Ex-AKB48 idol and fashion brand founder Haruna Kojima announces marriage and birth of child

The former AKB48 idol Haruna Kojima has announced her marriage and the birth of her first child.

Still ravishing even in firmly in her jukujo period, the 38-year-old made the sudden announcement on social media today.

It seems the Saitama native — known to fans as Kojiharu or Nyannyan — kept her union and pregnancy secret, but there have long been rumors that she was living with an IT entrepreneur in a swanky Roppongi condo.

She did not give any details about her husband, though it is reasonable to assume it is the same man rumored to be her long-term partner since the late 2010s.

Here is the announcement.

I would like to share some personal news: I have recently given birth to my first child.

I chose to wait until after the safe arrival of my baby to share this update with you all.

Thankfully, both the baby and I are healthy, and we are enjoying a peaceful time together. I would also like to share that I have gotten married.

I am deeply grateful for the warm support I receive from all of you, my professional colleagues, and my team at the company. I am truly reminded of how much I am supported by so many wonderful people.

I remain as committed as ever to my work and will continue to strive to do my best. Thank you for your continued support.

Haruna Kojima

As a member of the first generation of AKB48, Kojiharu has been part of our lives here at Tokyo Kinky for pretty much the whole duration of this blog, which we started more than fifteen years ago. She actually spent an unusually long time in the group — 12 years — and we had to check to remind ourselves that she didn’t actually graduate until 2017, when she was almost 29.

This feels like the end of an era, a reminder that the idols of yesteryear all get older (and hopefully wiser), and that the heyday of AKB and its sister groups is well and truly over. While they still have their fans, the time when the idols fronted advertising campaigns for major brands, and when many of them enjoyed successful solo careers upon graduation seems long gone.

Kojiharu went a different route, focusing on building a career as a fashion model (she had a high-profile lingerie modeling gig for Peach John even while still a member of AKB48) and then relaunching herself in 2018 as a fashion brand director, with herself as the model and influencer pushing the brand’s look and lifestyle.

While she continued to work as an idol (her most recent photo book was a semi-nude one shot in location in Barcelona and came out in late 2024), her fashion brand endeavors made her rich. Earlier this year, she sold her apparel company heart relation for ¥3.5 billion ($22 million) to e-commerce company yutori.

This led to speculation that she would now step back from her celebrity career and start a family. For once, the speculation was totally on the money.