is a Japanese TV announcer,

news presenter A news presenter – also known as a newsreader, newscaster (short for "news broadcaster"), anchorman or anchorwoman, news anchor or simply an anchor – is a person who presents news during a news program on TV, radio or the Internet. ...

and ''

tarento Television personalities in Japan, known as in Japanese, are celebrities who regularly appear in mass media in Japan, especially as panelists on variety shows. During the Golden Age of Hollywood, bankable stars in America were described as "tal ...

''. She is represented by her agency cent. Force.

Life and career

Okazoe attended the

Osaka Tōin Junior and Senior High School is a private school, private Mixed-sex education, co-educational Secondary education in Japan, junior and senior high school located in Daitō, Osaka, Daitō City, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. The high school was founded in 1983 by Osaka Sangyo Univer ...

and

Waseda University , abbreviated as , is a private university, private research university in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Founded in 1882 as the ''Tōkyō Senmon Gakkō'' by Ōkuma Shigenobu, the school was formally renamed Waseda University in 1902. The university has numerou ...

with a degree in Creative Writing and Criticism at the School of Culture, Media and Society. She participated in the "2011 Miss Waseda Contest" beauty pageant in her 1st year at Waseda and was active as a fashion model during her college years. She signed with the agency, Sprout Co, in 2014 and became the regular

weather presenter A weather presenter (also known colloquially in North America as a weatherman or weather broadcaster) is a person who presents the weather forecast daily on radio, television or internet news broadcasts. Using diverse tools, such as projected weath ...

for the news program Mezamashi TV at

Fuji TV JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as and colloquially known as CX, is a Japanese television station based in Odaiba, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Owned and operated by the it is the key station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network Sys ...

. In March 2015, Okazoe graduated from Waseda University and moved to Sprout Co's parent company and agency, cent. Force. She is the weather presenter for ''Mezamashi Saturday'' as well as moving to become the regular

sports presenter In Broadcasting of sports events, sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real time (media), real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live television, live broadcast, ...

for Mezamashi TV in October. In March 2016, Okazoe appeared on her first television commercial with

Konami , is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company, video game and entertainment company headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo, it also produces and distributes trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, pachinko machin ...

for the mobile game ''

Professional Baseball Spirits is a Japanese baseball sports simulation game series, developed by Power Pros Production and published by Konami. It is a spin-off series of the '' Jikkyō Powerful Pro Yakyū'' (''Power Pros'') franchise. Games ''Pro Yakyū Spirits 2004'' ...

A.'' Okazoe was ranked 4th in

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in Nov ...

's ''The 12th Most Liked Weather Caster Ranking List,'' and gained popularity while appearing on many

variety shows Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical performances, sketch comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a compèr ...

. She continued to thrive in the industry as a TV announcer and news caster, specializing in weather and sports. In 2019, she expanded her field of career to include

radio talk show Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featur ...

with her own radio program on

Nippon Cultural Broadcasting is a Japanese radio station in Tokyo which broadcasts to the Kanto area. It is one of the two flagship radio stations of National Radio Network (NRN) (the other station is ) and is a member of the Fujisankei Communications Group. History The ...

called ''Okazoe Maki no Hokuhokuta Imu'', which broadcasts every Thursday night. On 6 April 2022, she married with a racing driver

Naoya Gamou is a Japanese professional racing driver who currently competes in Super GT Super GT (stylized as SUPER GT) is a grand touring car racing series that began in 1993. Launched as the , generally referred to as either the JGTC or the All Japan ...

Character

*Interests are reading historical fiction novels, taking strolls, going to

pet stores A pet shop or pet store is a retail business which sells animals and pet care resources to the public. A variety of animal supplies and pet accessories are also sold in pet shops. The products sold include: food, treats, toys, collars, leashes, c ...

. *She has around 15 years of experience in swimming and

water polo Water polo is a competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the ball into the opposing team's goal. The team with the ...

.BOMB (Gakken Plus) June 2015 Edition, Page 44-45 She was a part of the swimming club and the ''finswimming'' club at Waseda University. She was the winner of the ''2012, 24th Japan National Finswimming Representatives Competition – 1500m Women's Bifin.'' She was also featured on the cover of the

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

magazine ''

Big Comic Spirits is a weekly Japanese ''seinen'' manga magazine published by Shogakukan. The first issue was published on October 14, 1980. Food, sports, romance and business are recurring themes in the magazine, and the stories often question conventional va ...

