Date of birth: Feb. 16, 1944

Party: Democratic Party of Japan

Electoral district: Upper House; Miyagi (third term)

Before entering politics, Okazaki was a well-known TV show host in Miyagi Prefecture for 22 years, backing citizens' groups promoting equal rights for women and fighting to win the release of a wrongfully convicted inmate.

Okazaki first entered the Diet in 1990 by winning a Lower House seat for the Social Democratic Party of Japan. She worked to promote issues involving women and education but later left the party.

In 1996, she supported the formation of the DPJ and became its deputy president, but she lost her seat in the general election that year. She returned to national politics in 1997 by winning a by-election. Okazaki supported independence for East Timor and became the first Japanese lawmaker to visit there in 1994.