A year of Japanese landscapes
Yakushima was Toyoshima’s first visit to the island. She recalled the scale of its moss-covered forest and the two distinct shades of its sea, but singled out a river reached on foot through the forest as her favorite location. There, she was photographed in a floral one-piece swimsuit.
The shoot also tested skills she has developed through gravure. Toyoshima said she had once practiced simply floating in a Guam pool; two years later, she felt at ease in the water.
One Yakushima photograph initially made her uncertain: an open white shirt photographed against the mossy forest.
I cannot see myself objectively, and I worried that one wrong move could make it look vulgar. But when I saw the photos, the atmosphere of Yakushima’s moss and the white shirt went together so well. It felt very natural, as though I had returned to nature.
The location brought one less planned memory. Near the end of the shoot, a paper wasp stung her shin. The team drew out the venom and cooled the area with drinks cans and river water; she now recounts the incident as part of the trip.
Spring produced another personal connection. Toyoshima’s given name includes the kanji 桜, meaning cherry blossom, and this was her first gravure shoot among the blossoms. She also remembers a bright pink swimsuit photograph with Mount Fuji behind her.
We shot enough in each season to make one book. There are so many photos that I keep wondering which one will become the cover.
Three years after her gravure debut
Toyoshima sees a clear difference between this book and her 2023 debut photobook, Kokoro Bakari. Where the first was shaped by the energy of a Vietnam trip, she describes the second as a record of herself at 22.
When I look at the first book, I think I looked incredibly young. When I look at recent photos, I think, “I have grown up,” so I think people will be able to feel that growth in this photobook.
The book arrives nearly three years after her gravure debut. In the interview, she also discussed life away from the camera: she was attending driving school and approaching her learner’s permit, hoped eventually to drive to Fuji-Q Highland for hoto noodles, and wanted to try surfing after watching her mother enjoy the sport.
Toyoshima appears on the cover and in the gravure pages of Weekly Playboy No. 37, released August 31. The issue includes a 41-minute DVD supplement, while Weekly Playboy Plus! carries additional photographs not used in the magazine. Sixty readers can also win a signed cover art print through the print edition.
Release details
- Title: Untitled second photobook
- Publisher: Shueisha
- Release date: December 1, 2026
- Photography: YUJI TAKEUCHI (BALLPARK), Maki Taguchi and Tosei Uemura
- ISBN: 978-4-08-790257-0
- Styling for the Weekly Playboy feature: Ikuko Tomita
- Hair and makeup for the Weekly Playboy feature: Chisako Hagimura
Kokoro Toyoshima (豊島心桜) was born on September 25, 2003, in Niigata Prefecture. She is 167 cm tall and lists classical ballet as a special skill. After graduating from the Imadoki Girl segment of Fuji TV’s Mezamashi TV, she has continued working in acting as well as gravure.
Source: Weekly Playboy News
