He’s as Pinoy as ‘adobo’

He’s as Pinoy as ‘adobo’
By Bayani San Diego Jr.Philippine Daily InquirerFirst Posted 00:03:00 06/09/2009Filed

MANILA, Philippines—The way Japanese-Brazilian model Akihiro Sato put it, he’s as Pinoy as adobo.

“I look more Filipino than Japanese or Brazilian,” he said of his affinity to the Philippines, adding that he felt instantly at home here.

“I was supposed to live in Thailand, but after spending my vacation here, I decided to stay,” he recalled.

Although he doesn’t speak Japanese (he’s fluent in Portuguese and speaks a little Spanish), he’s taking Filipino lessons with a teacher from UP Diliman.

“My tutor comes to my home. I’ve been studying for two months — two hours, every day. Minsan (sometimes), I have work and I can’t… But I try to study at least four hours a week.”
He’s trying his best to learn the language and attempted to answer in Tagalog in this interview held at his launch as the new image model of Blue Water Day Spa with singer-actress Karylle.
Asked how much he’s enjoying his stay, he quipped: “Sobra. Maraming kaibigan dito. Magaganda mga babae dito. (Yes. A lot. I have lots of friends here. Filipino women are beautiful.)”

So does he have a girlfriend now?

“Wala. Kailangan kong magtrabaho. (None. I need to work.)”

And his favorite Filipino food?
“Tapa. Adobo.”

He admitted that he’s struggling with the language.

Still, it didn’t prevent him from doing an indie movie, Seymour Barros Sanchez’s “Handumanan (Remembrance),” co-starring Chin Chin Gutierrez and Jason Abalos.

“From the start, I apologized to my director, because of the language problem, but Seymour was patient with me,” Sato said. “He gave me a good opportunity. I’ve always wanted to act in a movie.”

For his film debut, he plays a Filipino-Brazilian-American model who’s searching for his mother and his roots in Dumaguete. Along the way, he meets and falls for a Filipina romance novelist (Gutierrez).

“Chin Chin is amazing. It’s almost as if I fell in love with her. She’s a good actress. Very professional. She gave me lots of tips about acting and camera angles,” he related.
Gutierrez returned the compliment: “He is truly gifted and giving… He was able to work with any situation, any scene, any challenge on the set and still effortlessly create ‘magic’ even at 4 a.m. Even after having worked from dawn the day before, he’d still remember to find a present to bring home to his parents!”

He admitted that the role isn’t much of a stretch for him because he’s playing an international model, but it still proved emotionally draining.

Biggest challenge, he said, was “crying.”

Speaking of drama, he offered his sympathy to the female Brazilian models who were caught in the Hayden Kho sex video scandal.

“I don’t personally know anyone who was part of that, but I’m so sorry for them,” he said. “It’s really bad. Not just for the models, but for everyone. It’s not good for the country, either.”
Suffice it to say, he’s certain that he has no sex videos out there.

“No way! Hopefully, the scandal would teach people to take care of themselves and protect themselves from exploitation. Ninety percent of our lives are public. We only have very little left for our private selves.”

Case in point: There are at least three fan sites on the Net dedicated to Sato, which chronicle every facet of his life — including his tattoos (he has five: on his nape, left torso, right pelvis, right ankle, left foot).

So much for privacy.

E-mail: bayanisandiego@hotmail.com