Sayaka Okada already had a pretty stacked résumé: gravure idol, professional mahjong player, YouTuber. Now you can add “dating a Pokémon strategy guy with a million subscribers” to the list.
The 32-year-old got scooped by Flash, which ran paparazzi shots of her out with fellow YouTuber Raibarori. The photos make them look like an actual couple, not two people who just happened to be walking in the same direction.
Okada is the sharp-tongued type. She’s got the slinky gravure body and the face that photographs well, but she’s not playing the airhead. She once had to apologize after getting caught on camera talking trash about a presenter. Half-Chinese and partly raised in China, she also graduated from Aoyama Gakuin, so she’s not exactly winging it.
That combination — pro mahjong + gravure + zero filter — is rare enough that it even inspired a porn parody last year. Makes sense. You don’t meet many women who can beat you at riichi and then pose for a swimsuit book.
The dating market takeaway is the usual 2020s one: you used to need money, fame, or a sports career. These days a successful YouTube channel apparently works just as well. Raibarori gives Pokémon game advice for a living. Okada plays mahjong for a living and takes her clothes off for magazines. Somehow it tracks.
Whether it lasts is anyone’s guess. For now the photos exist, Flash printed them, and Japan’s latest odd-couple pairing is officially out in the open.