Time for a quick catch up...I've been mostly working and going to castings so I haven't had much time to do anything let alone write about it. But here goes...As for work I did two more magazine jobs, one for a craft type magazine for young woman (btw I did not mention my feats of domesticity) It was 12 cuts, 4 for the China issue, 8 for Japan. I wore all knitted jacket/sweater type things, I'm assuming patterns will be posted alongside the pictures so ready your knitting needles for august. The other magazine was for hair, 3 cuts plus cover, (yay! my first cover!) It was pretty surreal because I was working with one of the best hair guys in Japan and Europe. He treats your hair like its not attached to a living, breathing, FEELING, human but the up-dos he creates are extraordinary. You know that messy look hair that everyone tries to do and it usually just ends up looking like it sounds? When he does it it looks as if every hair is placed in perfect position while still achieving the style. Its crazy to watch.
Other then the magazines, I've done another hair job for some contest, and a catalog for a Japanese company called 'you bee'. There are two more jobs this weekend, the second of which is shooting in Osaka so I get to bullet train out there friday night and stay in a hotel. (I promise to take pictures) Other then the work theres been numerous test shootings (creatives) most of which did not turn out :(
As for photos...
Liza and I took a walk to Shibuya (a very busy, popular shopping type area) It was somewhat hilarious because we didn't exactly know the direction to go so we would stop to ask for directions, only to be told by every Japanese person how to get the subway or bus. When we told them we were walking every person had the same response, to look at us like we were crazy, tell us once more we should take the metro, then point us in a general direction. Once we actually had to reassure the guy we would go to the metro and hide around the corner until he was gone so we could continue our walk. For such a fit population they are very adverse to walking. It was only 45mins.
The advantage of walking is we stumbled along a few interesting things, one was this small little ivy covered church. While we were outside taking pictures a little old lady came out, talked to us for a bit then invited us into the garden, at which point the pastor came out and opened the church for us so we could see inside. He was about to tell us the history but a group of Japanese woman followed us in so he gave the history in Japanese. At which point we sat awkwardly trying to figure out what the appropriate amount of time would be to wait as the church doors had been closed behind us. (go figure) Liza and I put on a good show of pretending to be devout Christians, 'prayed', crossed ourselves, said thank you and Japanese and made our escape. It was downright comical
Ironically enough I have no pictures of Shibuya, but I'll be sure to get some. Shibuya is that place that you see in every movie depicting Tokyo, when the camera pans to an intersection with hundreds of people crossing the street at once.
A few days later Liza and I visited the Imperial Palace East Garden, probably only making up about 10% of the palace grounds. Its a pretty place but in the end...its just a garden. That said I am interested in seeing the National Institute for Nature Study gardens. The Lonely Planet describes it as "(this garden) is one of Tokyo's least known and most appealing gateways. It preserves the city's original flora in undisciplined profusion." Which is something you don't see much in Japan, its greenery, like its people, are always in perfect position.
Thats about all I can update for now, but I'll post the rest of the pictures after my casting, thats right, singular, casting, I'm not amused.
I'm alive I swear, its just been crazy busy lately! Ask Adam to verify it for you, the look on his face when I told him to set the wake up call for 4am was priceless. In fact this is only my fourth day off since arriving here, I'm planning to make this post very very short and head to the ueno park and the zoo, maybe they'll let me snuggle with the panda bears :)
Anyways I promise updates with pictures tonight, btw the issue of fudge that I'm in just came out here, there were 2 copies sent home with the tokyo mule :)
Kristen
Just an update with some pictures, this is one of the smaller parks in Tokyo midtown, just across the street from Forza. The great thing about Tokyo is that even though its a big city, there are tons of parks, outside almost every building theres a small garden or flowers. There are lots of places in Tokyo where you can completely forget you're even in the city...well with the exception of the little ropes on either side of the path making sure you don't step on the grass.
Their idea was 60's pop-star.
First picture: 60's pop star on vacation.
Second and Third: 60's pop star on stage
Fourth: I didn't want to know, so I didn't ask.
They wouldn't even let me pose. Whenever I would try to they would say 'no straight, very straight, hands at side.'
