This Japanese-Brazilian model is fast becoming top of Asia’s most wanted list.

When he gets old and grey he can surf and paint all day. In the meantime, he’s fast becoming top of Manila’s most wanted list.

Unusual for a non-Filipino or a male to hold that title but the grapevine or the blogs often sniff these things out early. Barely six months in the Philippines and already he’s been snagged by Penshoppe for a campaign. The day we shot him he was already on his third shoot and it was only 3pm.

What is it about the 21-year-old, 6’1”, Akihiro ‘Aki’ Sato, the half-Japanese, half-Brazilian model that is driving Philippine local fashion industry gaga? Even his manager Jonas Gaffud of Mercator Modelling agency wanted to know. His looks apparently translate well with both the ‘class A to D market’. Surfer body and mestizo good looks aside, what makes him stand out from the other half-breed hunks in town?

Taking apart Aki’s looks from his great smile that reaches all the way to his eyes, his perfectly proportioned features, his killer cheekbones, his 31-inch waist and washboard abs, one can’t deny he is one ideal specimen; but in this industry, looks are 90 per cent of the package.

To make it big, you’ll need your own signature ‘blue steel’ look (the model’s signature look as per Ben Stiller’s Zoolander).

Aki’s reputation as a phenomenon in Thailand and his record-setting first few months in the Philippines was tested by Sunday Inquirer Magazine (of the Philippine Daily Inquirer) by shooting him ‘au naturelle’ sans stylist, make-up, lighting or famous fashion photographer. It was a humid summer day, he wore his own clothes and we gave him minimal to no direction for the shots. He composed his own body and features and gave our photographer shot after shot to use. At the end of the shoot he left us two impressions: in front of the camera, he was a professional a new star steadily on the rise with an amazing relationship with the camera. His ease and rapport with the lens is so strong you almost have to turn away from its intensity. “He registers well on camera,” said Mike Alquinto our photographer.

Off camera, he confessed to being a little homesick for his family living in Brazil. Though happy to get his face on billboards, having time to surf and paint all day would be closer to his ideal of happiness. He is a playful, lighthearted young man, who, despite his ‘happy and sad’ childhood growing up in the streets of Sao Paolo, arguably one of the toughest neighbourhoods in the world, he still managed to retain his boyish innocence. Only a tattoo on his body written in Japanese script speaks of someone who despite his youth already knows his priorities.

The words are SUN, WOMAN and LOVE. Why SUN? “Sun is life. Sun is small word with a big meaning.” Why WOMAN? “Woman is very important for life. Man cannot live without woman. Why LOVE? “Love is important for family, friends and the world.” (By LEICA R CARPO In Manila/ The Philippines Daily Inquirer/ AsiaNews)