Haruna Kojima returns to gravure with first bikini shoot in six years

The former AKB48 idol Haruna Kojima has returned to gravure with her first shoot in six years.

She appears in a cover shoot for Young Magazine’s May 1 issue, which went on sale this week.

As you might expect, the return of the model — now aged 34, well into luscious jukujo territory — known for her pale skin and slinky body has generated reams of media coverage. The magazine shoot, which was done in Okinawa, features Kojiharu in alluring, summery swimwear.

We’ve included some highlights here.

Her last bikini gravure shoot was for Young Magazine in 2017. The comeback is being heavily promoted, including this behind-the-scenes video on Kojima’s YouTube channel.

While her AKB48 cohorts from the same generation like Yuko Oshima and Atsuko Maeda have gone on to have serious acting careers (and motherhood), Kojiharu chose to carve out a career in fashion and lingerie modeling.

In February, she announced that she was now chief creative officer of the cosmetics company she founded in 2020.

As such, this is in some ways a surprising return by someone who would not seem to “need” to do gravure again — unless she simply wanted to reward her fans. We at Tokyo Kinky welcome Kojiharu back with open arms!