Ridiculous.
I am so embarrassed by these photos.
Guess what I woke up to...SUN! For the first time in five days. Granted its only a cloudy have sun but I'll take whatever I can get. Not too much going on here, I've been cooped up for a few days so basically the highlight has been doing laundry and watching endless episodes of Scrubs with Liza. I have a 'strong option' (a very good chance) for a magazine shoot on the 22nd, but because it so far away they're going to keep trying to find something better for that date. My book is really killing my chances here, because I have only one published work a lot of clients don't want to take the risk, especially when I'm standing next to the other girls who actually work as models back home. Oh wells we all still got the same amount of money for our guarantee. I'll try and take some pictures today and post them tonight, my vox is looking a bit barren.
typhoon cometh this evening.
I NEED COFFEE.
I have dreams about dark city coffee.
We don't have a coffee maker so I have stooped to the level of Necafe instant. I don't think theres even caffeine in it.
I've also managed to eat the last of my maple sugar candies that I use to conceal the taste of the instant coffee.
Who wants to send me a present???
I ended up making it to the agency in one piece. Liza (my roommate) and I went together. On the way we stopped at Starbucks and walked through one of the shrines/parks. I think before we walked we were both severely underwhelmed with Tokyo (it looks like Markham in the daylight) but when we actually got out and saw things around lunch time It didn't seem nearly as bad. It's funny here everything is dead until after 11am and it only really becomes the Tokyo you expect after dark. Both of my test shootings (creatives) were canceled this weekend due to all the rain we've been getting, it meant I was able to celebrate Tanya's birthday yesterday, but it also meant we were stuck inside all day.
In the photos Liza is on the left Tanya on the right. The second picture Liza and Tanya are demonstrating the 'Japanese Catalog Poses' which we ceaseless make fun of. Ask me to do an impression when I get back, its hilarious. The girls and I might try to see one of the museums today as well as take a trip to this cheap market about 20mins from Forza (the agency), but with the rain we're fairly limited. Hopefully tonight I'll be able to post a photo diary of a typical grocery shopping experience in Tokyo :)
Kristen
ps. yesterday we also discovered that although our place is not a hell hole, compared to the other girls we live in the fricking Jane and Finch projects.
also I finally figured out what our washroom reminds me of, a slightly larger plastic portapotty
Liza and I like to joke that the previous models never really left they just crawled into the closet and died, hence the smell.
also check this out: http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/05/07/japan.quake.ap/index.html
So this is the apartment,
as you can see it's not to big...but its not a hell hole like I was expecting. That said I wont be showing you the closet-sized washroom.
The last photo is just of the view down the street from our balcony.
I'm off to the agency at 11:30, it will be my first time trying to get there on my own. I'll let you know how it goes later.
Kristen
Hello to everyone from japan :)
This will be a short post, its been a bit of a long day, I only had 2 castings but they were 6 hours apart, which means I spent the entire time in the car.
Last night I experienced my first Tokyo earthquake. At about 2 am I was woken up to my bed swaying, but I was so tired I managed to convince myself that it was nothing and went back to sleep after a few minutes. I was so out of it I didn't even remember it happening until one of the other models mentioned it this morning. In her apartment the quake was strong enough to shake most of the things off of her living room table. From what I've been told it happens a few times a month and most people don't even take notice.
My new roommate Liza arrived from Moscow today, shes very sweet, not a party girl at all (thank god).
Made 2 adventures to Food Magazine (a very small grocery store) I think I'm going to need to find a new one, it has mostly pre-made/packaged food and its very expensive. I picked up my first sushi in Japan, it was in the box at the store and after eating 2 pieces I promptly threw it out. Tanya (another Russian model) is going to take myself (and Liza probably) to a really good cheap place sometime this weekend. Its her birthday on Saturday so if its not raining we're hoping to visit an old area of japan about an hour away from Tokyo, Its fairly cultural, lots of giant buddhas.
Sorry for the somewhat nonsensical typing, it really is time for bed. I'll upload some pictures of the apartment tomorrow.
Kristen
