Thursday, October 30, 2014

My Brief Career as a Model

I’ve been fortunate to be able to come to Japan and experience so many new things.  Recently I had another new experience – a (paid) job as a model!

My Japanese teachers found me a job as a model for an art class in Sapporo – two mornings, two hours each. The class members wanted a non-Japanese model, so I fit the bill (no experience was necessary).   All I had to do was sit still, which was a little more difficult than I thought it would be.  The teacher of the class “arranged” me, sitting in a chair on a little platform with one hand on a small side table and my head looking to the left out the window. One of the students made a chalk outline of my feet so I could get back in the same place after the break.   The ten students were positioned in a little semicircle around me, so each person had a different view. Some people drew with pencil or charcoal, some painted with watercolor or oil.

I couldn’t understand much of what was said, but I did hear “gaijin” (foreigner) and “muzukashi” (difficult) a lot! There has been research in the criminal justice field about how difficult it is to identify a person of another race, so maybe the same kind of thing applies to drawing a person of another race. I really wanted to see what they drew and painted, but they didn’t offer to show me and I didn’t feel comfortable asking.

So, anyway, being a model wasn’t on my bucket list, but it was fun and I’m glad I had the opportunity to do it. 

5 comments:

Margaret said...

What an interesting experience. 35 years ago when I lived in Hokkaido, foreigners were rare and often approached for advertisements. I was once dressed up for a cheese advertisement!

Queeniepatch said...

Being a very active person it must have been hard to sit still for a long time. I am sure the stutdents all enjoyed the challenge of capturing the 'gajin' on paper or canvas.

Rose world said...

It is fun to try out new thing in life. Never try, never know. Experience is the matters.

Thoeria said...

I don't think I'd have been able to sit still for that long!!

KimM said...

Amazing opportunity - I'd have itches to scratch, I'd fidget…..kudos to you!
xxx