's "Furusato".
 * At Morning Musume's 2009 Aki tour, her Graduation song was, incidentally, also Furusato.
 * Her mentor figure within Morning Musume is Michishige Sayumi.
 * She is the youngest artist to debut solo within Hello! Project.
 * She was the best selling Hello! Project soloist in 2006 & 2007.
 * Claims to be anxious around the older generation members, particularly Nakazawa Yuko and Yaguchi Mari. However, since being in Morning Musume Tanjou 10nen Kinentai, she's claimed to have calmed her anxiety around Iida Kaori and Abe Natsumi.
 * She gets startled when someone speaks in Kansai dialect.
 * She was the first artist to achieve the 2.0 ratio in Hello!Project in years. (The 2.0 ratio is First Week sales versus Total sales. In other words, she was able to double her first week sales.)