Popular idol group AKB48's Oshima Yuko held a release event for her first-ever photobook, "Yuko", on June 21st. The idol recently earned 122,843 votes on the June 9th Senbatsu Election, earning her 2nd place among all the members of AKB48. She was unable to defend her first place title from last year, but she said, "I was prepared for this. I told Acchan (Maeda Atsuko), 'I'm entrusting you with this!'". This year she will "take it easy", she said with a big smile.

The photobook contains pages of photos of the idol taken by cameraman Fujishiro Meisa, who chose the theme of "taking a trip to Okinawa with Oshima Yuko". In addition to the photos, there is a 20,000 word interview with the star that took 10 hours to record, as well as conversations between the idol and her father, AKB48 producer Akimoto Yasushi, and her "frenemy" from AKB48, Takahashi Minami. The book is printed on A5 paper and covers 146 pages. There is also a postcard with a message from Yuko herself inserted in each book. According to publisher Kodansha, the book was released on June 17th and has already sold 20,000 units.

About the conversation with her father, she said, "Due to the nature of this job, you don't usually get such a behind-the-scenes look at an idol's life, so this is a must-see. My dad was kind of shy [in the interview], but he is someone I really look up to". She was also able to sit down and talk with "Takamina" for the first time in a while. "We're always close, but this time we were able to sit down and seriously talk about the past as well as our future plans", she said.

Unbeknownst to fans, she said that cried after the Senbatsu Election. "I remembered all the fans who said to me, 'We'll make you number 1'. It's not about the number of votes. The fact that you voted means the most to me", she said. "We just finished the election, but I would like to stay in AKB48 as long as I can wear a school uniform. Mari-chan (Shinoda Mariko) is still wearing hers, so I would like to stay until I'm at least 25". More than 1500 fans showed up for the handshake event held later the same day.

Oshima Yuko's first photo book, "Yuko", is now on sale.

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Source: Eiga.com