Child Modeling Agencies Suffer After Foreign Parents Flee Japan

A report from Japan’s NTV news mentions the impact that foreign fearfulness is having on tourism, the modeling industry, and art exhibitions:

Asakusa is usually packed with tourists, but that hasn’t been the case lately. The situation is explained by Patrick Lovell, a tour guide for Japan Walk-Caster. Lovell says that 99% of tour reservations for May, June, and July have been cancelled.
The Sugar & Spice Modeling Agency says that about 90% of its foreign child models are no longer available. Their panic-stricken parents have taken them to other countries because of radiation fears. The agency is now relying on Japanese or Half-Japanese models, and only probably only make about 50% of what it was making prior to the earthquake.
The Yokohama Museum of Art was supposed to begin its “Pushkin: Masterpieces of French Paintings from the State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow” exhibition on April 2nd. However, the exhibition has been postponed because the Russian government decided it would not be safe to lend the paintings. Art exhibitions in Okayama and Hiroshima have also been postponed or cancelled for similar reasons.

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33 comments - What do you think? Posted by James - April 20, 2011 at 9:05 am

Categories: Foreigners in Japan Tags:

http://twitter.com/koarin Colin

Not entirely relevant, but it always bugged me for some reason that a disproportionate number of models in Japan (or at least Tokyo) were foreign.
- Gabriel
  
  Agreed.
MarkSteps

I predict this last for a long time (5-10 years) and have a very big impact on Japan. My opinion of course.
- Hamachiman
  
  Hard to say.
  
  We do tend to live in an amnesiac world where today’s news is already way past due the next day.
  
  Remember, it’s only been a month or so since the quake/tsunami, and they’re still dealing with the physical mess from it. The recovery is not going to happen overnight.
  
  As the physical rebuilding starts, people will start to calm down. It’s a ‘natural’ reaction to huge disasters.
  - MarkSteps
    
    Point taken but my reasoning for people staying away is due to the radiation scare. While some look at this as people simply being panicky it is not without merit. The fact that the Japanese government has now started to allow food from Fukushima to be sold (albeit “inspected” is a big warning sign from the days of Chernobyl. Also the situation at the Dai-ichi reactors is far from being over. It is still highly unstable and anything can happen.
    
    As alluring as Japan is in terms of tourism I do not think we will see Pre-Fukushima numbers for many many years. I am greatly saddened by this but remain hopeful that things can somehow get back to semi-normal.
    - Kevin not kevin
      
      You seem to be conflating Fukushima Dai-ichi with Fukushima the prefecture. There are areas in the prefecture that haven’t been exposed to extreme levels of radiation, so what is wrong with selling the food if it has been tested safe?
    - nanashi
      
      Nothing wrong with selling food that has been tested safe. The only problem though is that in situations like this, people are not necessarily rational. Distrust of the government, NISA, and TEPCO is not going to help change peoples (when I say people, I’m talking about the ones who fall closer to the irrational side of the scale) perceptions for a period of time.
      
      If it weren’t for Dai-ichi, the country would be on a much faster path to recovery. The fact that radiation is involved just throws a large curveball in that timeline because again, it is a perception thing. The government and the third party monitoring agencies can throw out as much factual information as possible but that will be met with skepticism for a period of time. How long that will really be is anyones best guess but I for one am not deluded enough to think this won’t have long term repercussions. This does not even take into account the supply chain disruptions which are having a world wide impact on various industries or Japan’s important fishing industry which took a huge hit from the tsunami. We’re only seeing the tip of this iceberg.
    - Stereo
      
      I do not think it is wise to eat food from Fukushima or Ibaraki.
      The foods from those places contain certain level of radioactive substance and, though below national standard, are not good for health. I do not eat them just as I do not smoke.
      I think the farmers are going into the wrong direction. They should seek compensation from TEPCO, rather than persuade consumers to eat their products. By buying their products, consumers do not help farmers, but help TEPCO since the compensation for the farmers will be reduced by the same amount as the sales of the contaminated food.
      There are problems that can be solved with money, such as economical damage to the farmers, and there are problems that cannot be solved by money, such as health. What is unwise is to trade the former with the latter.
    - parcivale
      
      What is your evidence that food grown in inland Fukushima or Ibaraki is not safe? Raditaion is not hard to detect with the proper equipment. If you have no evidence to back up this claim then you are just adding to the misfortune of people in eastern Tohoku, truly being part of the problem and not part of the solution.
      
      You seem to think that the amount of compensation TEPCO will pay out will be based on how much people put in claims for. It won’t. It will be based on how much TEPCO can afford to pay. TEPCO will have to invest huge amounts of money upgrading their other power stations and building new power stations in addition to paying out trillions of yen in compensation to the people who lost their homes, businesses and livelihoods. And that money will not be unlimited.
      
      The financial compensation should go to people who lost their homes, businesses and jobs. TEPCO shouldn’t be spending that compensation money buying perfectly harmless vegetables and milk products from farmers with undamaged farms, thereby reducing the amount of money that can go to people who really need it.
    - steve
      
      Conversely what is your evidence that the food from that area is safe? Oh, the government and TEPCO said it is safe. Well they have not deceived us at all during this whole disaster so they must be telling the truth. If you want to trust your LIFE on their word you are more than welcome to but do so at your peril. Mind you the results of your decision would not likely become apparent for several years.
    - Jupiter
      
      If the government were lying about radiation levels in food, the media would be all over it. Why would the government risk getting thousands ill and causing a major controversy/anti-Japanese sentiment just so a few Fukushima farmers can sell their food?
    - parcivale
      
      My evidence is that it’s been tested for radiation by the Agriculture Ministry for a month and no radiation has been detected in any food produce from inland Fukushima. You want to assume that they’re lying, then go ahead. But that means you won’t be able to trust that anything in the supermarket is safe. What are you eating, the carrots and potatos you grow on your balcony?
    - ponta
      
      TEPCO has said nothing about the vegetables .
      
