Character profile: Kaye

Hi guys! As I've done with Ana and Ken, here's Kaye's character profile. She's actually one of my fave characters in the series. Hope you like her too ;-)

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Name: Katrina Maghari

Nickname: Kaye, Kat

Birthday: 22 November 1980

Age: 29

Zodiac sign: Scorpio

Color: Blue (but secretly likes pink)

Eyes and Hair: Brown eyes; Long, wavy, black hair

Height: 168 cm

Body type: full-figured; think: coke bottle with oomph (although she has to exercise a lot to keep in shape)

Food: lots of meat and veggies; steak with pinakbet, qwek-qwek, potato chips, adobo and ginisang munggo, dies for danggit, chocolate ice cream, alcohol (is that even a food group?)

Occupation: Manager at a Japanese executive headhunting firm

Interests: Badminton, running, shopping, clubbing, cooking up a storm at home, going out with people

Dislikes: brats like Marga, bossy and domineering people (people a bit like herself actually), cheats and swindlers

Family: Family based in Manila; the eldest of 5 siblings; Dad (Jose) used to be a construction worker, but now runs his own small hardware store, Mom (Lina) is a housewife, brothers Jose Jr. and Kris are IT engineers, sister Jessie is a college sophomore, and youngest Celeste is in highschool.

Inspiration behind Kaye’s character:

Kaye's a regular "Tetsu no onna" or iron lady.

Kaye’s character is inspired by the dozens of students whom I’ve met in Tokyo, who are all working hard to better their (and their family’s) circumstances. Most of the people who come to Japan for Masters or Phds end up going back home to work at universities, but some choose to stay and enter the Japanese workforce (especially students in the vocational and technical high school programs). These are the people who, aside from spending hours studying, have taken the time to learn the language and customs of their host country and are equipped to adapt to working in it.

Kaye is the same. Her family isn’t as wealthy as Ana’s or Jon’s but she’s got loads of ambition. She believes that people get what they work for and thus dislikes lazy people or those who complain about their lot without doing anything. Kaye loves bullying people into doing what she thinks is right, but dislikes being dictated to.

She has a very cynical nature, and tries very hard to squash down her innate romanticism. Unlike Ana, who has led a rather chaste existence in Tokyo, Kaye is a player. She loves dating and meeting new people. However, she has very high standards and gets disappointed when the men she dates don’t live up to them. She also dislikes dishonesty and cheating in relationships, and is quite unforgiving when she finds out that someone is such.

What I like most about Kaye’s character is that she’s got a lot of heart (although she works hard to maintain a bato-bato image). Typically Scorpio, she’s intensely loyal and protective towards her friends and she’ll scratch the eyes out of anyone who crosses them. She also spends part of her time volunteering for a thousand and one causes and trying to get the local Filipino community organized. She forever complains about people and politics, but her inner idealism makes her strive to continue to search and fight for a better world ~ just as although she doesn't care to believe in fairy tales, she secretly hopes that Piolo Pascual will one day ride by on his white horse and carry her away.

Character profile: Ken

Hi guys! After delving into Ana's character, let's try to get into Ken's. I hope you fall in love with him as much as I have ;-)

I loved trying to get into Ken’s head. Trying to explain away all the changes in his emotion, what he was thinking, and his decision making process was quite a challenge, but having been a sounding board to all my “kuyas” in UST CAFA helped me get into the male psyche. Tsk, all those hours on the phone were actually very educational! ;-)

Name:   Kenichi Nakamura           

Nickname:   Ken, Ken-chan

Birthday:   10 February 1971                       

Age:    38

Zodiac sign:   Aquarius

Color:   Black

Eyes and Hair:   Black eyes; hair used to be a blondish brown (Chapter 2), but was recently dyed back to black for a role

Height:   178cm

Body type:   Leanly muscular (flail!)

Food:   Sushi, takoyaki, Italian pasta, gelato, Indian and Thai curry, Ana’s adobo ;-)

Occupation:   Actor; usually appears in television dramas and movies, but used to prefer stage plays. He wanted to become a diplomat like his dad when he was a kid.

Interests:   Movies, good food, long drives, quiet beaches, surfing

Dislikes:   Clingy women, suck-ups, overly-timid people

Family:   Parents deceased; Dad (Osamu) was a diplomat and used to be attached to the Japanese political attaché in Washington. Ken and his family lived in the US for 3 years. Ken actually went to grade school in the US, so he speaks English pretty well (Chapter 7 and 15). His mother (Eiko) was diagnosed with terminal cancer when Ken’s acting career was just beginning to take off; she died shortly afterwards (Chapter 3). His dad was very much affected by his wife’s death and succumbed to heart failure a few years later, although Ken suspected that it was a combination of overwork and alcohol consumption that brought it on (Chapter 15). Ken has a younger sister, Yuki, who is currently based in Europe studying design.

