Harajuku talent scout
 

I was approached by this guy in Harajuku the other day who said he worked for a stylist or something (details are a bit hazy because the whole conversation was in Japanese which I'm not amazing at). He asked if I wanted to model, took some descriptions of me and took some photos, giving me his card and said he'd show his boss and contact me.

Even if it is legit I probably won't do it, but there was no information about this that I could find on the forum, and my Japanese friend said it happens a lot, so I was wondering if anyone knew anything about this? Is it a bit of a con, or a quick way to make some money?

Thanks :)

Is the name of the company understood?

It's really 50/50. You're friend is right, but that's not a good thing. Most people that hand you those cards simply hand them out to any gaijin who walks by (even ogres) but there's always an off chance that you may find a quick pay check for doing a haircut or something.

As long as you are not paying any money or going anywhere with strangers by yourself, why not?

They actually talk to every average-looking dude but those who are approached often end up thinking otherwise.

Google スカウト詐欺 and marvel at the number of search results. You do not have a term for a phenomenon for nothing.

We have a scam in Canada that's works similar to this.

Some person approaches you says "Hey you could be a model,actor etc..." they give you a card and tell you show up at X place.

You go and they say your perfect but you need a portfolio which they are only to happy to provide which you will pay for, usually a couple hundred bucks for head shots etc...

You will never hear anything back from them.

That's how the scam works over here, can't see it being any different in Japan. The exception to this is if it's a major agency like Ford then it's different.

Like MMM said if you have to pay up front ... FORGET IT !

That is both how the scam and how regular modeling works over here. Most places aren`t willing to take you on without a portfolio of their making... Which enables the scam, really, as the fact that you have to pay for a portfolio alone isn`t a huge red flag on it`s own.

The big difference is real places almost NEVER scout. You can almost be 100% certain that it`s a scam if they come up to you on the street. The cost of the scam portfolios are also almost 10 times that of the real thing...
20,000yen for a regular portfolio through a real talent agency vs. 150,000yen for one through a "scam" company.

Thanks for the advice guys. I mean.. I'm really not rich and money would be nice but, Japanese social encounters are awkward enough as it is.. I can't imagine doing such a thing would be easy for me.

Is sounding more like a waste of time or worse by what people have been saying so, I won't worry about it. Been a bit annoying cause it ended up being worse for my already poor self-esteem lol.

Yeah almost every girl I know who regularly goes to Harajuku or that area has been scouted once or twice. One even went with the scouter and they took pics of her and told her she'd be in blah blah magazine next time it was issued.
I guess in that sense it was kind of innocent, but I wouldn't be surprised if they suddenly asked you to take off your shirt so they can get a pikachu.