Okazoe Participates in Traffic Safety Campaign as One-Day Police Chief

She pronounced “hokuhokusei” (north-northwest) as “kitakitanishi”

On November 24, at the LaLa Terrace Minamisenju shopping mall in Tokyo’s Arakawa Ward, an event was held to promote traffic safety. Handing out bags filled with awareness goods to visitors and striking a salute was freelance announcer Maki Okazoe (33).

She was serving as the honorary one-day police chief for the Minamisenju Police Station of the Metropolitan Police Department.

Okazoe began working as a reader model after appearing as a model in Waseda Collection 2011 during her first year of university. Starting in September 2014, she appeared on Mezamashi TV Aqua (Fuji TV) as a college-student newscaster. She continued appearing on Mezamashi TV and Mezamashi Doyōbi until March 2020, earning great popularity.

“During her student days she devoted herself to swimming, and with her healthy, tanned skin she was called the too-dark newscaster. Because she resembles Mirei Kiritani (35), she even gained the nickname the black Kiritani Mirei. She was also known for being super natural, and in 2017 on Mezamashi TV, when asked which direction to face when eating ehōmaki, she famously pronounced ‘hokuhokusei’ (north-northwest) as ‘kitakitanishi.’ It’s still talked about today,” says a TV magazine writer.

In April 2022 she married racing driver Naoya Gamo (36). She is now the mother of one child and posts family photos on her social media.

At the event, Okazoe appeared in a police officer’s uniform, her sun-tanned complexion still unchanged. Wearing a cowboy-hat-style helmet, she urged people to wear helmets when riding bicycles. She also posted about it on social media:

“The hat I’m wearing is actually a helmet. I was surprised at how many styles there are now! You can even wear them as fashion. Apparently the helmet-wearing rate while cycling is still low, so in our home we’ll make sure it becomes natural for my daughter to wear one from early childhood.”

There were no super natural slip-ups that day, but with her unchanged bright smile, she continued calling for traffic safety.