Oshima Yuko reflects on her teenage years, years with AKB48, living in the United States and life at 30-years-old

Former AKB48 member Oshima Yuko (30) was recently interviewed by Yahoo! News.

Here is an excerpt from the interview:

Oshima spent the last year of her twenties living in the United States and returned back to Japan.

Oshima, who graduated from AKB48 in 2014, wondered how to become a better express herself as an actress and she was in doubt about herself, so she decided to live abroad for a year in hopes to re-discover herself.

Oshima wanted to make it clear that she was not a New York student, nor did she go to the United States to study entertainment, such as dancing and acting.  She went to a college to study abroad, did her homework at home and made only one friend in the area.

But she felt that living abroad would give her a chance to challenge herself and say that she was a person who can take on challenges and also for her to learn to speak English more.

While living abroad, she often wondered, “Who am I?”.

Oshima talked about her childhood and acting since the age of 7.  But she had no confidence when she appeared in small roles in dramas, and believed she had no talent.  So, when she was in high school, she was about to quit and started to think about her career after high school and going to a social welfare school.But she passed the audition for AKB48 at the age of 17 and felt, this is my last chance and at the time, AKB48 was not really known.

She went to high school in Tochigi prefecture while taking theater lessons in Tokyo.  She didn’t even know that AKB48 was an idol group,but she was so buy that she had no time to decide if she wanted to become an idol, nor did she have time to think if she wanted to quit.

Despite going back and forth, she would study her homework while on the train and managed to keep high scores on her test.

Oshima credits her father who raised her by himself and supported her. Her father made her lunch everyday, picked her up by car and thanks to her school and friends at AKB48, she was able to overcome difficult days.  But it’s her father who was there for her everyday and she appreciates him more that she is now grown up.

On turning 30 on October 17th, Oshima said when she was in her twenties, she thought she wanted to be 30 as soon as she can.  The decade of her ’20s was a foundation and she wanted to prepare for adulthood.  So living in the United States gave her a clear perspective.

Oshima said that when she was in her twenties, she decided to focus on her passion to work.  But now, she wants to let things flow because she wants to introduce her future husband and children while her 90-year-old grandmother is still doing well.

Oshima Yuko will be on stage in January 9th – February 1, 2019 for “Crime & Punishment”.

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