Emi Suzuki (鈴木 えみ born September 13, 1985 in the People's Republic of China) is a Japanese fashion model and occasional actress. Widely known by her nickname Emichee[1], she has often been described as a "charismatic model"[2] and is particularly popular among gyaru teenagers in Japan.
 Emi Suzuki in February 2009 |
|
| Birth name | Wú Zǐliáng [1] |
|---|---|
| Date of birth | September 13, 1985 [1] |
| Place of birth | Shanghai, People's Republic of China [1] |
| Height | 5' 9½" (1.77 m) [3] |
| Weight | 93 lb (42 kg) [3] |
Contents |
Born in Shanghai as Wu Ziliang[1] (simplified Chinese: 吴子良[4]; pinyin: Wú Zǐliáng), Suzuki emigrated to Kyoto at the age of 12, becoming a naturalized Japanese citizen. She changed her name to the Japanese Emi Suzuki (鈴木依美).[5]
Shortly after arriving in Japan, she attended Fujinomori Middle School, a public junior high school in Kyoto, and became fluent in Japanese within a year.[5] After graduating from middle school, Suzuki attended Kyoto Ryōyō High School for a short period and later dropped out.[4]
Suzuki auditioned for the fashion magazine Seventeen at the suggestion of a friend, successfully passed the audition in 1999, and began her modeling career at the age of 13. Soon after beginning to appear in the magazine and prêt-à-porter collections for several fashion houses (not designers), her popularity rose, and she became a prominent model.[5] In the late 1999, Suzuki appeared in her first TV commercial for Dancemania Speed 2 alongside Franky Gee.
Around 2002 she began appearing in designer-brands' private collections having strict requirements regarding the BFP standard, and after appearing in the music video for Ketsumeishi's 2005 mega-hit song Sakura[6], she terminated her contract with Seventeen in 2006 and began her contract with Pinky as an exclusive model.[7] Since then as one of the most featured models of Pinky, whenever she landed on the cover of the magazine, she was alone, except only one time on 2007.[8]
While working as a model for Pinky, she has also worked as a model for many other fashion magazines and has modeled for a variety of ads, such as Shiseido, Suntory, OPC (Calorie Mate).[7] Aside from appearing magazines, ads, and countless collection-shows, she has appeared in many TV series, such as The Long Love Letter, The Queen of the Lunch, Water Boys 2,[9] and made efforts to work with the TV series Yukan Club in 2007[10].
In November 2007, having earned an estimated total of $31 million in the past 10 months, several medias named her one of the top ten earning models in Japan in 2007.[11]
In January 2010, Suzuki made a surprise appearance as an alumni on Fuji Mezamashi TV's "Today's Countdown", a news program which she appeared on in her novice years (2001 - 2002). Despite having a tight working-schedule, she referred to herself as a semi-retired model, and she hinted that she will never appear as an actress for ever.
Suzuki has been named as a too-thin model in Japan; through her career, her official weight has been around 94 lb (43 kg). Moreover, much like other successful models like the '90s mega-successful model Asami Ishikawa, Suzuki has been noted for her excellent metabolic ability, as it is supposed to be "too fast and powerful" and a vital key to her splendid success.
On October 21, 2008, Suzuki appeared in the midnight television program "Chrono's Gear" in her local city Kyoto, and weighed herself there. On the day, her weight was 90 lb (41 kg).
