I officially turned 46 years old this week and while I do not feel a year older physically, this birthday is particularly poignant because of recent events in Japan.
Twenty-three years ago, I moved to Tokyo to fulfill a teenage dream of conquering Asia’s fashion capital. You see, as a 14-year-old, I had a contract with SOS, the biggest Japanese modeling agency, to work over the summer in Tokyo. Unfortunately I never got to go because it took so much time to process the visa and when it was finally ready, I was due back in school. For three years, SOS patiently processed my visa but with the same results. Although I badly wanted to drop everything each time and go to Tokyo, I made a promise to my father before he passed away that I would finish school no matter what. I did graduate with a Communication Arts degree but in exchange, I sacrificed my only legitimate chance to succeed as a model in Tokyo.
Over the years, I wasn’t able to shake the feeling that I missed out on something, so in 1988 after placing first runner-up in the Look of the Year modeling contest, I packed my bags and made my way to Tokyo. Naturally my expectations were lower since I was already 23. Nevertheless, I told myself “it is make or break, now or never.”
SOS was no longer the biggest modeling agency then and when I arrived in 1988, blond, blue-eyed Caucasian beauties reigned in the fashion industry. I found myself in a small agency and worked as a “fit model” for Thierry Mugler and Claude Montana, snagged a few commercials (one was for Fuji film) and did Tokyo Fashion Week for Junko Koshino for several seasons, but after a few years I gave up and bid my modeling career sayonara.
I stayed in Tokyo anyway and for 11 wonderful years considered it my primary home. In 2006, my husband began working there again so I feel like I am back as a quasi-resident of sorts. Japan is an ideal place to live for many reasons. Yes, it is a beautiful and safe country. Yes, it has great food and first-world, modern amenities, and yes, it has the best and the latest in fashion. But, far more than those obvious reasons, in Tokyo I learned to be resilient and independent, I became more respectful of other people’s time, I learned to appreciate basic human traits like discipline, honesty and hard work on a larger scale and I realized with greater understanding that wealth is a consequence of life, not the measure of it.
Living in Tokyo, we were so used to the tremors; we were there when the Kobe earthquake struck, causing massive destruction and loss of lives. It was quite common to be woken up in the middle of the night by the swaying of our apartment building and on many occasions, keep calm and stop dead in my tracks while running errands because the ground beneath me was shaking. But after every jolt, life went on normally for me and everyone else in Japan.
Well, not this time. My husband, Giorgio, who was in Akasaka (Tokyo) had just gotten out of a cab and was on his way to the bank when the earthquake hit. He tried running but couldn’t because the earth beneath him was violently moving, rattling.
“I have never felt so small in my entire life,” my 6’2” husband admitted unashamedly. “I started praying and was just waiting for the Akasaka Twin Towers to collapse and bury me,” he added, shocked. In the days following the major earthquake and tsunami, expatriates are sending their families back to their home countries. Groceries and convenience stores are running on empty and the once-crowded streets of Ginza, Omotesando, Shibuya, Shinkuju and Ikebukuro, famous fashion and entertainment districts, are all but deserted. People are still trying to make sense of the catastrophe and sadly, the end of this triple whammy of a disaster seems nowhere in sight.
Our children were scheduled to travel to Tokyo for spring break and were excited to spend some alone time with their father and enjoy the independence and safety that the city offers, but that is no longer to be. While most of Tokyo remains structurally unscathed, there is much gloom and doom, with the soul of the city and the country altered for a long time to come.
Giorgio has made arrangements to come back to Manila. What was supposed to be a busy week of caterings that included a Ferragamo event, the two-day Derek Lam show and party at the Tod’s building in Harajuku and the visit of the mayor of Florence, Italy, have all been cancelled. Fashion and everything that has to do with the luxury business are the farthest things from people’s minds right now. All the department stores and brand-name shops, offices and other types of establishments are closed until further notice.
The aftershocks in Japan continue and the immediate future looks bleak. I do not know when I will return to Japan, but I am not giving up on that country just as the Japanese won’t, because more than a travel destination, Tokyo, to my family and I, is our other home.