It began with a simple “good morning” message on X on July 25. Saori Araki posted the greeting alongside a picture of herself in a gray suit while holding a laptop. Taken during a visit to the Japanese design and manufacturing company Takeda, it didn’t seem a particularly noteworthy post. Yet six days on and the picture has now garnered more than 76 million views. So why did it go viral? And who is Saori Araki?

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Not Just a ‘Random Salarywomen’ 

Anyone who regularly scrolls X will likely have seen the photograph of Araki and her puffed-cheek smile by now. Dubbed the “Japanese salarywoman,” some tweeted to say that she looked like an anime character. Others compared her picture with photos of Western celebrities, most notably Sydney Sweeney’s American Eagle ad campaign. One tweet of Sweeney and Araki side by side along with the words, “which way western man,” has been viewed more than 37 million times and has over 3,000 comments. 

The person who posted that then conducted a poll, asking who would win out of the “sexpot jeans supermodel” and the “random Japanese salarywomen.” It’s all a little juvenile and somewhat misleading, as Araki isn’t just a random Japanese salarywoman. On Monday, she posted a message introducing herself in English, stating that while she works in an office, on the side she is “active as a model and actress.” Also, until earlier this year, she was a member of the J-pop idol group Tokyo Girls Bravo.  

Saori Araki Launches YouTube Channel  

Her following as an idol, though, was nothing like it is now as the “Japanese salarywoman.” Prior to posting that picture on July 25, she had around 7,000 followers on X. She now has more than 250,000. Capitalizing on this newfound fame, Araki launched a YouTube channel. In her first upload, she spoke in English, introducing herself as Sao. She thanked people for watching the video, but later said that if there’s not much interest, she “might just give up.”   

So far, Araki seems to be taking things in her stride. She’s clearly enjoying the exposure and was especially surprised to see that Elon Musk had commented on a Grok Imagine video of her. She retweets many of the memes and often replies to comments. While most of these comments are positive, she already has her critics. Araki has been accused of photoshopping her pictures, with one person posting, “Stop using face filters.” With the success she’s had over the past few days, she’s unlikely to listen to that advice. 

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Updated On July 31, 2025