She beat stage 4 cancer and found love on Love Village season 2 — where are they now, and did it last outside Okinawa?
Tamifull and Makio left the village together in November 2024. By the time the season finished streaming, every public sign pointed to a breakup.
Love Village (Ai no Sato in Japan) is Netflix's dating series for singles aged 35 to 60, who move into a run-down traditional house, fix it up and live on a tight budget while looking for, in the show's framing, one last love. The rules are simple. A resident who falls for someone rings a bell and confesses. If the feeling is mutual, the two leave together; if it isn't, the person who confessed goes home and a new resident moves in. Season 2 was set in Okinawa, premiered on November 5, 2024, with hosts Atsushi Tamura and Becky, and gave each resident 500 yen a day to live on.
Who is Tamifull?
Tamifull, 45 at the time of filming, is a manga artist from Kanagawa who had never been married. In her mid-30s she was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer and went through eight months of chemotherapy followed by surgery. In episode 2 she told her housemates that doctors had put her chances of survival at about 20 percent.
After recovering, she pursued her lifelong dream of becoming a manga artist and later wrote a book about her illness and how it changed her view of life and love. She arrived in Okinawa wanting, above all, someone who would make her feel safe.
Tamifull and Makio
Makio, 39, from Sendai, worked in home renovation sales and introduced himself as "Love Fighter Makio." He joined the house partway through the season and was drawn to Tamifull from the start. Here's how their story played out:
- The pursuit — Makio found excuses to work alongside Tamifull on house tasks while she held back.
- The turning point — when the house's goat, Sato-chan, died, Makio stayed close to Tamifull and supported her through it.
- The confession — Makio rang the bell. Tamifull explained that her hesitation came from past experiences and her need for security, then decided to leave with him.
- The exit — the two left the village together in episode 13, which streamed in November 2024.
The problems surfaced almost immediately. In late November 2024, while the season was still rolling out on Netflix, Makio posted on Instagram that the relationship had run into trouble after filming and that the two had agreed to a cooling-off period. He later deleted the post. Tamifull, for her part, had already written on her blog in October 2024 about being worn out by marriage hunting, before the episodes with Makio aired.
In the same deleted post, according to Japanese outlets that captured it before it came down, Makio implied that Tamifull had been unfaithful during their cooling-off period. Tamifull has never publicly responded, and no one else involved has confirmed his account.
Neither has made a formal statement since. English and Japanese coverage both treat the relationship as over, and the two no longer follow each other on Instagram.
A breakup announced mid-season, by one half of the couple, on a platform he then scrubbed, is about as unglamorous as reality TV endings get.
The other season 2 couples
Four couples left the village together in season 2. Besides Tamifull and Makio, they were:
- Akipon and Chii — the hair and makeup artist and the photographer-actor left together and later sent the remaining residents a photo of the two of them, which was hung on the house wall. They have stayed private since.
- Nino and Captain — no public statement on their status.
- Tana-san and Pachi Yumi — Pachi Yumi is the mother of model Nicole Fujita. Neither has confirmed whether they are still together.
Season 3 premiered on October 6, 2026, under the tagline "Fall in Love All Over Again." This time the village sits at the foot of Mount Fuji, with 23 episodes rolling out every Tuesday through November 3. According to coverage of the announcement, the new residents include people who have been through divorce, bereavement and illness.
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