GS: How long were you in New York?
Nijo: I stayed a couple of months. It was just holiday, vacation to [get to] know [whether I can] live in LA or New York.
GS: What was your impression when you first saw New York?
Nijo: New York is beautiful! I love New York! But if I live there, [it would be] too hard. The weather, jobs…
GS: What was your impression of LA?
Nijo: When I first came, I hated it.
GS: Why did you hate it?
Nijo: People have a big wall in front of them, I can’t get in. But New York people are different, very kind. LA people, they’re nice the first time, but it’s just fake. If something happens to you, they never take care of you.
GS: How long did you go back to Japan for?
Nijo: Two or three months. Then I came back to LA.
GS: Why?
Nijo: Because movie-making [is] in L.A.
GS: What did you do here?
Nijo: I had made some money in Japan. I didn’t do anything for a couple months. I was just living. I didn’t know how I’m going to work here, anything. I didn’t know how to join inside.
GS: You found an apartment by yourself?
Nijo: My friend Taka Ichise is a big movie producer in Japan and he made a movie company here. That company was [based out of] a house. He was looking for a person to take care of the house and I started living in the house.
GS: Where was the house?
Nijo: It was in the Hollywood Hills, later it became Bel Air. Then he hired one guy who was living with me in the house. I treated him like just a roommate but he was changing [his] mind. So I was very uncomfortable and I [got] out of the house after six months. I hadn’t a job, I hadn’t money, I hadn’t a house, I hadn’t even a car. I didn’t know many people here. Where to get a job? I tried one girl. She [had been] very good to me before. She said, ‘You can live with me.’ After I got out of the house, she left me in the Burger King in Hollywood and she went somewhere and didn’t come back. And she took my things.
GS: You mean like clothes?
Nijo: Yeah. After that I figured out she is doing [the same thing] to everybody.
GS: You had moved in with her for a while?
Nijo: No, not at all. She left me at Burger King in Hollywood and she [was] gone.
GS: After you left the house you met her at Burger King?
Nijo: She took me to Burger King.
GS: And you had your suitcases?
Nijo: And I had a cat. And [the woman] was gone and she didn’t come back and I was panicked. I called a lot of people, but everybody was home. I couldn’t reach anybody. I reached one American woman. She was a very kind person.
GS: How did you know this woman?
Nijo: Through my producer friend.
GS: She says, “Couple of weeks, you can live in my house.” I stayed there a couple of weeks. Then I started working in a Japanese restaurant in Beverly Hills, a famous one, as a hostess and maitre’d. That was very cheap money. I couldn’t get enough money to live.
GS: What were they paying?
Nijo: Two hundred dollars a week, because you can get tips. Then I found an apartment,. Next , I bought a car.
GS: You were very poor at that time.
Nijo: Yeah. Actually when I got out of the house, somebody gave me money, American people. I don’t know them but… actually I knew one person, not so close. He took me to a restaurant and he called up a lot of friends and friends got together and they thought about me.
GS: How much did they give you?
Nijo: Like five hundred dollars. It was very helpful.
GS: Then what?
Nijo: [A Japanese modeling agency called] Three Point One productions called me up. I went to see her and she took me.
GS: Did they get you any jobs?
Nijo: Uh huh. Then I joined Miramar because Miramar and Three Point One are very close. Then I joined Mary Webb Davis last summer.
GS: Have you done mainly print?
Nijo: Last job was Guiness Beer for a Korean company.
GS: Shooting here?
Nijo: Yeah. I think it’s for Koreatown somewhere. It’s a poster. You know Virtuosity? I was in that movie, but a little part. That was a lot of fun.
GS: Are you taking acting lessons?
Nijo: My agent at Miramar teaches me sometimes. I’m looking for a good acting class now.
GS: What’s your next goal?
Nijo: I want to work with a high budget movie, like Virtuosity. That was fun.
GS: What did you like about it?
Nijo: Everybody’s so nice, so nice and the set is very big and exciting and the director really liked me. I’m also [writing a screenplay]. I just finished it a couple of months ago.
GS: What’s it called?
Nijo: In the Mirror.
GS: In English?
Nijo: Yeah. I wrote everything, and my friend—he’s a writer—he corrected the English. The director for Virtuosity, he really wants to see it. I showed it to a couple of people already, pretty famous people, and they’re so nice. They say it’s great.
GS: Is it about your life?
Nijo: No, just a drama.
GS: About what?
Nijo: Love, a little comedy, drama… Prev
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