It was announced on the company's website that Kota Kitamura, husband of talent Ruriko Kojima and president of Habitat Inc., which operates a sauna business, passed away on the 4th.

"Our founder and president, Kota Kitamura, passed away on February 4, 2025, at the age of 29," the company announced. "As a result, he stepped down from his position as president and CEO on the same day."

The wake, funeral and memorial service are planned to be held only for close relatives.

Kitamura was born in Tokyo in 1995. While studying at Aoyama Gakuin University, he joined EVERY, Inc., the developer of the cooking video app DELISH KITCHEN. After working at Babel Inc. and GO Inc., he founded Habitat and became its representative director.

He married Kojima in 2023. Kojima announced her first pregnancy in August of the same year and gave birth shortly thereafter. There are also reports that her husband's company has recently been struggling financially.

Kojima entered the entertainment industry when she was 15 years old in 2009 after winning the grand prize at the "Horipro Scout Caravan". She made her presence known in bikini models and variety shows, earning the nickname "Kojiruri Musou". In 2015, she was ranked first in the female talent category for the number of TV appearances.

In 2022, she announced that she would be studying in China the following year, and left Horipro in 2023. After announcing her pregnancy in the same year, she effectively suspended her entertainment activities. At the end of last year, a weekly magazine reported that she had attended the wedding reception of former AKB48 Tomomi Itano.