Reiko Motobu Winchell - Up Close and Personal

As we attend to different events, shows, meets, and social functions, we tend to meet a lot of people, heck even on the DaYUUM page we meet people from different parts of the world, but seldom do we get to meet a unique, exotic, and adorable ones like Reiko Motobu Winchell.A few months ago, Reiko started following our page and we would always notice her comments on some of the pictures we post up, we found some of the comments to be witty and humorous.A few days later, Reiko shared a few pics with us and asked us to share them which we gladly did. Reiko also told us that she is a model from Japan along with few more tidbits about herself which we found very interesting.We asked Reiko if she would mind if we asked her a few questions and some pictures of herself to add to a write up. Reiko not only sent us pictures, but she actually set up a whole new shoot just for us, how cool can one girl be?Here are Q&A's we did with Reiko, hope you find her as beautiful person inside and out as we did:DaYUUM: Reiko please tell us a little bit about yourself, your unique and exotic look and how did it come about that you now live in Japan?Reiko: OK, so I come from a big and warm Ecuadorian family. My mom, an Ecuadorian lady and my dad a Japanese guy, fell in love and got married back in Ecuador about 22 years ago (i was born a year after they got married) lol. 
My dad was a ship mechanic so he was always either overseas or here in Japan while my mom and I lived in Ecuador.
 Spanish is my first language but I was always interested on learning different languages and English was my favorite language even back then, all because I was Britney Spears #1 fan and of course the N'sync and BSB lol. 
They were the reason why I told my mom to put me in an English class so I could sing their songs haha.I lived in Ecuador until I was 17 right after my high school graduation my dad came home and decided that it'd be best for me to go to Japan to study Japanese and go to college.
 I wasn't too happy to come, leave all my friends and family and move to a different country in the other side of the world. 
Now I'm glad I did it though, once we got here I started to learn Japanese, got a job and got an interest for modeling.DaYUUM: So how did you get into the modeling scene there?Reiko: I've always loved modeling since I was little I would go to summer modeling courses just for fun but once I got here I decided to give it a shot and register in a modeling agency. I started making more friends and met a few event promoters which would ask me to do promotional modeling for events or bikini fashion shows for summer events.I love doing it! It's so much fun. Now that I moved to Okinawa I'm just trying to meet people in the industry (which isn't too big) so I can start working as a model again. I'm also working really hard to try and get a feature in an American magazines so people know a little more about me and hopefully I get job offers in the statesDaYUUM: A lot of the import models here follow and copy the styles there, what is it really like to model in Japan, especially for a mixed model such as yourself?Reiko: um actually there's a lot of "half" models (if you are half japanese, half something else they call you half) lol mostly Japanese-Caucasian and they usually do clothing modeling or runway or are on TV. 
They love half American, British, NZ, Australian, Hawaiian girls (usually any white skin girl that is half) they love white skin here in Japan you know?  So for a half like me, (brown) lol they usually just think I'm Filipino or Thai so I guess is a good thing that I learn Japanese and that my name is Japanese!Import Models here, well.. I'd say they're very different. I had the opportunity to work at the Tokyo Motor show last year and the girls aren't trying to be sexy.. or maybe they're trying to be their own version of sexy. lol they like to be more "cute" than sexy. Soft voice, soft girly makeup, pig tails and the skinnier the better. Honestly, unless you have a thing for Japanese girls, I think the US does it better. (IMPORT MODELS WISE) hahahaDaYUUM: You inspire others with your positive attitude, who inspires you?Reiko: Who inspires me? My parents! For all we have been through, my dad always away for work to give us the best life and my mom making the mom and dad role when he was gone. She has been working so hard now that my dad can't work anymore. They are the best and they have inspire me to work hard, chase my dreams and make them proud!DaYUUM: You seem pretty busy with all your activities, what do you like to do on your free time?Reiko: On my free time i like to play with my dogs, watch tv and just be lazy lol sometimes, very rare though, I'd feel like working out.. lolDaYUUM:  Are you a foodie? What do you enjoy eating?Reiko: I cook! and I cook some delicious food! Or at least I'd like to think so haha! I love making Ecuadorian food! Some seco de pollo or ceviche are my favs! but they usually take a while to make so if I'm hungry or in a rush i'd like to make japanese food because is simple, easy to make and usually healthier!DaYUUM: So Reiko are you in any US magazines now or have you tried getting into one?Reiko: I've tried to get into almost all of them. Well I've gone to a lot of the magazines websites but not many had a submission option and idk how else to contact them. I try to submit to PasMag but the submission in their website didn't go through :( so I emailed one of the editors but never heard back, I also messaged Super Street.Lucky for me I found this really cool crew called DAYUUM that has been supporting me since the beginning! They're awesome!! Hope we get to meet in person soon.DaYUUM: So who would you like to give some shout outs to ?Reiko: omg so many people, my parents, my boo, friends, the DAYUUM crew and everyone that have supported me since day unoWell I sure hope you enjoyed the short insight on Reiko Motobu Winchell, we wish her the best and welcome her to the DaYUUM family as she is now the first ever DaYUUM approved model outside the U.S. and we truly hope to meet her in person soon!Check out the behinds the scenes video from Belles Lumieres.[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9hHTMFy7Gs&feature=fvst&w=540&h=330]Reiko can be reached at :chinita_reiko@hotmail.com and subscribe to her on Facebook at Reiko Motobu WinchellThank you to Belles Lumieres for the shots, and of course, our supporter for taking the time to check this out. Peace -DaYUUMNiloBonus pictures provided by Reiko.