Find out more about the series of cartoons created by Malcolm Ernst, by clicking here.

Hi, everyone! It’s me, Akie, your favorite bijin from Akita, where the weather is finally turning cool again. Wow! Did we have a hot summer or what!

You know, I thought the cool fall would never arrive. But here we are, harvest time, and soon the leaves will be changing. I can feel crispness in the air. In coming blogs I’ll be sharing Akita autumn with you. After all, our name, ”Akita” means autumn fields. But in this blog I want to introduce you to another real live true Akita Bijin. Currently, she is probably the best-known person from Akita. Her name is Nozomi Sasaki and she is our homegrown celebrity.

Here is a quick bio about Ms. Sasaki. Nozomi was born on February 8, 1988 and only attended junior high school for a short time. She was scouted, as they say in her world, by a talent agency and began her modeling career at the tender age of 14. Most of her early modeling was on the fashion/cosmetic circuit (another industry catch phrase). The collections were featured in Pinky magazine.

Hey, is this a vocabulary lesson, or just a blog about a cute and cool bijin form Akita? A little bit of both I guess, ne…on with the story.

After gaining a little weight, which helped her bijinness (I made that one), she started doing more glamour fashion modeling. (Hmmmm, do you think I could do glamour modeling?) That led her to become a gravure model. If you don’t know what this kind of modeling, let me educate you a bit. This type of modeling mainly features young girls in bikinis. (Hmmmm, I wonder if this could be a field for me to jump in to?)

Anyway, in January of 2008 Nozomi-san was featured on the cover of Young Jump magazine, which is displayed at convenience stores across the country. From there it has been all success for our beautiful Nozomi. She has been featured in two films, Handsome Suit and Tanshi no Koi. She has also appeared on TV in dramas and variety shows, produced two DVDs featuring her, and created 4 photo books displaying her charms and lovely figure!

Oh, I’m so jealous!

We here in Akita are very proud of Nozomi-san. She is a true homegrown Akita bijin. Akita is teaming with great-undiscovered beauties waiting in the wings to be debuted on the great stage of life. Me included!

So, next time you see or hear the name or face or body of Nozomi Sasaki in a movie, on TV, in a DVD or magazine spread you’ll know she is an Akita Bijin! Enjoy!!

That’s all for now. See you next time! Mata ne!