Delicious food for my precious son
I want to give you lots of experience

–Your child was born in February last year. Has your lifestyle or way of thinking changed?

I believe that our family bonds and teamwork have become even stronger, and raising children has prompted me to close the cafe and bar “Sunny-ThirtyTwo-Club” that I was running in Osaka and move my base to the Kanto region.

Are you trying to change your environment to raise your child?

My husband and I had originally talked about “When we have a child, we’ll raise it in one of our hometowns.” He was born in Kagoshima, and I’m from Tokyo. After discussing it, we decided to close the store for the time being and move to the Kanto region to shift our lifestyle to raising our child.

When I was a volleyball player, I lived in Shiga Prefecture for over 10 years after graduating from high school, then moved to Nara and Kyoto, so I was always in the Kansai region. After retiring, I opened a cafe in Osaka, which was one of my dreams, but there were times when things didn’t go well due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but I learned a lot and met a lot of people.

Osaka is where I started my second life and it’s full of memories.

— On the day you closed your “Sunny-ThirtyTwo-Club,” a lot of people came.

I was happy that so many people came, including not only my neighbors and regular customers. Since my son was born, mothers with children around the same age have started dropping by, and I’ve had the opportunity to interact with them, so I’m a little sad to say goodbye.

–Kimura Saori’s first chapter, the active player edition, and second chapter, the Kansai edition, have ended, and the next chapter will be the third chapter, the Kanto edition.

I want my son to have many different experiences, and I want to go to many places with my family. He has started to eat rice, so I want to work hard on cooking, not just sweets. As an athlete, I have studied nutrition, so I want to use that knowledge to help my son learn about food.

–I’m looking forward to watching your son grow up. On your Instagram, you posted a picture of your son playing volleyball. Is he going to start playing volleyball?

I wonder what he thinks about it (laughs). He has recently been able to walk, and now he seems to enjoy moving his body. My husband and his father want him to play baseball, so we have both volleyball and baseball equipment at home.

──I’m curious what sports you’ll be interested in.

My son likes to throw balls. Last year before the Volleyball World Cup, I was given a baseball as a souvenir when I threw the first pitch at a baseball game. I have a ball on display at home, but when my son throws that ball, it scares me (laughs).