Kusumi Koharu

Koharu Kusumi (久住 小春, Kusumi Koharu) was born on July 15, 1992 in Nagaoka, Niigata, Japan. She is a former J-pop singer and voice actress in Hello! Project. She is now a model under ILLUME agency. 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.

As a Hello! Project soloist, her highest selling single is Balalaika with around 72,709 copies. Her lowest selling single is Hapi☆Hapi Sunday! with around 14,468 copies sold.

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 Tanjou 10nen Kinentai— a unit created to celebrate Morning Musume's 10th anniversary as a group. Morning Musume Tanjō 10 Nen Kinentai also consisted of Iida Kaori, Abe Natsumi, Goto Maki and Niigaki Risa. 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 MilkyWay with Hello! Pro Kenshuusei members Kikkawa Yuu (who also auditioned for Morning Musume 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 a part of the new shuffle group, ZYX-a along with Niigaki Risa, 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 (°C-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 Yoshizawa Hitomi and Fujimoto Miki in 2007.

2010
Junjun, Linlin, Berryz Koubou's Natsuyaki Miyabi and Kusumi 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.

Kusumi 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.

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

2011
On September 24, 2011 it was announced that Kusumi has signed with a new model agency called ILLUME.

On October 12, 2011 it was announced that Kusumi is going to miss the Dream Morning Musume event on 10/12 due to stomach flu.

2012
On February 15, 2012 Dream Morning Musume released their first single, Shining Butterfly.

On May 1, Kusumi cut her hair short.

Profile

 * Name: Kusumi Koharu (久住小春)
 * Nickname: Koha, Kussun, Koha-chan, Miracle-chan
 * Birthday: July 15, 1992
 * Birthplace: Niigata, Japan
 * Blood Type: A
 * Height: 167 cm
 * Hello! Project Status:
 * 2005-05-01: Member
 * 2005-05-01: Morning Musume Member
 * 2009-12-06: Graduated
 * Up-Front Agency Status:
 * 2005-05-01: Member
 * Years in Morning Musume: 4 Years
 * Hobby: Volleyball, which she began in 3rd grade and was captain
 * Favorite food: Umeboshi flavored snacks, fruit
 * Favorite color: Pink
 * Favorite kind 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)
 * Others: 
 * M-Line (2009-Present)
 * Dream Morning Musume (2011-Present)

Morning Musume

 * Iroppoi Jirettai
 * Chokkan 2 ~Nogashita Sakana wa Ookiizo!~
 * SEXY BOY ~Soyokaze ni Yorisotte~
 * Ambitious! Yashinteki de Ii jan
 * Aruiteru
 * Egao YES Nude
 * Kanashimi Twilight
 * Onna ni Sachi Are
 * Mikan
 * Resonant Blue
 * Pepper Keibu
 * Naichau Kamo
 * Shouganai Yume Oibito
 * Nanchatte Renai
 * Kimagure Princess

Morning Musume Tanjou 10nen Kinentai

 * Bokura ga Ikiru MY ASIA
 * Itoshiki Tomo e

Kira☆Pika

 * Hana o Pu-n / Futari wa NS

MilkyWay

 * Anataboshi
 * Tan!Tan!Taan!

Dream Morning Musume

 * Shining Butterfly

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 was Michishige Sayumi.
 * She is the youngest artist to debut solo within Hello! Project.
 * She was the best selling Hello! Project soloist in 2006 and 2007.
 * Claims to be anxious around the older generation members, particularly Nakazawa Yuuko and Yaguchi Mari. However, since being in Morning Musume Tanjou 10nen Kinentai, she has 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).
 * In Yorosen, she taught other Morning Musume members about Sumo Wrestling.
 * She is now modeling under the same agency as Umeda Erika, ILLUME MODELS.
 * She became an exclusive model for CanCam fashion magazine in 2011.
 * She maintains an avid interest in healthy eating and raw food, and has written about these topics on her blog and in her 2011 autobiography and essay book, 17sai no Tenshoku.
 * She is the fourth former Morning Musume member to graduate from both Morning Musume and Hello! Project. The first being Fukuda Asuka, the second being Ishiguro Aya, and the third being Ichii Sayaka
 * She is the first Morning Musume member to graduate from both Morning Musume and Hello! Project since 2000 when Ichii Sayaka graduated
 * She is the second tallest member of Morning Musume, being 167cm tall. The tallest members of Morning Musume are Iida Kaori and Junjun (both 168cm).