I did a story time about my time in
Paris as a model I loved seeing how
interested you were a lot of you asked
to see more of these story times and
that's why I'm creating this one for
Tokyo I started modeling when I was
about 16 years old and I legitimately
stopped modeling maybe three years ago
or so so I had a career of over a decade
I guess you guys didn't watch the Paris
one I'm gonna put it right here
Tokyo was literally the first place it
just opened my eyes to something
different to something that I never
imagined is out in the world I would not
had the chance to be in a place like
Japan if it wasn't for modeling so I'm
forever grateful for that Tokyo was my
second trip in my international modeling
career after Paris I was then 16 years
old I got chosen by an agency my agency
was Brava model so while I can't believe
I remember that and there were a really
awesome agency that represented some
really amazing strong girls in the
industry I was so lucky that they
contacted my mother agency in Israel and
asked me to come they used to be just
like the money making market for models
especially for Russian models there were
a lot of Russian models and I think it
was mostly because of the kind of
dollars like features so it was an
amazing market for someone like me who's
not very tall because they didn't really
care about that that much the way it
used to be is that you would sign a
contract for about 30 days 60 days I
went there my first time for a month
they give you kind of a promise amount
that you will come back home with I got
on that plane I was so scared and so
confused I wasn't even thinking twice
about the fact that hey I'm 16 years old
go into a country you don't really know
what's going on what I'm doing where I'm
going who I'm gonna be with let's also
mention the fact that I went there for a
month with $20 in my pocket because I
didn't have money or I had money and I
spent it because it wasn't very smart
with finance back then Paris when you
arrive an agency meets you there in
Tokyo it wasn't the case they just
emailed me the address I need to get to
and that's it when I was on the plane it
didn't dawn on me that I don't have
money to get to that place so I just
remember that I was sitting beside this
young guy and we started talking she was
telling me how his friends are coming to
pick him up and I was like listen can
you give me a ride by any chance I have
no idea where I'm going or what I'm
doing and I don't have enough money to
get a taxi he's like sure I I didn't
remember that detailed and it just hit
me but that's what happened that's how I
arrived from the airport to the model
apartment that I had like so dangerous
what the hell was I thinking thankfully
they were super helpful so nice they got
me to where I needed to be and then
they're like bye I got to the agency
agency was in Roppongi Roppongi is kind
of like the touristy area so there's a
lot of people from different parts of
the world a lot of the models apartment
on there it's kind of like a central
area for that I arrived to the agency
again there's such a big contrast
between the cultures language barrier
and just like the customs of you know
Japanese people and what I was used to I
didn't really know what to do I just
kept bowing to everybody that got me by
I'm not gonna lie the apartments were
sufficient there was enough space for
everybody my first roommate was a girl I
think her name is Elvira yes and she was
from a place in Russia I don't remember
where she was very young as well no my
first roommate was a Canadian girl her
name is Erika and I actually think I
still have her on Facebook when she
lives in Canada she got married got a
baby she was my first roommate now I
remember I felt a connection to her
because at that point my mother already
moved to Canada so I was like oh Canada
Canadian she was really sweet she was an
experienced model she like knew you know
the ins and outs of the industry I have
good memories of her then the fun part
began when the agency was like oh you
have a job tomorrow so that was the day
after I land
and I was so confused it was like well I
haven't really gotten to cast things
like you already booked me they're like
yeah I get to the job 16 year old lost
confused and I look young to you guys
now can you imagine the baby face I had
when I was 16 my first job was a catalog
for pregnancy clothes that was the real
interesting experience they put a belly
on me and I was just it was something
all right when I think about Tokyo I had
just have all these flashes of memories
of these kind of experiences that were
so awesome so funny so different so like
what the fact that I looked young wasn't
a negative like it was in other parts of
the world so basically my first job was
pregnancy clothes I remember was pretty
interesting
again you can really communicate they're
just a kind of signal you with your
hands okay you go and said give you
clothes the way it works in Tokyo or
