Haruna Kojima

Haruna Kojima was born on April 19, 1988 in Saitama, a suburb north of Tokyo. She came to the prominence as a member of idol band Angel Eyes. She submitted her photograph to AKB48 in 2005 & was subsequently surprised that she was invited to audition for the then unknown group. She would advance to become a member of the upstart girls' band. She had to transfer schools to accommodate her new profession as her school banned such activities. With AKB48, she shot up to superstar status & even appeared on NHK's annual New Year's Eve program Kohaku Uta Gassen in 2007. She also joined the sub-group No Sleeves. She also began appearing on variety shows & movies, eager to try her hand at screen acting. She won the Nikkan Sports Drama Grand Prix Best Supporting Actress award for her appearance in the Ikemen Desu Ne in 2011. She announced her retirement from AKB48 on June 18, 2016. Her last performance was on her birthday in 2017. She performed both AKB & No Sleeves songs during the performance. An anthology video of her performances was played for the audience. She continued her career by modeling & endorsing products like Uniqolo bras.