I’ve never tried mobile blogging here before. But let’s see how it goes! Lately all I’ve been doing is working rather than gal activities. Sometimes I feel like it’s why I don’t update here! My life hasn’t been too interesting and I’ve just been hella tired.
Just grinding before the holidays. Buying Christmas presents. I think I’m almost finished buying everything! Which is relief. Now I just have to worry about finishing up my coworkers gifts!
Speaking of shopping, I bought some nice things while there was a sale at Victoria’s Secret.
My current boom are the body mists! They all smell so freaking divine. I bought the entire Luxe line with the staple fragrances for the holidays. I also added Ruby Rose and Strawberries and Champagne.
I can confidently say that Strawberries and Champagne is my favorite! I can’t get enough of that one. It just so girly and nice. I feel like it would pay super well with Agejo or Hime. Bare Vanilla would totally be a himekaji scent. Pure Seduction and Ruby Rose works for Tsuyome maybe. Love Spell and Velvet Petals might be universal. Hm…
Speaking of clothes. I really miss dressing up. I’m just so busy working overtime and am just tired AF when I get free time. I really miss socializing and going out with friends. I haven’t done anything fun since August… Ugh… It’s just been constantly work and home…housework… blogging/translating for fun but I’m definitely feeling a bit burnt out.
I’m looking forward to the holidays. I get a week break and am hoping I can squeeze some fun times and dressing up in maybe…
I recently saw an old pic of my younger self and miss my old hair/old style kinda. Maybe I’ll try to channel more of that whenever I get the chance…
I hope that you guys enjoyed the Tsubasaism autobiography! It was such an interesting thing to read and translate. I think Tsubasa Masuwaka is such a freaking icon. She truly did change the gyaru game when she was active in the scene. I was really shocked that someone of her status endured so much fucking hate and bullying pre and post-modeling. It really goes to show that you can equally have as many people who love you as much as you have people who really do hate you for whatever reason.
I feel like Tsubasa in her younger years pre-modeling really did deal with an excessive amount of fake jealous people around her. Not true friends. True friends will always be excited and clap for you during your era of success. Always. Unfortunately, I feel like a lot of girls aren't aware of that in their younger years. Especially if you are introverted. When you are introverted, you really don't deal with too many people or a variety of people who understand what shitty behavior is until you actually meet people that you actually vibe that are "your people" as I call it.
As shocking as it was to many to hear that a gyaru of all people, and one as impactful as Tsubasa was introverted..she did mention that she was conditioned to be that way due to the fact that she automatically assumes people hate her from the start. This is something I immediately related to. I have the same thoughts. I think Tsubasa and myself are actually quite extroverted people naturally, however shit experiences are pretty traumatizing and condition you to be way more withdrawn with people.
I feel like it took Tsubasa a while to meet 'her people' because even during her modeling days, she kind of implied that she was pretty isolated as a reader model compared to the other gals and was occupied with working very hard. Once she became successful, a lot of people felt entitled to all aspects of her life including her marriage and pregnancy. Even the magazine didn't necessarily want her to keep those affairs quiet. The wedding photos are especially iconic to me and there was SO MUCH stuff capitalized off of during Tsubasa and Naoki's wedding era...LL collab items and everything. However, I wonder if Tsubasa was miserable doing those things given that I think deep down, she wanted to keep her marriage and the birth of Rion private.
It's a weird thing to think about. That era is so iconic and memorable because there was so much hype around a famous Popteen and Men's Egg model marrying. Definetely idealistic power couple moves that unfortunately didn't last as Tsubasa got divorced in 2011/2012ish. At the same time, looking back on it and reading about her feelings on everything that went on, it feels like she wanted to tell people about her big life changes on her own terms without corporations capitalizing on her big life milestones.
Personally, I think Tsubasa just wanted to announce it as a blog post, have a private wedding, and just keep on the DL. I think she was also worried about her modeling career being over given that gyaru mama wasn't necessarily thing until a little later. Matter of fact, I'm pretty sure Tsubasa kind of sparked the idea of Gyaru Mama being popularized. I'm not saying it didn't exist beforehand but I don't think it was seen as "cool" until a few models hit that age where they were also getting married, having kids, but not wanting to give up their lifestyle or their modeling career. Tsubasa kind of was the ambassador for showing that gyaru could maintain their lifestyle. You could maintain that career, be gyaru, and still cater to your family.
I'm sure it was/is an exhausting juggle-especially considering how traditionalist Japan is when it comes to marriage, gender, and family dynamics.
Tsubasa launched so many successful collaborations and her own makeup branding post-marriage and baby. She proved that "settling down" didn't necessarily mean giving up everything and becoming irrelevant. I think that's super inspiring and important.
I know the argument could be now, "Well, she isn't even gyaru anymore."
True. Honestly, I noticed that her style drastically changed after her divorce. She went softer and softer with her look until she contributed to "larme" fashion communities. Her look now I feel like caters to her current boyfriend, Fukase of Seikai no Owari. They had matching pink hair for awhile. A while back I recently watched a movie that Fukase was featured in called, "Character". It's a wild movie and I super recommend it. It not only has Fukase in it but Oguri Shun who is a super famous actor. He used to be a dreamboat back in the day but so much time has passed that I'm like, "damn son. you're an uncle now huh?" haha.. Sometimes I forget how old *I* am at times.. I'm not a cute 20-something anymore myself....OTL
Fukase plays a psychotic serial killer in it. However, what I noticed is that his hair was as pink as Tsubasa's! They had matching pink hair for a while back in 2020/2021 I think!