      The government has been slow in dealing with the matters, but has the government deceived us all during the disaster?
      
      I understand that there are people who mistrust the government and who don’t eat the vegetable because you think even the radiation below the legal limit is not safe just as there are people who don’t eat the U.S beef because it might contain artificial beef hormones or it might be contaminated with mad-cow disease.
      
      But for instance,
      “The radioactive cesium was detected in broccoli in Fukushima prefecture well above the country’s limit.The estimated increase in cancer risk of eating two unwashed pounds is about two chances in million.”
      (April 2, 2011/Assessing the Radiation Danger, Near and Far/NYT)
      
      It is not on the market.
      
      I won’t claim that the vegetables on the market is absolutely safe, whatever that means. Someone might estimate one chance in a million too risky. Others might say it is negligible. Still others might say if you start doubting, you end up not eating anything. The point is that each person should be allowed to evaluate the risk as they see fit
    - http://tepido.org/ LB
      
      Must suck to have to go through life a paranoid nutjob like some people above. I don’t think I could take it – endlessly fretting that “they” were lying to me, that I was being deceived at every turn. How do you keep on? I mean, what keeps you from jumping off a roof somewhere?
    - RMilner
      
      The great thing about science is you can verify this for yourself.
      
      Buy a Geiger counter, test vegetables and work out how radioactive they are. Compare with the various international safety standards.
    - zarghev
      
      The problems are:
      – normally, not every piece of food is tested (only samples)
      = so you may well stumble upon one untested piece of food.
      – bioacculumation/bioconcentration/biomagnification happens
      = some of the food will concentrate toxic/radioactive substance naturally
      – contamination is NOT uniform.
      = some places/food are much more contaminated than others
      – in any other country than the Japan, the following will happen (and indeed has happened in many forms): so farmer/company has some goods with measurements above some health limit ; they would be bankrupt if it is discovered ; so they try to get away and sell the food avoiding the controls. Sometimes works.
      
      The chances to stumble upon a highly radioactive piece of food are not zero.
      
      The poster child example is fish:
      – The next fish you will eat may well have come from within 100 meters of Fukushima, and may well be untested.
      – how will you know?
      
      Have a nice day.
    - Stereo
      
      The problem with Geiger counters is that they are not sensitive enough to measure radiation level that is harmful when taken into the body. The government clearly says vegetables from Fukushima and Ibaraki IS contaminated with radioactive substance, though below the standard. Why do you like to eat contaminated food when you can buy uncontaminated food?
      - Enya
        
        Yes. You really think that some supermarket chain is going to by the top geiger counter from MIT. They just buy the cheapest one over internet, run it quickly over some spinach bushes and claim the whole field safe.
Karina

More lack of common sense from the foreign community—and foreign governments. Especially, when it comes to art exhibitions. Many foreigners seem to think that the entire nation is doomed forever and that Japan as nation will disappear and the entire nation is extremely dangerous or deadly…so much for such extreme notions.
- Enya
  
  I have worked in an art museum back home and have studied art history. Sending valuable paintings to an exhibition in another country is risky, if those paintings might be damaged in an after-quake. I totally understand why they canceled.
  - http://twitter.com/Karina1003 Karina1003
    
    I still believed they overreacted. HIroshima had not suffered any aftershocks. I bet no foreign country will send anything art related to Japan over the next several years, maybe decades because of their silly overreacting.
  - http://twitter.com/Karina1003 Karina1003
    
    I still believed they overreacted. HIroshima had not suffered any aftershocks. I bet no foreign country will send anything art related to Japan over the next several years, maybe decades because of their silly overreacting.
  - http://twitter.com/Karina1003 Karina1003
    
    I still believed they overreacted. HIroshima had not suffered any aftershocks. I bet no foreign country will send anything art related to Japan over the next several years, maybe decades because of their silly overreacting.
  - http://twitter.com/Karina1003 Karina1003
    
    I still believed they overreacted. HIroshima had not suffered any aftershocks. I bet no foreign country will send anything art related to Japan over the next several years, maybe decades because of their silly overreacting.
flowby

Didn’t realize there was such a shortage of cute kids in japan.

Must be just my area where lovely kids abound.
Rob A

It would be nice if this ‘problem’ could be solved by using child models from…oh I don’t know, somewhere closer by…

What about Japanese kids!?
hoihoi

it is natural becuase they are just guests
hah

Well, maybe they’ll actually start using models who look like the kids they’re selling to? I find this excessive use of foreign (=white) models rather horrible.
- http://hanlonsrzr.blogspot.com Mr. S.
  
  Sure, but money in the bank for those of us with hybrids…
shogun

Oh no they are running out of foreign child models and lost about 90% of them. This affects 90% of people in Japan in NO way at all……….and now they have to rely on Japanese models, give me a break. is the world coming to an end? whatever shall we do?!?!?!?
- Enya
  
  Maybe Red Cross should start collecting money for affected gaijin talent agencies so they can produce more badly over-acted crap like Unbelievable. Besides, I always see the same 6 gaijin guys and same women in all saiken dorama.
Will

Well, this is good, isn’t it? Use kids from Japan!!
Jupiter

They should hit up the military bases, plenty of kids around here and even those that left will be trickling in over the next few weeks (State Dept travel order recently rescinded).

Child Modeling Agencies Suffer After Foreign Parents Flee Japan

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