WHAT could prepare someone for a career as the only Japanese on the competitive and cruel American stand-up comedy circuit? Tamayo believes her three-year stint as a stripper in Los Angeles put her in pretty good stead.
''You really become brave. It was very easy for me to become a stand-up comedian right after being a stripper,'' said 33-year-old Tamayo, who is in Hong Kong for a series of performances at Judgement AD as part of the club's Japan Pop Culture Week.
Tamayo is a vivacious story teller on and off the stage. Her banter is littered with expletives, but the effect is more cute than crass.
She has had an interesting time researching material for her Hong Kong debut tonight and follow-up show tomorrow (the show starts at 11pm). Tamayo's seen animals slaughtered in the street, wrestled with our not-so-charming taxi drivers and had some interesting experiences with shop assistants.
''I was devastated to see a chicken's head cut off and then I saw a young lady buying live frogs and putting them in a bag. Those two things made me think Chinese are big animals, barbarians,'' she said.
''Chinese people are so much more conservative than I thought. First I thought they were very cold people when I went shopping - no one came up to me, to say, 'Can I help you?' I thought, do I look that poor? ''Then I realised I was comparing them with Los Angeles people in the Beverley Centre who work for commission. Yesterday I was trying to catch a cab for one hour on the yellow line, then nobody could find my hotel. I was wearing a pair of their slippers and kept showing them to the drivers - even two young policemen.'' Tamayo arrived in America 12 years ago. She left Japan, she says, to escape Japanese businessmen (''Pretty stupid, huh? They were already there''), and her strict, traditional upbringing.