Inspiration behind Ken’s character:

If you’ve been wondering which Japanese character I used as a basis for Ken’s character, I ask you to think back to Kaneshiro Takeshi’s character Keigo in Kamisama mou sukoshi dake. I’ve always been fascinated by the development of Keigo’s character in the j-dorama, so I decided to re-create the effect in my book. However, looks-wise, in my mind, Ken has always been a cross between Kaneshiro and Shun Oguri (double flail!).

Ken comes across as a highly independent character; he’s the strong and silent type and is a bit hard to figure out. He has a very strong sense of responsibility to his family and friends. For example, he took on the rearing of his sister when his parents died. He also has a very high set of moral standards and is a very exacting worker. He can often come across as rigid and unyielding (he can be really sungit sometimes), and he’s not someone who easily gives his trust. With people who have managed to earn his trust however, he can be very loyal, patient, and giving. He doesn’t mind it when Takashi (his manager-assistant) and Yoshi (his best friend) prattle on and bully him into doing things; he just knows that it’s their way of caring for him. He doesn’t always do as he is told however; as most Aquarians, he prefers to make his own decisions, but only after he has weighed all the options ;-)

Ken is someone who has suppressed his romantic notions due to a combination of necessity (he had to work to raise Yuki) and fear (he didn’t want to end up like his dad, who broke down after his mom’s unexpected demise). His cynical attitude, which was honed by his years in the entertainment industry, wars with his innate romantic nature. He wants to believe in love, but he’s scared to. He’s someone who needs someone special to make him believe true love is possible ;-)

Character profile: Ana

In the interest of allowing you to get to know the characters of the story better, I’ve decided to share some of their character profiles with you ;-) What kind of stuff do you have in common with them?

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Name:  Maria Juana Madrigal

Nickname:  Ana

Birthday: 25 March 1977

Age: 32

Zodiac sign:  Aries

Height: 165 cm

Color:   Used to like blacks, browns, and navy blues, but now prefers a more colorful palette. For example, her latest acquisition is a pair of purple patent heels (see chapter 10) ;-)

Eyes and hair:  Chocolate brown. Hair used to really long (until the middle of her back and usually clubbed back in a ponytail), but now is jaw-length and has light brown streaks (Thanks to Taki---see Chapter 8).

Body type:  Athletic, lean, and rangy (but she hates doing any sort of physical activity)

Food:   Pork shogayaki, Indian food (the spicier the better), green mango shakes, taho and fishballs at UP, ebi sushi

Occupation:  Researcher (field: Physics, in particular Condensed Matter Theory and Correlated Quantum Matter); currently employed by a private research institute

Education: Undergrad at UP Diliman, MS at University of Texas in Austin, Phd. at the University of Tokyo

Interests: Has a secret addiction to romance novels and Pinoy teleseryes; loves Piolo Pascual!

Dislikes:  Natto (Japanese fermented beans), alcohol (she gets drunk easily), the smell of cigarettes

Family:                                   

Antonio and Lucia (parents); Jorge (older brother), married to Lynne (Ana’s college buddy---See chapter 1 and 15); and Miguel (younger brother), married to Felicia (a prominent Cebu socialite); 4 nephews (Antonio Jr. and Jacobo, Miguel and Felicia’s kids, Javier and Lucas, Tanya's younger brothers); 1 niece (Tanya, Jorge and Lynne’s daughter---see chapter 15); Family is based in Cebu and runs a shipping business

Inspiration behind Ana’s character:

Ana’s character was inspired by the impressed ramblings of D., a Pinoy physics scholar from Kyoto University. He attended a conference and one of the speakers was a Filipina physicist from the University of Texas. D was particularly impressed by how she handled herself in the panel presentation, according to him, pang-Ms.Universe ang mga sagot! He also told me about that not too many women are into his field, and that competition can get really tough at times.

Ana’s character is an intriguing blend of strength and vulnerability. As a typical Aries, she is used to getting her way. She’s tough yet compassionate—she hates being treated with kid gloves just because she’s a woman, but at the same time, she love babying the people around her. She can be amazingly single-minded at times too. For example, when she made her mind up to pursue the study of physics, she put all her energy behind it. She’s also a secret romantic, but this wars with her orderly, scientific mind so she does her best to keep it at bay. She can be outspoken about her research, but can also be shy and close-mouthed when it comes to things of a personal and romantic nature, of which she has hardly any experience.

Ana’s appearance is inspired by A., the daughter of a Pinoy musician to whom I am supposed to be (very) distantly related. Her curly locks and her pride in them is exactly the kind of image I was looking for. Ana isn't drop-dead gorgeous, she had a kind of comfortable, old-world beauty that one appreciates over time. Partly due to her single-minded devotion to her profession, Ana really wasn’t concerned with physical appearances. I try to develop that awareness throughout the book—the slow re-awakening of her womanhood (naks!).