Joining Rico and Karla all the way from Japan, Maria Ozawa returned to All Out! The last time this global star came to the show was in the RX booth last October, but this time we got her on a livestream from her home in Tokyo!
Maria is having a different quarantine experience herself – just the day before the interview, the Japanese Prime Minister lifted quarantine! “Everything is so different here!” she said. Is Japan going back to normal life? Not just yet. There’s still a lot of caution, especially in spaces like trains and public transport, and they’re still being encouraged to stay home and practice social distancing.
It turns out Maria was actually in Manila during the first few weeks of community quarantine, but her friends and family in Japan got worried about her, and asked her to come home. So by April, she flew back to Japan, which wasn’t easy either. Security measures were quite strict, but since she’s a Japanese citizen, she was allowed to fly.
Maria did have to spend 2 weeks in self-quarantine, though. Hard for an outdoors-y girl like her! “Stay home for 24 hours… I never knew it could be this hard!” she said. So what does an extrovert like Maria Ozawa do to stay sane in self-quarantine? For one, she likes to cook everyday! Among her favorites are Filipino staples: munggo and sinigang. She also loves video calling now, which is something she wasn’t a fan of before. “I don’t really like talking on the phone. I’d rather text, but then the video call trend was really something new, and good also, because I miss my friends, my partners, everything!” Maria hasn’t hopped on the TikTok hype yet, though. She likes to scroll through all the videos, but she doesn’t think she could pull off making videos of her own (though we totally think she could).
One thing she had to leave in Manila for now? Her boyfriend of 3 years, Chef Jose Sarasola. :’( The couple are new to this long distance relationship set-up. “LDR couples are something else! It’s really hard, I’ve never done LDR and I never thought I could do it,” Maria admitted. But they’re making it work! They video call and text each other updates on their day. Maria’s tip? “Communication! Communication is always the key.” Very true!
Maria seems like a really chill girlfriend, too! “I think I’m a cool girlfriend. As long as they tell me what they’re doing, who they’re gonna meet, or where they’re going, I’m not the nosey type, I think. Cause I don’t want them to do that to me also.” Like she said, communication is key!
Not only is she cool as a girlfriend, but just as an all-around person! There are a ton of things we didn’t know about her before that we learned during her interview with Karla and Rico. For one, did you know that Maria Ozawa’s first-ever job was at McDonald’s? She was only around 15 when she started! Maria says it was a tough job that taught her a lot and made her respect food chain workers even more. “Man, Mcdonald’s, that taught me a big lifetime lesson!” For a while, she also helped her mother’s family business at an art gallery in Ginza.
Maria also explained the meaning behind the tattoos on her back: two tigers and a lily. The tigers represent Maria’s independence; according to Chinese proverb, tigers are known to be strong when they’re alone. “I wanted to have that image of myself. I was really independent from like, forever. I was raised independent. I had to take care of my brother. And I went out to work very young.” The lily represents beauty, because according to the Japanese, it’s the flower that brings out the most beauty in women. “So I have the tigers and the lily, meaning being strong, independent, and beautiful.”
Maria’s Philippine career was somewhat an unexpected destiny – she had no plans of starting a business here at all! But one day, she had dinner with some friends, one of whom came from Manila and suggested she visit. Not long after, Maria took a trip to Manila and guested on a local radio station where they asked about her plans. She said she would be open to working in the Philippines if she got the chance, and one of the Resorts World bosses happened to be tuned in. He set up a meeting with her right away, and the rest is history!
Now that she’s been in Japan for a couple of months, what does Maria miss about the Philippines (besides her boyfie, of course)? Surprisingly, it’s street food! “Next to Jose’s bar, there are people who come and sell street food. I tried eating balut, and isaw, and those intestine stuff. It was actually good! Well, not the balut part... But the isaw and the barbecue sticks were really good, it’s one of those tastes we don’t have in Japan. Sweet and spicy.”
You might have seen Maria in the 2015 movie, “Nilalang.” It was a few years ago, but does she see acting as part of her future plans? If she had to pick a genre to star in next, she says it would be comedy! “I've tried romcoms, scary movies, action movies, those love triangle movies. But I’ve never done comedy or the telenovela type.” We hope she gets a comedy role soon! But here’s a real life role Maria wants to play: a mother. When Rico asked her where she sees herself in 10 years, she said “I’m 34… so I’ll be 44. I could imagine myself having a family 10 years from now.” She’s in no rush right now, because she enjoys working and making her own money. But when she is ready to settle and slow down with work, she’ll be totally focused on being a great mom! “Maybe before 40! Maybe I’ll give myself 3 or 4 more years,” she said.
Before leaving, Maria gave a message to her fans tuned in: “The love and support that I always get from my fans is incredible. I know that if it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be standing here doing what I do right now. The support that comes from them is really strong, and it makes me a strong person. I love you guys so much! When this thing is all over, I hope we could see each other with a smile!” Aww, how sweet of her (She gave a little message in Japanese, too, but sorry we can’t really type it out)!
Having Maria Ozawa back on the show, and hopefully she gets to come back to Manila soon so she can visit the station! Check out the full interview on All Out here: