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Besides being a model herself, Kasumi Shimizu is also the manager of the Los Angeles division for My Elite Models. Her talents include traditional Japanese dance and being quite skilled on the basketball court. I was impressed by her photos (like the one above from what was her first public shoot and “a lot of fun” she said), so I contacted her about an interview a couple of months ago. She graciously agreed then, but because of her busy schedule and final exams, she wasn’t able to get back to me until just recently.Standing a proud 5′ 3″, Kasumi tells me that she’s been playing basketball since she was a child. She also has formal dance training that includes ballet and tap but currently her main focus is on traditional Japanese dance or “nihon-buyo.” “In the next year or so, I hope to go to Japan to take the ‘nattori’ test for dancers who want to get their Masters,” she says.
Check out my full interview with Kasumi here.
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From Kasumi’s very first photo shoot. As a drummer myself, this one naturally caught my eye. She told me of this shoot: “I was incredibly nervous but it’s when I first fell in love with modeling.”
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From her first traditional Japanese photo shoot
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Another from the above-mentioned shoot. She’s wearing her own outfit that she wears to dance practice.
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As a Geisha Dominatrix. Her first alternative-type shoot.
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Another from the Geisha Dominatrix shoot. Kasumi told me this one was a lot of fun and she and the other girls “got to boss the handsome male model around.” (She was joking. They were nice to him.)
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Kasumi didn’t comment on the shoot this photo’s from, but she did say getting to it was quite an adventure. “It was before I had a car and it took seven buses to get there!” she explained.
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On of her favorites. She said of this one; “The photographer was shooting from above me and I was on the ground. Since I was suppose to stay within the spotlight area I had very limited room to move. It was fun and I think it turned out great!”
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Kasumi’s Official Website
Her Facebook Fan Page
Kasumi on Twitter
Very nice, love them sexy legs of hers. I love the fifth shot down in her dance practice shot. Beautiful.
Kasumi’s body plus Kuo Zi Lin’s face equals heaven.
She seems like a cool girl but she doesn’t really do it for me
Not really model material IMHO – her body is pretty average for an Asian girl, and for me her face is unusually unattractive for an Asian girl as well.
I agree Doc (especially the Plain Jane look of the last pic) BUT when Kasumi gets into the traditional Japanese outfits and cosplay(?) and with the associated makeup, she becomes quite strikingly different.
Forgive me, but pic 3 isn’t Corinne – a couple of Sirens ago, is it?
oh I forgot to add: at least her modelling experience will stand her in good stead in her shift to model management.
CEC, is that link to the interview working? It isn’t opening for me.
Wow! That was kind of a harsh statement to make, “her face is unusually unattractive for an Asian girl!” I do not agree with your assessment Dr. Lee that you made. In my eyes, she has cute features, a very nice body and firm shapely legs. There are a few unflattering photographs but, there are also several very exceptional photos of her! Sometimes the photographer is at fault for not doing the model justice! I do believe it is the case with this model’s photos. Overall a very nice pleasing young woman with good attributes and potential!
Please take a look at her website. There are some great photos of her! This may change your prospective towards her! She is a doll!
longtack: you have to scroll up to Blogger’s annoying adult warning to get to the article.
WerewolfVM: the headshots on her site only reinforced my impression – indeed, I had to be careful to state my opinion in a way that was within our posting guidelines. I’d better just leave it at that.
I really like the Geisha photos, the Geisha/dominatrix concept is hilarious. I think of the candid shots she looks best when smiling. Good luck Kasumi, I hope you bring more gorgeous Asian women to our attention.
Crikey Doc, even a proxy server can’t get me in. I guess, though, your advice – to scroll – holds for those who CAN get to the site.
sigh!
Not to state the obvious but the photo quality in this post is really low.
Well, she is yank, Doc, so the integration of natural assets with cultural effecacy is always more of a challenge than if she was in her country of ancestry. She gets an 8 out of 10 from me with a recommendation that she stay in (a) character and some costume. The Geisha idea and traditional dance / arts is fantastic idea. Beach / recreation good; super sexy around the house, not so much. Drop that hitler nose paint and the dom thing works kind of, but few women are really dark (mean) enough to pull that off convincingly.
Kroos, LT, Doc – please help me out.
Jynnlevel notes that Ms Shimizu is “yank.” Does that mean that she’s “gone yank”, i.e., somehow picked up the American culture in addition to her traditional Japanese? Or is she “a Yank”, American by birth or proxy? Perhaps something completely different. Crikey, I can’t figure it out!
As jynnleval made the comment, I assume he is most qualified to answer this question. 🙂
“Kasumi,” is a personal friend of mine, going back to when we were in middle school. She is born and raised in the United States, as were her parents. I knew she had done some modeling, but I was a little surprised to see her show up on here.