worked before in Tokyo was that every
day unless you have a job where the
client will pick you up and take you
there you meet every morning at like
8:00 or 9:00 a.m. downstairs there's a
minivan with a driver and an agent and
there's all the girls that are going to
the castings so it's basically like a
little model bus that has stops at
casting some castings I'm part of others
not and the manager at the front he
speaks English and Japanese and he's
kind of the middleman between you and
the client so he tells you what to do
and communicates with you it was very
like structured situation which I
appreciated it wasn't kind of like
here's a map go which was in Paris there
they obviously understood that a lot of
us first of all don't speak the language
can read anything so they kind of took
more care of us and it was nice
especially because there were so many
young girls we would stop at a casting
he'll call like okay valaria Lana Erica
and those are the girls that would go to
the casting and then we go back to the
van and continue to the next destination
and that will go up until probably 4 or
5 p.m. sometimes 6 so it was long hours
of just sitting walking in
out of castings it actually gave us time
to connect and to create friendships and
bond together I met some amazing girls
through this experience and then
basically would finish our castings
would come home will shower we'll eat
and we'll go out to the club that was my
Tokyo experience it was really going out
every night because there was nothing
really else to do there were all these
clubs in the area that I wanted to get
models in there so they're giving you
free dinners and free drinks then other
local people or tourists will be more
excited to go to that club I had so much
fun it was really like young and wild
and free sometimes when people ask me
now that I'd the fact that I got married
at such a young age or had kids so young
they're like don't you feel like you
missed out I don't have this missing out
feeling because I had experiences like
Tokyo and Paris and London I started
going out and doing all these things
it's such a young age that I really feel
like I've really just took it all in and
fast-tracked all of it stopped the jobs
that I've had there that I remember so
well some of them were so random and so
weird I remember I had one fashion shoot
where they made me into a clown I was
just like at some point you really get
like this attached from the way they
dress you or put makeup on you because
you understand that this is their market
what you like and what you think is
fashionable might not work there I had
shoes where they put like this big
extensions and like hair on my head and
put birds in there I also remember very
very clearly how there was one photo
shoot where the makeup artist hold my
lashes and they didn't have that rubber
in between so it cut my lashes and I
just like felt it fall on my cheek that
was fun and again you can't really
communicate so the person is like and
then you're like also some of my fond
memories are those rights things that
you would get at the set
eleven it was rice and then inside it
was like tuna some had some other things
inside that was my favorite snack and I
think I ate it maybe like five times a
day and then I would say the highlight
of my time in Tokyo was when I got
chosen to be in a hip-hop video yes guys
you heard it right this girl was in a
hip-hop video the artist was zebra and I
think he's still around we came to the
casting and they put music on and you
just needed to start dancing I was
dancing my heart out and then my agent
was like oh they booked - I felt like
Jenny from the block I can't wait to
show it to Jacob and and max would be
like your mom Watson I have a video so
I'll be forever cool also I will never
forget the fact that the video was
sponsored by Snickers it was like
everywhere on the set the guy was inside
the pool with Snickers when he was
rapping and we were dancing we would
hold Snickers and when they sent us home
they gave us Snickers I had an amazing
time there and I honestly I cannot wait
to go back to Japan there's so many
places I haven't been to so I told Gary
that I would love once the kids are a
little older go and do a proper trip to
go to the more traditional side and also
be in Tokyo and experience that culture
just love Japan okay a few words that I
remember I used to know some phrases and
words but I don't think I have them in
my memory anymore so the only thing I
remember is when I was at the agency and
the agent will pick up their phone and
they'll say Pucci mache obviously
arigato
and then when I would walk out of stores
or restaurants everybody would be adding
other designers thank you guys so much
for watching this I hope you enjoyed it
I'm putting this out to the universe
Japan I hope I will see you again
arigato gozaimasu I hope you enjoyed my
rap video debut
and if you want to hear more about my
modeling stories check out Harry's story
time right there