Kayo Satou, aka “Kayo Police”, has not only been called one of Japan’s best Street Fighter IV players, but also one of Japan’s best-looking Street Fighter IV players. She has revealed that she is transgender.
Last night on Japanese television show Majotachi no 22ji (Witches’ 10pm), Kayo came out as transgender. The program often shows women who look ten or twenty years younger.
Kayo is a popular model in women’s magazines and even appears in ads and in promotions. In the above picture, she cosplays as Bayonetta with the game’s designer.
Besides modeling, Kayo is also noted for her Street Fighter ability and has been hailed as one of the best (if not the best) Japanese players of the Street Fighter IV character Viper.
Kayo has come out to her magazine editors and finally made her transgender status known. She is calling this a “new start”.
On the program, Kayo revealed that she was prompted to go public after rumors began circulating online that she was a man. “Truthfully,” she said on the program, “I am [otoko],” using the Japanese word for “man.”
Editor’s Note - June 2, 2019: We have updated this article, which misgendered Satoh, as it does not reflect our standards about how to cover transgender people on Kotaku. The article failed to capture the original nuance of what Satoh was saying. Osaka-based Kotaku writer Brian Ashcraft, who wrote this post, notes that “During the roughly six-and-a-half minute segment, the on-screen text read ‘I am a male’ (私は男性です or ‘Watashi wa dansei desu’) when the famed model and Street Fighter player appeared on screen. Another banner read ‘Actually, I am a man’ (実は私は男です or ‘Jitsu wa watashi wa otoko desu’) as Satoh talked on screen. What Satoh had said was ‘Actually, I was born into this world as a boy.’ I personally should have handled this announcement better by not glossing over the nuance in her statement, even if the way the program that originally aired the segment did. For that, I apologize.”
We want all readers to feel welcome at our site, and while we largely focus on the work we do now, we recognize that this older post and other coverage of Satoh simply didn’t meet a standard. I apologize to readers who we let down. - Stephen Totilo, Editor-in-Chief