A Model and his Typhoon(s)
My life in Japan has become more glamorous than I ever really expected it to be. I hardly have time to reflect on what is happening before the next whirlwind picks up and I’m swept into another alien and dazzling experience. The synapses in my mind have become the sole record keepers, and they are buzzing at one another at around 20,000 volts (of course this is hyperbole, otherwise I’d be just another ghost with a blog.) I’m gonna try and write it down rightttttttttt…..now.
Speaking of whirlwind lifestyles, if you have been reading the concerned text messages my mom has been sending me, then you know that Japan had been recently hit by not one, but two typhoons less than a week apart from one another. Seattle’s weather is so mild in comparison to Japan. When I first got here it was a gorillion degrees Celsius and then a few weeks later winds got so strong that a door slammed on some guys finger and severed them. Yeah that really happened, but not to me. Luckily, I wasn’t putting my hands in any door frames that day. I was doing something else! What is less violent than a typhoon, but even fiercer?
MODELING (WITH PAY)
I had had a fitting the previous Friday and made plans to meet for the shoot at 6:50 so I could make it to my 1:20 class that Monday. Of course, the typhoon didn’t care to change it’s course on account of me or my plans, so classes were canceled anyway. That turned out to be a pretty lucky coincidence, because I didn’t end up making it back from the city until around 4. The set was this strange industrial tower, in Yokohama, that was both indoors and outdoors depending on the room.
My trek from my dorm to the meeting spot was hard enough simply because it was 5:00 AM. Add in the fact that the local river had decided to swell to 6 times it’s height and 12 times it’s normal speed, and I had some wet pants. The set wasn’t immune either. The streets in Yokohama were especially aquatic. We actually had to sweep water from the first level of the set. Like with rubbery brooms.
The shoot itself was kind of exhausting, partially because I had a hard time understanding everything that was being said to me (y'know Japanese and whatever) and nervousness from never having done anything this professional before, but afterwards I got some money and a free burger so I was pretty pumped. The rain had cleared up right around the time we finished, and the sun once again smiled upon me with it’s terrible terrible 90 something degree smile. I fucking hate the sun, god.
I don’t think the modeling will continue, at least not as a consistent thing. I’m pretty enough, but there are lots and lots of taller foreigners in Tokyo. Plus, even though I’ve lots ten pounds just by existing here I still am not quite thin enough to compete. That doesn’t bother me too much, because I know that my body is fine the way it is and actually pretty thin for the average person, but that’s just the way the industry works. Like I said I’m not bummed about it, largely in part because of the friends I’ve made and the experiences I’ve been able to have because of it.
These past few weeks I’ve eaten gourmet food, hung out with famous actors and models (we swapped digits and plan to go to an amusement park), and drank as many technicolor cocktails as my body would allow me. I even got to meet a few of my favorite Japanese underground bands that no one, except me, has heard of. You know, the ones I’m always trying not to talk to you about, cause no one has any interest what so ever, but then I end up doing it anyway cause I’m a huge fan boy. Y'know, those bands? Yeah, well now I can say one of them put her dress over my head and did a alcohol fueled seinfeldien dance on me. I’m really happy about that.
The 2nd typhoon was supposed to be really strong, but school wasn’t cancelled so I was like “meh.”
I’ll post the photos once I get some digital copies. Promise.