Wish me Luck!

Ever tried standing around near the top of a mountain plagued by dreadfully cold winds wearing nothing but a black suit while waiting for the director to decide enough of the mist has gone away for you to actuallt be able to continue shooting? No? Well, here's a little piece of advice: don't.

Today I went back for a third shooting of Zettai Kareshi, and it was cold. But what the hell, I'll get paid, and I'll probably be seen pretty well in the picture too. But it sure wasn't easy standing there extremely still, pretending to be a deactivated robot, when you really wanted nothing but running back inside to sit a few more minutes leaned over that wonderful heater they had there.

On the way back I discovered the first McDonalds ever that wouldn't take plastic. This country is truly ridiculous when it comes to that. The second largest economy in the world - and not even Seven Eleven will take your Visa or MasterCard? And now a McDonalds!? Come on! No, what this country needs is a major card revolution. Unfortunately, that's not going to happen anytime soon.

I am going to get a bank account tomorrow, I think. About time, you may say, but I haven't actually had that much use of one until now. Of course, had I opened one up when I first got here and transfered all my funds to it, I would not have been affected by the global currency crash. But as they say, hindsight is a bitch. There was no way I could have known.

Now, however, as I hope to get more and more modelling and acting jobs - which of course I will - a greater need for a Japanese bank account has appeared. I was contacted yesterday about the payment for the first job I did, which can be picked up at the office of my agency any day now. But having them transfer the amount to my account would save me the trip - which is time and money both. So after school tomorrow, I will go to Shinjuku to open a bank account.

In the meantime, do wish me luck (1) getting the fashion show job I am currently awaiting an answer about, (2) receiving ever more calls about jobs from my agencies this coming month, and (3) winning Drömvinsten on Lotto.

Zettai Kareshi

What a day I had today! Waking up earlier that I have ever done since coming to Japan, I took myself down to Shibuya, one of the southernmost centers of Tokyo, well before rush hour had even hinted at starting. There I met up with a representative of one of my agencies, along with a bunch of other gaijin who were there for the same job. Walking to a buss, we then went south for three hours before reaching a place in the mountains where the shot were going to take place.

It would prove to be quite a sight: twenty foreigners dressed in black suits with black ties and back sunglasses, portraying a task force of Agent Smith-like robots. And most of what we did was running. We did a lot of running - grouped into two parallel lines we dashed downhill more times than I remember, from the black SWAT-like car we were supposed to have exited at one end, to the small car we were chasing at the other.

All in all we were out there for about eight hours, with the bus taking three hours in each direction, adding up to a total of 14 hours. We left Shibuya when it was still dark, and came back not before the darkness had returned. Kinda cozy, that neon-lit darkness. As for the pay, I will get around 25 000 yen for the day. Not too bad for doing something as enjoyable as this.

The name of the series is 絶対彼氏 (Zettai Kareshi, or Absolute Boyfriend), a romantic drama about a girl falling in love with a robotic guy.

There will be one more shooting at the same location before the end of the month, which I am almost guaranteed to be part of. I may also be selected for two other shooting occasions - one at Narita Airport and one in a studio - but as they won't need as many people there it remains to be seen whether I will actually get those jobs. Though I am quite confident that I will.

A fun tidbit is that a few of the other guys I worked with looked a bit like American celebrities. There were two guys who had a resemblance to Gary Sinise and (a younger version of) Kurt Russell respectively, and this one guy who looked very much like Bill Maher.