Sanae Kouzuki

Sanae Kouzuki (香月早苗, Kouzuki Sanae) is a woman who made the move to the countryside half a year before Yoshino, and is very conscious about appearing interesting to other people. She was born and raised in Tokyo, and got a job at an I.T. company after graduating college, but she eventually quit. She longed for a healthy lifestyle of conservation and sustainability, and began renting an old Japanese-style house. She does web design for a living.

Appearance
When going outside, Sanae usually wears smart casual attire, ranging from shirts and pants to dresses. She also wears blue-rimmed glasses and make-up and ties back her long brown hair.

At home, she usually prefers wearing a green tracksuit.

Personality
Because of her work experience in Tokyo, Sanae has developed a practical personality. She is quick to make decisions and has a professional work ethic. However, this experience has also enlightened her about working in the metropolis, and often advises anyone that is eager to work in Tokyo (i.e., Yoshino) to reconsider. She is extremely entomophobic towards any bug she sees.

Chronology
By the time of Yoshino's arrival in Manoyama, Sanae has been staying in an old Japanese-style house for two weeks. Here, she spends most of her time blogging about her life in the countryside and, occasionally, having to fend off bugs that crawl into her house. In one such incident, Yoshino and Shiori were present to ask for her help in making a website for the manju buns that they needed to sell. Sanae accepted the request, and spent the next several days in planning and programming the website with the help of resources gathered by Yoshino and the others. Sanae was dismayed at the poor reception of the site and eventually helped in making a Chupakabura-themed video advertisement for the manju buns. Sadly, the video did not improve the results, but Sanae is relieved to have worked with Yoshino, Shiori, Maki and Ririko, especially as she had been starting to have second thoughts about her decision to leave Tokyo.

Sanae was absent during most of the time where Yoshino first appeared in live television as queen of the Chupakabura Kingdom due to working on other projects. She later joined Yoshino and the others in the log cabin for a discussion about the history of the Chupakabura Kingdom, and later helped in looking for an alternate costume for the Regional Mascot Contest.

Etymology

 * The name Sanae means "already, now, early" (早) (sa) and "seedling, sapling, shoot" (苗) (nae).
 * Sanae's surname Kouzuki means "fragrance, fragrant" (香) (kou) and "moon" (月) (tsuki/zuki).