Kazumi Takayama

Takayama's entertainment career began in 2011 when she successfully auditioned for the first generation of the idol group Nogizaka46.[3] Beginning with the group's first release, Takayama has been regularly selected as one of the main recording and performing members on Nogizaka46 singles.[4] She has also performed on B-sides, including a 2012 acoustic duet with Mai Shiraishi, titled "Shibuya Blues", on Nogizaka46's fifth single "Seifuku no Mannequin".[5] As of 2019, Takayama has performed as part of the main selection group on every Nogizaka46 single.[6]

Her Nogizaka46 activities have also included acting roles in the television adaptation of the manga Bad Boys,[7] the baseball drama Hatsumori Bemars,[8] and the NHK taiga drama Hana Moyu,[9] as well as appearing in advertising campaigns for the Tourism Authority of Thailand,[10] Meiji Dairies,[11] and travel company Jalan.[12] As an individual performer she has appeared on several television variety shows, and has co-hosted the TBS program All Star After Party.[13][14] In 2016, her first solo photobook, titled Maybe it's Love (恋かもしれない, Koi kamo shirenai), was published. The photos in the book were taken on location in her hometown of Minamibōsō.[15] Her second photobook, Monologue (独白, Dokuhaku), with photos taken in Helsinki, was published in 2019.[16] In the Oricon weekly book sales ranking for its first week of publication, Monologue placed first in the photobook category.[17]

Takayama made her literary debut in January 2016 with the short story Carry-over (キャリーオーバー), which was published on the website of Japanese magazine Da Vinci and illustrated by fellow Nogizaka46 member Mai Fukagawa.[18] The next year she worked with Japanese investor Taizen Okuyama to learn about investing and track her own progress as an investor, which she and Okuyama then wrote about in a book published by PHP titled Investment Methods that Keep My Money Growing Even Though I'm An Idol (お金がずっと増え続ける投資のメソッド: アイドルのわたしでも, Okane ga zutto fuetsuzukeru tōshi no mesoddo: Aidoru no watashi demo).[19]

From May 2016 to September 2018, Takayama wrote a serialized novel titled Trapezium (トラペジウム, Torapejiumu) that was published in installments in Da Vinci. Trapezium tells the story of a young girl who has to make difficult choices to realize her dream of becoming an idol. The novel was published in a single volume in November 2018 by Kadokawa Shoten. In December 2018 the novel placed first in the Oricon book ranking in the literary category.[20] The publisher had to stop reprinting the book after the fourth printing, as inventory of the special paper used for the book's cover ran out.[21] A limited edition of the book with a wrapper containing commentary from fellow Nogizaka46 member Nanase Nishino was subsequently published.[22]

• (co-author, with Taizen Okuyama) Investment Methods that Keep My Money Growing Even Though I'm An Idol (お金がずっと増え続ける投資のメソッド: アイドルのわたしでも, Okane ga zutto fuetsuzukeru tōshi no mesoddo: Aidoru no watashi demo), PHP, 2017, ISBN 9784569838663
• Trapezium (トラペジウム, Torapejiumu), Kadokawa Shoten, 2018, ISBN 9784040686967

• Maybe it's Love: A Kazumi Takayama Photobook (恋かもしれない: 高山一実写真集, Koi kamo shirenai: Takayama Kazumi shashinshū), Gakken Plus, 2016, ISBN 9784054064744
• Monologue: A Kazumi Takayama Photobook (高山一実写真集 独白, Takayama Kazumi shashinshū: Dokuhaku), Tokuma Shoten, 2019, ISBN 9784198647902