Courtesy of AKB Shinbun, Shimazaki Haruka gives some insight into what motivated her recent decision to graduate from AKB48.

First, the article in question:

There’s a short interview with a set of questions, and one 2ch thread focuses on question #2, which asks: “What made you decide to graduate?” Her response is (Japanese follows):

“Things like being part of the senbatsu, appearing on music TV shows – as part of AKB48, as far as goals for an idol, I feel as if those goals have all been achieved. And I’ve done all of those things. As for myself personally, I guess you could say, there wasn’t anything more within AKB48.” (選抜に入りたいとか、歌番組に出たいとか、AKB48おいて、アイドルとしての目標が、全て叶ったというか、全部させてもらったからです。自分がこれ以上、AKB48で何かをできる、ってことあまりなくなったとも言えるかもしれません)

There’s a lot more to this interview, but I’ll leave that for someone else to do 🙂

I suppose it all makes sense. We can’t expect her to remain an idol forever, and it seems her other career prospects are going pretty well.

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Source: http://akb48nensensou.net/archives/49820993.html