In November, 2008, the special editorial "The Starving Princess Part 8 : Can't Stop, Won't Stop" by Takarajima, a monthly lifestyle magazine, named Suzuki as "The 6th thinnest female model in the 2000s". The editorial reported her body spec, which was calculated by several specialists, as 5' 9½" (1.77 m), 93 lb (42 kg), and 13.4 (BMI).[3]
According to her former fellow models who worked with her for Seventeen, including Anna Tsuchiya and Naoko Tokuzawa, Suzuki "ate enough" everyday. Tsuchiya described Suzuki as a "dumb a*s monster", as Suzuki "ate enough everyday" and still was "far taller-and-lighter" than Tsuchiya, and especially before appearing in television spots, Suzuki ate a "humongous amount of food" and was often slumped asleep to the floor with it like a overeaten cat or a dead drunkard, while Tsuchiya chronically suffered from heavy starvation. [12]
Another one of the former fellow models Ayano Seki described Suzuki as "a monster whose metabolism is insanely fast compared to normal human beings". Seki gave the following examples of peculiarities with her metabolism: her hair grew too quickly; she liked to have a suntan in the summer time, but her skin would lose its tan and return to its original tone in an extraordinarily short period of time; in preparation for appearing in the music video of Sakura, she had to eat large quantities of food to make her face chubbier, and after the work, she lost all of the extra weight with "amazing speed". Many of her fellows had nicknamed Suzuki "Fedor", indirectly meaning "monster"[13] Because of this, in 2008, TBS once tried to plan a special New Year's Eve program featuring a one-to-one conversation between Fedor Emelianenko and Suzuki, with reserves of at least $20 million guarantees for them, but it did not come off on accounts of their respective schedules. Weekly Gendai referred to these, and referred to Suzuki as being a product of the 3rd golden age of Seventeen.[14]
Suzuki had decided to retire from modeling and go back to Kyoto as soon as she hit 20. Her agency Stardust Promotion and the publisher Shueisha, not wanting to let her go, started a new magazine, Pinky, with a huge budget.[15]
According to former staff of the magazine, the executives of Stardust Promotion knew well that Suzuki is not good at refusing, and tried to make this magazine's publication a "fait accompli". It was Suzuki herself that's on the front cover of the first issue of this magazine.[15]
Most aspects of Suzuki's private life remain mysterious. Through her career, she has revealed only a minimum part of her personal information. Nana Eikura said in a radio program, "Emi rarely talks about herself to others, even to me".[16] Eikura has been Suzuki's best and maybe exclusive friend since their Seventeen era (around 2003). According to Eikura, who has been to Suzuki's room, Suzuki lives alone in an expensive apartment and her room was almost vacant which contained few belongings such as a refrigerator, a bureau, a sofa, a single-bed, a vase and some books.[16]
As for her hobby, if she has it, it may include watching MMA[17][† 1]. Since the early 2000s, there is a vogue among Seventeen models for liking K-1 and Pride FC, and according to Sayaka Ogata (a former ST model), Suzuki in the course of time began to watch it like other ST models and was seemingly interested especially in Wanderlei Silva. In addition to it, a writer who competed to edit an MMA magazine claimed that he witnessed Suzuki[† 2] once at the Saitama Arena.[18] On the day, the Pride FC held a tournament there, Pride Grand Prix 2006 Final, where the fighters included Wanderlei Silva and some others.[† 3]
Anna Tsuchiya once spent her private time together with Suzuki, it was when they both were 17. After being proposed by Suzuki, Tsuchiya canceled her modeling schedule and then followed Suzuki. Tsuchiya and Suzuki stayed for 5 days in an inn near Lake Biwa. According to Tsuchiya, Suzuki had already been too famous in Kyoto at the time, so she was often surrounded by a crowd of especially young girls who wanted to shake hands with her, and many of them ("brats") called her Emi-nee.[† 4] Tsuchiya has got a photo of her and Suzuki, which was taken at this time, striking a pose of a wrestler ("the pose of Jun") in miko clothes.[19] "Emi-nee" became one of the most known nicknames for Suzuki along with "Emi-chee".[12]
In her very early working years, she was also good friends with numerous visual-kei musicians that included many future successful stars. She made numerous cameo appearances in music videos for numerous visual-kei artists several times, and was featured by many of them. For example Hakuei (formar lead-vocalist of PENICILLIN) and Kiyoshi (who is best known as the guitarist of Hide with Spread Beaver) heavily featured her as a rising model on their radio show and featured her in their band Machine's single "010 Zero-One-Zero" booklet's "Special Thanks" section; Sex Machineguns' bassist Noisy featured her in his album DUSTAR first limited edition's booklet, saying "Best wishes to you, our goddess Emi-chan".
In 2008, Suzuki gave Nana Eikura a car as a birthday present when Eikura got a driver license at the age of 20. Eikura was surprised five months after the day when she found out that the price of the car was more than 8 million yen (roughly $80,000). It was a model of Lexus. Other people who received some gifts from Suzuki include Ryuji Ito, Jun Kasai, Abdullah Kobayashi,[† 5] and may include Masada, Cima, Wifebeater, and Go Shiozaki.[20]
|
|
Wikis
Quiz
Map
Search
