As I may have told you before, Shibuya is the teen fashion capital of Japan. It's saturated with branded clothes shops and is said to be full of fashion scouts looking for the next big icon. So widespread are these rumors that some people travel miles to Shibuya in their best attire for the sole purpose of trying to get 'spotted'. I'd heard stories about people being approached but I never imagined it was a very common occurrence until today. For today I, your humble blog author, was 'talent spotted'.
Well, I say talent spotted. Unless 'un-ironed shirt' is the latest 'in thing' (...knowing Shibuya it could be...) I doubt I was selected me for my sense of fashion and my clumsy dodging through the crowds could in no way be described as talented. The real reason I was singled out was for my blond hair and blue eyes but I'm going to humor myself and use the phrase 'talent spotted' none the less.
Anyway, there I was minding my own business and trying to navigate Shibuya's 'scramble crossing' when I heard a polite voice apologizing to my left shoulder. As it's impossible to get through Tokyo without bumping into people, I'm quite used to polite apologies from complete strangers so without looking round I returned the apology and kept walking.
The voice grew louder and switched to English, which was an unusual enough occurrence to get my attention. I looked down to find a very small, very well groomed fellow with well-looked-after shoulder length hair pointing a notebook at me. I asked him if I could help and, after complimenting my inadequate Japanese, he explained that he was a representative of 'Femme Management & Produce' and was recruiting models for a photoshoot on Saturday.
I was surprised and quite touched that anyone would consider me 'model' material, so I agreed to answer a few questions for him. In an odd pidgin of English and Japanese he managed to gleen my hight, name, country of origin, e-mail address, the number of days I had left in Japan and my waist size. He took a couple of pictures with his camera phone and said that he'd consult with his boss who would get back to me. He then thanked me, bowed, earnestly shook my hand and vanished as quickly as he had appeared.
I honestly doubt anything will come of the two miffed pictures he took, but at least I can boast I've been talent spotted! Honestly, whatever next?
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2 comments:
Am thrilled you have been spotted. Have they got back to you? Would love to see your square, manly jaw among the portraits on that poncey website. It would also make an interesting line on your CV - alongside your appearance on Andhra Pradesh TV.
Just what is Femme Produce anyway? Babies? As for Femme Management, that sounds disturbingly pre-feminist.
Whilst on the subject, how are the spots? Has a high-salt, low-dairy diet had any effect on them?
Mum x
Nah, they didn't get back too me. The guy did give me his company mobile number, so he may have wanted me to ring him but I don't have a work visa, so even if I did get fo-oed, it would be illegal to pay me. To continue the nickname saga, eveyone in my class is now calling me 'model-san'. Makes a change from Dan-kun. Honestly I like them both.
I think that many aspects of Japanese society are disturbingly pre-femenist. The symbols for the word 'wife' quite literally mean "Home-Inside!", though to be fair there is now an alternative.
The spots are still there. To be honest they change over weeks rather than days, so even if they do lessen I hardly ever notice.
I read somewhere official looking that chocolate has absolutely no effect on spots but that milk does. More chocolate and less milk seems like a pretty good creed to me, but then there's always the teeth to worry about.
Ahh well.
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