My theory on why Tsubasa may have left gyaru fashion may be a reason that even many gaijin gyaru go through... I think her divorce and just all the chaos that surrounded her life as a gyaru left bad memories maybe, Yes she was extremely successful, but at what price? She lives a bit more peacefully now a days and I'm always seeing her surrounded by people who seemingly look like good friends. Tsubasa recently got injured eating shit on some stairs, and she had a friend from LA tend to her for a bit because she was stuck in the United States and was crippled for a hot minute. She couldn't get back on a plane and her friends had no problem taking care of her/translating/ect. So I think (and hope) she's surrounded by good people.
I think she eventually did find good people even in the gyaru scene. I also have her Tsubasa blog book and she is similarly surrounded by friends and mentions how some models became her friends. There's a few pictures of her, Yui Kanno, and Jun Kumori together. I assume that they're still friends. I think Tsubasa just grew out of the gyaru lifestyle as she aged. She associated her past branding/lifestyle with Naoki and her divorce suddenly. So shit just changed.
I remember reading the section when she had mentioned not being interested at all in luxury items and laughing about that because now, she is SUPER into luxury items. She's always clad in Gucci and even attending fashion week to meet Yohji Yamamoto, who is a very very prestigious fashion designer on the luxe end of things. Her tone entirely changed on that matter. Maybe it was for work given that she's working on "TokyoDot" now...I don't know. It's trendy now to flex and she's always been big on following the trends. -shrugs-
She mentioned that in her book too. She hated that she wasn't up to date with all of the other models on the trends when she first became a reader model, but personally, I feel like that gave her character. That's super relatable to me given that I also was the girl who was behind on shit and bought previous things on discount because it wasn't "cool" anymore as a kid. Honestly, it gives you character. I was able to establish my own sense of style that was and have far more appreciation for the pieces I had because I didn't treat them as disposable. I think Tsubasa was the same way at her peak. Her style was really distinct to her and a lot of people tried to copy it later on.
Definetely not comparing myself to a queen like Tsubasa, but I'm just saying that it was relatable because I too, gained my own sense of style given that I financially wasn't capable of trend-hopping like anymore else. Pieces became more personal.
There's a lot of shit that is relatable in that book. The amount of bullying that some "successful" gyaru go through is insane. Anyone with a moderately good social media following in the gyaru sphere of things really does get thrown under a microscope to where people feel like they are entitled to every aspect of their lives. Who they're friends with, who they're not friends with, what their insights are, how much brand they own, how little they own...etc. etc. It's insane.
That's probably a different fucking vent for another time when it comes to that shit and gyaru...but I was kind of shocked that Tsubasa also endured being bullied. I've heard of other models similarly getting harassed before, so I don't know why the hell I was so shocked, but I guess I just thought Tsubasa was too much of an icon to be in all that. Too many people praised and looked up to her from what I knew but her book expressed a different and more vulnerable side that I related to.
I'm currently still translating and editing the style advice pages. I just took a hiatus and am kinda still given that I'm still mentally recovering from the events that went on in my life these past few months... However, give me some time. I haven't given up on it!
500 yen a day working part-time at my family's pub. I used the money I saved to buy clothes...
Ever since I can remember, I have loved fashion. I grew my hair long when I was in kindergarten, and when I got home, I was always wearing a skirt. Actually...I was often mistaken for a boy because of my name "Tsubasa"! So, I wanted to be more girly. However, it wasn't until I was in the upper grades of elementary school that I discovered the joy of choosing clothes for myself. By that time, I was already without my parents and went shopping with my friends. Of course, I couldn't buy clothes with the pocket money I that I would usually get, so I started working part-time when I was in elementary school.
However, since I worked at an izakaya only at my house, I used to wash dishes and carry food there. The part-time job fee is 500 yen per day. Even though 500 yen doesn't seem like much, if you save up for 4 days, it will be 2,000 yen, and you can buy a cute T-shirt. I continued working part-time at an izakaya even after I entered junior high school, and even my school friends did it together, so it was fun.
When I was in elementary school, I was able to study normally, and I had good friends. I didn’t like school at all, but to be honest, I actually don’t like teachers. There was a female teacher who always paid attention to me. "Don't come to school wearing those clothes." I know that I'm wearing a glittery top, but even when I'm wearing unfashionable clothes, I don't know why that teacher would warn me. Don't ask me why but I was scared. I would answer “yes” but I remember running away whenever I saw that teacher.
When I was in the 5th grade of elementary school, I was reading "egg magazine" with my friends, so maybe I woke up to being a gyaru earlier than a normal child. With that being said, I wasn't interested at all in the mamba style that was popular at the time. I didn’t do that style. I admired the fairer styles with beautiful makeup (seiso).
My idols at that time were SPEED and Namie Amuro-chan. Since I was in elementary school, I imitated their styles and wore thick boots and platform sandals. However, it is difficult to walk, and often fell! (laughs)
The Burberry miniskirt that Amuro-chan wore at her wedding reception was so amazing! Of course, I tried to buy something like it too! But, I was still in elementary school, so no matter what I did, I couldn't imitate her and be perfect at all! -laughs- I as I entered into middle school, I admired the singer Ayu (Ayumi Hamasaki) the most and began to read the magazine “Popteen” but at the time, I didn’t even know of the word “mo” (model) and never dreamed that I would appear in it...
