Mr. Sato proves it’s never too late to be living your best life.

As regular readers of our site will know, our ace reporter Mr. Sato is the head of SoraNews24’s Department of Craziness. It’s a role he’s particularly well-suited for, but also one that often requires him to look, well, peculiar.

▼ Just four typical days at work for Mr. Sato

However, there’s also another side to Mr. Sato, that we like to call “Serious Sato.” He’s actually a rather deep-thinking individual at times, like when he’s reflecting on all his dad has done for him in life, or when he’s journeying halfway across the country to say sorry for something he did more than a decade ago.

But there’s at least one more side to Mr. Sato, because in addition to Crazy Sato and Serious Sato, there’s also…Sexy Sato.

Before we get to the steamy evidence, let’s go back a few years, to the year 2009, when Mr. Sato had just joined the SoraNews24 team. He was a fresh-faced, hungry writer, and he put that hunger to use pursuing journalistic excellence in ways such as eating a hamburger with 1,050 bacon strips, eating another hamburger with 1,000 slices of cheese, and eating yet another burger with 100 slices of grilled onion.

Good times…but also greasy times. In time, all those calorific meals started to catch up with Mr. Sato, and seven years into the job he’d gained 20 kilograms (44 pounds).

▼ Mr. Sato in 2016

So in the winter of 2016, Mr. Sato made a life-changing decision and started going to pole dancing lessons. Some might say it’s a fittingly unique choice for a guy who’s got no fear of the unusual, and he’s kept with the program, attending workouts three times a week for five years and counting.

As a result, Mr. Sato, now at the age of 48, is currently in the best shape he’s ever been in in his entire life, losing 13 kilograms of chub while tightening and toning his physique. So to celebrate all that, he recently treated himself to a gravure-style photo shoot.

For his venue, he selected Ecolo, a “photo studio house” in the suburbs of Tokyo’s Ota Ward. He wasn’t going there to snap some selfies, though, and instead hired a team of professionals to really help him look his best.

▼ From left to right: Videographer Tezuka, photographer Naoko Tachibana, and makeup artist Kishico

Mr. Sato’s photo shoot was a three-hour session, including all preparation and cleanup work. That’s actually a pretty tight schedule, but his team swiftly sprang into action.

So how did his photos turn out?

Yeah, pretty incredible.

▼ Same guy

We get so used to Mr. Sato manically mugging for the camera when the job calls for it that it’s easy to forget that he’s actually a rather handsome dude when he’s not pushing his facial muscles to the breaking point.

Actually Mr. Sato had long wanted to do a photo shoot like his, but it wasn’t until recently that he had anything even close to confidence in his body. To be honest, he’s still too humble to call himself cut, ripped, or any other term for muscularly macho, but with his photo shoot team’s help, he felt comfortable going shirtless…

…and even pantsless.

We should emphasize that Mr. Sato didn’t start pole dancing with the eventual goal of doing a gravure photo shoot. He hasn’t been working himself to collapse during his dance sessions either. He simply found a fitness activity he liked, and has stayed committed to making it a regular part of his lifestyle.

It’s not like he’s finished with pole dancing, either, as he intends to keep doing it for as long as he can. “You only go around one time in this life, so if there’s something you’re thinking about trying, and there’s no reason not to do it, then you should give it a shot,” he says. “To anyone who finds themselves thinking, ‘I want to get in shape, but it’s impossible,’ if you keep trying, little by little, you’ll make progress,” he adds. “So don’t give up. Challenge yourself, and if after you start one method you feel like it’s not for you, you can always stop and try another. Don’t avoid the things you want to try just because you’re not sure, right now, if you’ll be able to succeed.”

Wise words from the combined minds of Serious Sato and Sexy Sato.

Related: Ecolo, Naoko Tachibana, Kishico
Photos © SoraNews24
● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!
[ Read in Japanese ]