In the studio bathroom, there was always a stack of magazines — Playboy among them.

I feel so proud to be a mom and a Playmate. What a dream come true!

Sometimes clients would not hire me. It was a very frustrating experience because I was not a conventional model.

It turns out my mom was right: The moment I set my mind on modeling as my profession there was no convincing me otherwise.

I’ve had a lot of exciting opportunities over the past few years, but being a Playmate is by far the highlight of my career thus far.

In middle school my classmates would stare at my leg when I passed them in the hallways. I’d wear baggy clothes—not only to hide my leg but to hide my whole body.

It wasn’t until I started modeling nude that I was forced to let go of what I saw as flaws and embrace my work with more confidence.

Being in the modeling industry has been hard, but it has turned out to be one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done.

For me, posing nude feels like a form of artistic expression. Here are the curves of my body, here’s how a body looks, and it’s normal.

There are 10,000 girls who are more beautiful than I am, who have all the things a magazine would be lucky to have.

If you struggle with self-love, posing nude can be a vulnerable experience, but at the same time it can be empowering.

I came to the United States as an exchange student when I was 19 years old. Until then, I had never been outside Japan.