Our managers....sweetest people ever!
The appointments in Osaka were a much lighter load as well. Whereas in Taipei, a day of 20 castings was pretty much the norm, in Osaka we averaged about 8....total leisure baby. The Japanese castings themselves were similar to the Taiwanese ones in that there was a lot of dialogue, laughing, joking and critiqueing going on in a foregin tongue between the designers, photographers & managers as we stood in front of them grinning like dolts. I can't tell you how many times I'd watch new models (after I had been at this a while) smiling innocently as a client would tell her manager right in front of her face that she had a fat ass, funny nose, strange legs, etc. I'd cringe remembering that that was once me. But trust me on this one....you learn a lot of key words & phrases in many, many languages very quickly when you are a model on the international circuit. This enables you to know when to stop smiling when an insult is hurled at you. You are not gonna get that job anyways so save the facial muscles for a client who will like you, fat ass & all.
So,,,back to castings in Osaka....Can you tell I love to digress whenever possible? Yeah. Well, I gotta say the clients there took CHEESE to a whole new level. Taipei had its own brand of cheesiness, but, but the greater part of the fashion scene was a lot more progressive & edgy. Osaka had mostly bridal, uniform, lingerie (picture granny panties & stomach flatteners), maternity, and business attire catalogs. You want edgy in Japan, you go to Tokyo. Although I have to say...once we were taken to do a lingerie casting & much to our shock (and later amusement) it wasn't for the typical waist-high panties and full coverage bras. Nope. It was for "novelty lingerie". Novelty=fetish. We promptly walked out of the appointment after another model found a copy of the current catalog complete with other Western models in cupless brass & completely see-through underwear. Rate was high, but that was one job not worth the money!
During my first day of go-sees and every day thereafter, we'd make the longish trip to Kyoto. This was something we always looked forward to since it afforded us naps in the car and Kyoto is just plain gorgeous. Plus our manager would always end up treating us to lunches at any number of tiny, family run joints where we would huddle up (because it was winter & damned cold in that part of Japan) around hot cups of tea and udon soup.
Temple in Kyoto....one of the oldest in Japan, if not THE oldest (my memory is not what it used to be!):
The reason we were always trekking out to Kyoto is that the city is home to a huge number of bridal fashion houses. So every day we'd travel there and end up in ridiculously flouncy, meringue concoctions that came in every color of the rainbow. Hmmm...why is it that I didn't choose to get married in a lavender wedding dress?? And whereas in Taipei we would be asked to do "funky" and "editorial" poses in a lot of the castings, in Osaka we were always being asked to do "lady" or "cutey" poses.....and especially "cutey" ones. So, not only were the gowns outrageously tacky, but we'd end up having to pose like Scarlett O'Hara on crack.
This held true for the maternity and uniform catalogs as well. We'd have to smile so big that it felt like our mouths would rip to our ears, cock our heads to the side a la valley-girl & open our eyes wiiiiide. There is something of an obsession in Japan for all things juvenile, and models are no exception to this rule. The younger & more innocent we could look at a casting, the more likely it would be that we would book the job. These castings were our training ground for bookings in which we'd end up in pig tails with rosy cheeks and huge prosthetic bellies strapped on for maternity wear clients, and for bridal shoots where we'd be in frothy gowns with a big swirly lollipop in one hand and a bouquet in another. Now don't get me wrong, I am not complaining about this at all. We got paid big bucks to do these bookings & the clients were always wonderful....but there was still something slightly disturbing, albeit funny about it all at the same time. Here I was being made to look & act like a 12 year old child, and I mean hello? who looks at these catalogs? Pre-teen expecting moms? Child brides? I hate to think pedophiles...ugh. Weird.
Oh, and dare I forget the request that one client in particular made of me my very first day of castings? No. It's too good not to share. I was asked if I would be willing to bleach all of my skin because she thought I was too dark. Bleach my skin? Yikes. See, in Asia, and Japan in particular, very light skin is considered far superior to darker skin. Things may have changed since I was there last....but if you looked like a porcelain doll then you were gonna go home with the fattest pockets. I, although not dark or tan by any other standards, am half Cuban and therefore have a light olive complexion. Compared to the other models who were from Canada and Eastern Europe though, I must have looked like the Coppertone Baby. Ooops! The client went on to give me a note in Japanese to take to the Shiseido counter for the skin bleach. Needless to say, I promptly "lost" the note as soon as we left the casting. Can you imagine? Bleach my whole body? Crazy. And I still booked a good number of jobs even with my dusky skin. Ha! I just didn't work for that one client in particular. I'll keep my little bit of soul, thank you.
Lucy (Australia), me, & Szuszanna (Hungary) in the subway station, on our way home after a long day of castings:
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