Japan: Tokyo that turned into Osaka
Partying and eating chicken fried rice in Bangkok had its side effects. I came back to Hungary weighing a tiny bit more than I "should have". But it didn't matter because I started my first University. My parents pushed me to study, which I'm really grateful for, but I wasn't ready for it at that time. From the model dorm, I had to move into an actual dorm with fellow university students. I hated it. I hated it so much that I've only spent half a year there and after the first semester I decided to lie to my parents that I'm taking a break from University to travel to Japan when the truth was that I left it completely. I'm very sorry mom and dad, that wasn't really nice of me.
The year of 2006 started with a flight to Japan. I've lost the weight I gained in Thailand, but I wasn't ready for what I had to face in Tokyo. You see Japan - even today - is an important market for models. If you make it there, you'll probably work in any market around the world. But in order to make it in Tokyo, girls have to be super skinny. That, unfortunately, was physically impossible for me. I didn't understand this back then, and I've tried my best to get even skinnier than I already was by eating tuna and eggs every day, but you can't lose weight from your bones - hips will be hips, whatever you eat. Some girls weren't that skinny but only those could allow themselves to be a bit bigger who had boobs as well. I inherited my boobs from my dad probably, so being an underwear model totally ruled out for me.
Japan wasn't the happiest time in my life. This was actually the first time I met the true difficulties of modeling. Weight was one of them, bad management was the other. My mother agency back home was slowly falling apart, while I was still trying to make money for them. They placed me in Japan but with one of the worst agencies in the city that time - this I only found out when I got there. They even had dogs on the website. Model dogs. Like seriously...
My contract, like all the contracts in Japan, had a guarantee. They guaranteed that I'll earn a certain amount of money in 2 months, but only if I get 3 or 4 confirmed jobs in the first 2 weeks. The agency had a minivan and a driver who drove us around the city the whole day, 6-7 girls in a car, castings after castings. It can be a tough and nerve wracking thing sitting in a car with six other beautiful girls, then getting out, lining up in front of the client like on the meat market, waiting until they chose one of you. Imagine doing this the whole day over and over again, sometimes even 15 times. I never got chosen. It devastated me and I ate even less. At the end, I somehow managed to get 2 jobs, but that was still not enough for my guarantee. The agency offered me to stay without my guarantee but I wanted to leave.
So after 2 and a half weeks in Tokyo, I took the bullet train to Osaka. Osaka was a relief after Tokyo, it was much calmer, the agency was much nicer, the pressure wasn't that big. I even had a small apartment for myself with a landline in it so my parents could call me every Saturday evening. Soon I realized that even though Osaka is better for me I'm completely alone there. Like "Lost in Translation" kind of alone, except the fact that there was no Bill Murray to entertain me. I visited internet cafes by myself a lot, wondered around town, got a gym membership, and even went to the cinema by myself. I got so isolated and lonely that even when a Hungarian model couple arrived in town, I rather tried to avoid them. Slowly I gave in and we hung out quite a lot together.
My eating disorder got so bad at the end I was counting every calorie. Even after the gym I only allowed myself a tiny piece of Japanese cracker. The agency measured me regularly which didn't help my eating habits. In Japan, they measure every part of your body, from head to toe. So this one time Toshi, my booker whom I loved very much, measured me and started laughing when he realized that the perimeter of my head is bigger than the perimeter of my waist. You have to know that I do own a big head, but when your head is bigger than your waist, you have a problem.
On weekends sometimes we took day trips, we went to Kyoto and Kobe. To Kobe more often because there was a Brazilian restaurant with all you can eat, where I ate as much as I could just to feel the pleasure of eating, but I would take a laxative after to get rid of everything that entered my body. Thank God that didn't last for too long because soon my trip to Osaka was over.
Despite my bad start in Tokyo at the end, I did make a successful trip and earned a bit of cash. The highlight of my career in Japan was a Dunkin Donut campaign - who needs Prada if you've got the Dunkin Donut - or maybe the kimono catalogue? I can't decide.
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| Jumping over Brigi in Osaka |
Japan wasn't the happiest time in my life. This was actually the first time I met the true difficulties of modeling. Weight was one of them, bad management was the other. My mother agency back home was slowly falling apart, while I was still trying to make money for them. They placed me in Japan but with one of the worst agencies in the city that time - this I only found out when I got there. They even had dogs on the website. Model dogs. Like seriously...
My contract, like all the contracts in Japan, had a guarantee. They guaranteed that I'll earn a certain amount of money in 2 months, but only if I get 3 or 4 confirmed jobs in the first 2 weeks. The agency had a minivan and a driver who drove us around the city the whole day, 6-7 girls in a car, castings after castings. It can be a tough and nerve wracking thing sitting in a car with six other beautiful girls, then getting out, lining up in front of the client like on the meat market, waiting until they chose one of you. Imagine doing this the whole day over and over again, sometimes even 15 times. I never got chosen. It devastated me and I ate even less. At the end, I somehow managed to get 2 jobs, but that was still not enough for my guarantee. The agency offered me to stay without my guarantee but I wanted to leave.
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| Portrait of me in Osaka |
My eating disorder got so bad at the end I was counting every calorie. Even after the gym I only allowed myself a tiny piece of Japanese cracker. The agency measured me regularly which didn't help my eating habits. In Japan, they measure every part of your body, from head to toe. So this one time Toshi, my booker whom I loved very much, measured me and started laughing when he realized that the perimeter of my head is bigger than the perimeter of my waist. You have to know that I do own a big head, but when your head is bigger than your waist, you have a problem.
On weekends sometimes we took day trips, we went to Kyoto and Kobe. To Kobe more often because there was a Brazilian restaurant with all you can eat, where I ate as much as I could just to feel the pleasure of eating, but I would take a laxative after to get rid of everything that entered my body. Thank God that didn't last for too long because soon my trip to Osaka was over.
Despite my bad start in Tokyo at the end, I did make a successful trip and earned a bit of cash. The highlight of my career in Japan was a Dunkin Donut campaign - who needs Prada if you've got the Dunkin Donut - or maybe the kimono catalogue? I can't decide.
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| Brigi and me |
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