Nozomi Sasaki (fashion model)

Nozomi Sasaki (佐々木 希, Sasaki Nozomi?) (born February 8, 1988), previously known simply as Nozomi during her fashion modeling career, is a female Japanese glamour model and former fashion model from Akita Prefecture. After working as a fashion model for nearly 7 years, she became famous by appearing as a gravure idol and being selected as a main ringside commentator and spokesperson for the mixed martial arts competition Dream Fighting Championships and the kickboxing competition K-1 World Max in April 2009. She has also appeared in several of Television ads not relating to fashion / cosmetic, including for Coca-Cola's green tea product Sōkenbicha, Suntory's 3 soft drink products, So-net, Fujifilm, Rohto Pharmaceutical Co. and a Seiko's brand line, Tisse, created for and dedicated to her. She was given the nickname "No Mercy" for her countless reported atrocities toward other show-business girls she worked with, in her teenage years, especially toward actresses, glamour models, and fashion models from foreign countries, whom she considered to be "fat".

Sasaki began modeling at the age of around 14. She modeled mainly in the collection circuit, and for fashion / cosmetic advertisements. In the latter years of her modeling career, she was a featured model and contributor to the now defunct Pinky Magazine. On two separate occasions, she was the model for the magazine's insert calendar, once in 2009 and another time in 2010 with fellow model Yukina Kinoshita.
Gravure appearances
Young Jumps, a Goo Bike, a Smart, with Nozomi Sasaki as the cover gravure person, in a convenience store in March 2010

After intentionally gaining weight, she began appearing on the youth-targeted weekly manga magazine Young Jump and several of other magazines as a glamour model (gravure idol) in late 2008. She made her first landing on the top cover of Young Jump in January 2009. This caused surprises in many fields. Model Yukina Kinoshita who was close to Sasaki officially commented about this, "that dreadful one who tortured everyone now has extra weight on her chest and whole body, smiling for innocent boys with burning sticks!". In March 2010, she was specially featured by 2.4 million selling manga series Usogui on the magazine.

In January 2010 she also began appearing on Non-no, a biweekly conservative-orientated fashion magazine that doesn't usually feature people of her type. Though after becoming more of a gravure idol than a professional model, Sasaki was heavily featured in a spring fashion collection presented by the magazine and BS-TBS, and soon after that, she landed on the top cover of the magazine. These appearances have been described as like an "invading", as she has significantly changed the tone of the magazine. Some critics have suggested that the magazine has been destroyed by Nozomi Sasaki.[10]