'', wearing

competitive swimwear Competitive swimwear refers to the swimsuit, clothing, equipment, and accessories used in the aquatic sports of swimming, diving, synchronized swimming, triathlon, and water polo. Some swimsuits are designed specifically for swimming competiti ...

in 2014. In addition to finswimming, she also does long-distance swimming as a hobby. *She's been called the "Way too tanned news caster" and "Way too tanned announcer" for her naturally tanned skin color. Some of her other nicknames include "The tanned

Mirei Kiritani is a Japanese actress, model, and news anchor. She appeared in the film ''Heroine Shikkaku'', ''Kimi ni Todoke'', ''Usagi Drop'', and ''Arakawa Under the Bridge''. She also appeared in the drama '' Andō Lloyd: A.I. knows Love?'', ''Gunshi Kanb ...

" and "Female

Shigeru Matsuzaki , known professionally as and sometimes as Shigeru BROWN, is a Japanese singer and actor. He is most known in the West for his contributions to the Katamari Damacy soundtrack, performing the theme songs of ''Nerima Daikon Brothers'' and acting as ...

''".'' *She is very flexible and is able to do a perfect 180-degree split. Her flexibility was a trending topic when she performed it on ''Mezamashi TV.'' She also demonstrated her flexibility in the ball opening ceremony at a

Chiba Lotte Marines The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based in Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture, in the Kantō region, and owned by Lotte Holdings Co., Ltd. History The Marines franchise began in 1950 as the Mainichi Orions, an inaugural ...

game. *Her inspirations are the former sportscaster and

tennis player Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cove ...

Shuzo Matsuoka is a retired Japanese professional tennis player, sports commentator, and entertainer. A former Wimbledon quarter-finalist, Matsuoka won one singles title during his career, in Seoul in 1992. In the same year, he reached a career-high ranking ...

, and journalist and TV announcer,

Maya Kobayashi is a Japanese journalist. Biography Kobayashi was born in Tokyo on July 12, 1979. She graduated from Aoyama Gakuin University is a private Christian university in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. Originally established in 1874 by missionaries ...

. *Her high school classmates included

Sayuri Matsumura is a Japanese TV personality, model and actress who is a former member of the Japanese idol girl group Nogizaka46. Career In 2011, Matsumura auditioned for Nogizaka46 and was chosen as one of the first generation members. Her audition song was ...

from the

idol Idol or Idols may refer to: Religion and philosophy * Cult image, a neutral term for a man-made object that is worshipped or venerated for the deity, spirit or demon that it embodies or represents * Murti, a point of focus for devotion or medit ...

group

Nogizaka46 is a Japanese female idol group produced by Yasushi Akimoto, created as the of the group AKB48. They are the first group from the Sakamichi Series, which also includes sister groups Sakurazaka46 (formerly Keyakizaka46), Yoshimotozaka46, and ...

and pro

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

player Naoya Emura from the Chiba Lotte Marines. *She is a

high school baseball High may refer to: Science and technology * Height * High (atmospheric), a high-pressure area * High (computability), a quality of a Turing degree, in computability theory * High (tectonics), in geology an area where relative tectonic uplift to ...

fan and attends the Koshien and the Meiji Jingu Baseball Tournament as a fan every year. *In elementary school, she was ranked 1st in her class' "Biggest airhead ranking list".

Media

Television

Current Programs

* (

, 2015–) – Presenter (weather, sports), reporter * (ABC TV, 2018–) * ''SUPER GT+'' (

TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as and known colloquially as , is a television station headquartered in the Sumitomo Fudosan Roppongi Grand Tower in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, owned and operated by the subsidiary of listed certified b ...

, 2019–) – Reporter

Past Programs

* (Fuji TV, 2014/09–2016/04) – Presenter (weather, sports) * (Fuji TV, 2014/09–2017/09) – Presenter (sports) * (Fuji TV, 2017/08) * (BS Fuji, 2018/10–2019/03)

Radio

* ( NCB, 2019–) * ''What's JOGIN'' (FM Fuji, 2013/05)

Web TV

* (

AbemaTV Abema (, stylized as ABEMA) is a Japanese live TV streaming website owned by the entertainment company, AbemaTV, Inc. that provides over-the-top media services to customers in Japan. The website primarily acts as an online television network, ...

, 2018/12/30) – Assistant

Video games

* (

, 2016) – Secretary

Commercials

(2016/03–)

Magazines

* (2014/10/27, 2016/05/16) – Cover * (2016/05/30) – Cover

Photobooks

* Maki Mermaid (

Shogakukan is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, comics (manga), non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the Hit ...

, 2018/02/05)

References

External links

Official Profile on Cent. Force
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Okazoe, Maki Japanese women television personalities Living people 1992 births People from Tondabayashi, Osaka Waseda University alumni