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Seventeen Magazine (2003-2006)

    Seventeen Magazine (ST)  is a bi monthly magazine  (comes out on the 1 and 15 of each month) owned by Shueisha publishing company, that ranges in merchandise and books but is mostly known for the magazines it owns: Seventeen, PINKY, Non-No, More, Baila, Maquia, Cosmopolitan, Spur, and Lee.

    Seventeen is for teenagers ranging from the age of 15 to 17 or 18. They model school uniforms that are styled in a way  commonly found in Jr. High and High School fashions, for Japan as well as cute  Japanese named brand labels like Cecil McBee, Ji-Maxx, Snatch, SHAKE SHAKE, and Swordfish. Unlike American teen girls magazines, Seventeen is more or less strictly focused on fashion instead with a few articles on celebrities or pop culture.

     PINKY  is more or less Seventeen's graduation magazine and is very exclusive. Where as Seventeen currently sports 21 models, PINKY only has 9. Like Seventeen, PINKY focuses more on fashion and less on celebrities. It is directed mostly to girls from 18 to maybe 24 or 25---young women and model brands like Dior, Versace, and Gucci. Models don't necessarily have to graduate to PINKY, but most of then choose to work within Shueisha.

     The model next to Keiko in the picture on the left is Emi Suzuki, a former Seventeen and presently PINKY top model (at one point she modeled for both magazines). This was Keiko's first cover, and the fact that she appeared next to Emi for her first cover was really saying something about her growing popularity.

      As for relations to Seventeen Magazine in the U.S.? I'm not sure. Unlike Seventeen in the U.S., Seventeen Japan, focuses more on fashion and models are considered teen idols where as models in Seventeen America are more or less unknown faces, though, ST America does have competitions for wannabe models called Miss Seventeen. Like Miss Seventeen Japan, the winner gets to model for the magazine. Also, ST America does not have their own models on its cover as it does celebrities, whereas ST Japan has models and rarely celebrities (though the Olsen twins and a famous Korean pop star named BoA Kwon  did appear on the cover before).

Miss Seventeen 2003

      As far as I know, Miss Seventeen is a relatively new competition sponsored by Seventeen Magazine in Japan. It is held annually in which readers get to choose out of 20 finalists who they want to be see as a new model in the magazine. Seventeen adds models every now and then on their own but I suppose Miss Seventeen is a way to allow readers to get more involved with the magazine. It also has that fairy tale vibe of "dreams really DO come true" for aspiring models.

      The competition was first launched in 2002. That year  Myuu "Mew" Azama won the crown as Miss Seventeen 2002. The following year, Keiko competed and won the competition to win as Miss Seventeen 2003. Both girls won themselves exclusive modeling contracts with Seventeen Magazine. Anyone familiar with them  will know this isn't the last time these two would cross career paths. That same year, Keiko auditioned for and landed the role of Sailor Mars/ Rei Hino in Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (PGSM). Mew Azama also audition for a role and landed the spot for Sailor Jupiter/ Makoto Kino. The success of PGSM pushed both girls to the top (though Keiko was showing more success than Mew, lol ^_^) and photographers got into the habit of photographing them together; one issue of Seventeen even featured a Polaroid picture of the two of them together doing a transformation pose from PGSM! The competition began again, in 2004. The winner was Asaki Kazuha (who is now one of Keiko's closest friends); Keiko and Mew were both used to advertise for the event.

     Keiko graduated from Seventeen Magazine in the September15, 2006 issue, ending her contract with them after three years of modeling. Mew Azama moved on to model for Shueisha's Non-no magazine but Keiko has turned her attention completely to acting and graduating from college.

  ~*Miss Seventeen 2002 and 2003*~