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Karen Tachibana Turns an Award Promise Into a Solo Shoot

Her Weekly Playboy Prize at the Race Ambassador Award 2025 leads to a No. 37 feature after a four-award sweep and two years with A-class.

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Karen Tachibana (橘 香恋) for Weekly Playboy No. 37
— Photograph by Kazunori Fujimoto
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Karen Tachibana’s solo feature in Weekly Playboy No. 37 is the result of a promise made months earlier. After winning the magazine’s prize at the Race Ambassador Award 2025, she pledged to wear high-leg swimwear; the accompanying shoot is where she followed through.

The asymmetrical design still surprised her at the fitting. Tachibana had not done a solo shoot for some time, and she says the combination of unfamiliar styling and working without other members left her nervous. Her recent Weekly Playboy experience had come with A-class, the Tokyo Auto Salon image-girl unit for which she was selected in both 2025 and 2026. In those group sessions, she could take cues from members with more gravure experience.

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Karen Tachibana (橘 香恋) for Weekly Playboy No. 37
Photograph by Kazunori Fujimoto
Karen Tachibana (橘 香恋) digital photobook Konna no Hajimete
Photograph by Kazunori Fujimoto

Preparation for the solo feature meant maintaining rather than losing weight. Tachibana says she made a point of eating enough and continued the training she has followed for years, with a particular focus on her glutes. The added muscle eventually meant replacing trousers that no longer fit comfortably.

A four-award campaign

Tachibana had worked as a race queen for eight years without entering the Japan Race Queen Grand Prix, the predecessor to the current award. Her season with D’station Fresh Angels changed that calculation: singing and dancing with the team required unfamiliar work, and the effort encouraged her to enter the Race Ambassador Award as well.

An editor’s suggestion during an A-class shoot pushed her toward the Weekly Playboy Prize. She decided that winning across several categories would make the campaign memorable. The result was four honors: the Race Ambassador Award itself, the Weekly Playboy Prize, the TV Tokyo Prize and the MediBang N-Print Prize.

“I do not have a single regret about this result, and I was truly happy,” Tachibana says. “I was able to come this far thanks to everyone who supports me.”

Home in Okazaki

Tachibana continues to live with her family in Okazaki, Aichi Prefecture, after a period in Tokyo. She says she prefers being close to old friends and hearing frogs at night. Recent time off has included sea fishing with her family, while games and pachinko are among her usual hobbies. Everyone in the household cooks, she says, though her late-night preference for office work and gaming can clash with early work calls.

Her next aim is straightforward: continue working as a race ambassador and return to Weekly Playboy for another gravure feature. In 2026, she is a race ambassador for aprVictoria.

Feature and release details

  • Magazine: Weekly Playboy No. 37, released August 31, 2026
  • Styling: KAN
  • Hair and makeup: Keito Murozono (GiGGLE)
  • Digital photobook: Konna no Hajimete (This Is My First Time)
  • Photography: Kazunori Fujimoto
  • Format: Digital collection of photographs not published in the magazine
  • Price: ¥1,320 including tax

Tachibana was born November 8, 1996, in Okazaki, Aichi Prefecture, and is 164 cm tall. Her official account is X.

Source: Weekly Playboy / Shueisha

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