Mariana Roe.


MAXIM - At the age of 19, Mariana Roe owns the minds of seven million of her YouTube subscribers. She briefly climbed into the real world to take pictures for us, and then flew off to the islands and from there told us about her amazing past and not less surprising present.

Interview: Alexander Malenkov
Photo: Roma Petrovski
Style: Catherine Troshko


I was told that you are on an island where there is no Internet. Can you live without the Internet?

Actually, yes. I'm not a fan of surfing the Internet, as it may seem, to update the Instagram tape every second or look at posts about how smart and cool people are ... When I fly away somewhere, I just relax, invent some ideas, thinking about my life, what and how next ... I can read a book in the end.

And which book has made an impression on you lately?

"The Covenants of Youth". She shocked me. I spent a whole week very badly. The book is about how the girl waited for her boyfriend from the war, but she didn’t wait, and then all that was left of the boy arrived, and it was really creepy.

About thinking about life. What routes, what crossroads?

I would like to come to grips with music. I recently released a new song and a new video. This, of course, banter. In general, this year I plan to release a whole album. There will be more lyrics than in my usual repertoire - hee hee da haha.

Tell your story. How did you manage to grow up in Japan?

I am from Sakhalin, from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. In the nineties, my dad worked in parts and cars, and our family moved to Japan when I was six months old. All my preschool childhood was spent in Japan. My parents decided that I should go to school in Russia, so from the first to the fourth grade I went to a regular Russian school. I didn’t like it, I often skipped it, in the end my dad decided: ok, move here and go to a Japanese school. And I went. We live on the island of Hokkaido, in the port city of Otaru, it is small, I was one foreigner in class. At first it was very difficult, I knew only “hello - bye” in Japanese, but after a month I spoke, I made friends ... In general, I grew up in Japan, this is my home.

Do you know how to write in Russian?

I write not without difficulty and only in block letters. Reading Russian handwriting is also difficult for me.


How do you feel in Japan and how in Russia?

In Russia, a little is not my atmosphere. People are embittered for themselves and their lives. In Japan, I feel much lighter, but it’s still a foreigner for them. In Europe or in America, you can still pass for your own, knowing the language, and here because of my appearance I am always a stranger.

How are the Japanese different from the Russians?

The Japanese are very closed. You can communicate politely for a long time, but in order for a person to become your friend, I do not know how many years must pass. They express emotions very vividly, but at the same time some kind of unemotional ones, I don’t even know how to explain it. When they are sad, they keep it to themselves. Joy is also not particularly demonstrate. But wonder they love. For example, if you try some kind of food, you are immediately surprised, shouting “Oh my God, how delicious it is!” And almost hit the floor.

What is their sense of humor?

Russians love black humor. And if you make a joke with a Japanese man, for example, about a disabled person, he will tell you: “Dude, why are you doing this?”


What does an ordinary Japanese person dream of?

Oh, I do not know ... I have many acquaintances who, it seems to me, do not dream of anything at all. If you ask any girl what she dreams of, you will easily hear in response: “I don’t dream of anything, I just live and wait for it to end.” Mostly they are pretty depressed guys.

Tell me about your Japanese friends. Who are they, what are they doing ...

For example, my best friend. Her name is Ike, we immediately became friends when I joined their class. In the seventh grade, we dreamed of going to Tokyo together, finding some guys and living next door for the rest of our lives. But she still lives in Otaru and now works in a store. On Fridays and Saturdays, she rests with friends, drinks, and then goes back to work. I also have a couple of friends who, from school, strongly wanted to move to Okinawa - this is something like Japanese Hawaii. They loved the whole subject: the sea, surfing, the beach, white hair - and really moved there. And I am very happy for them.

Personal life What place does the mind and heart of the Japanese?

Not very big. In Japan, it is very often possible to meet a man in his fifties who will happily say: "I live alone, I have never had a girlfriend, I have not even dreamed of this." I think family is not very important for them.


Mariana, did you have a Japanese boy at school?

I do not even know, fortunately or unfortunately, but no, it was not. I liked someone, I liked someone, but to meet - this was not. I had such a strange experience: we communicated on the Internet with a boy from school, but every time we saw each other at school, we pretended to be unfamiliar. It was pretty dumb.

You did not even kiss the Japanese?

Oh, no ... Yes, they are some strange, to be honest. It is clear that it is impossible to generalize, but in most cases they are used to the fact that the woman is dominant in their relationship. They are ... mattresses.

Tell us how your conquest of the Internet began.

At the age of nine I already had a website where I sold Japanese goods and earned it.

Wait like this? How can a child at nine have his own website and an idea to sell something ?!

I do not know ... Probably, this is due to the fact that my dad is a businessman. I also wanted to do something like this. When I was nine years old, I figured that once I live in Japan, it makes sense to sell Japanese goods: they are always appreciated. I found a website on the Internet where you could make other websites using templates and created your own. I turned to my mother, saying that tell your friends that you can now order goods like this. Everything began to turn, and in the end I earned my first hundred thousand in nine years.


You wunderkind! This does not happen!

For me it was also a shock. About a year doing this, and then decided that I zadolbalas. But when Dad gave me my first iPhone, someone advised me to download the Vine application. I tried to shoot something there, and I had an audience. People started writing to me: you are so charismatic, post some video on YouTube. I learned how to mount and shot my first video. People began to look, comment ... Since then, I have not stopped, and now I have 6,800,000 subscribers.

What is your video blog about?

Yes, nothing. What I see, then shoot.

And when did you become a star?

I never thought to myself: "I am a star." I am an ordinary person. Well, yes, all this movement began quite quickly with popularity, it was pleasant, I was surprised. Then it became frightening. They began to recognize me when I came to Russia to visit my relatives, and I simply could not leave the house. Fifteen or twenty people were guarding me at the entrance, it strained. Probably because I have already lived in Japan and love more when people do not notice me.

Are your audience mostly teenagers?

No, not only. There are, of course, those who are thirteen or fourteen, but there are also those who grew up with me, who are now twenty or twenty with something.

Are you still upset when you read hater comments?

In the beginning, when I was fourteen years old, I sobbed into a pillow because of this. For what? Why do people think I'm so bad? They wrote: "You are a whore, a prostitute." It's fourteen years old! It was so funny and insulting! And now, it happens that you read a malicious comment and say to yourself: well, okay, how many people, so many opinions.


You earn a lot, especially for your age. What does money mean to you?

Of course, I understand that today I earn, and tomorrow I can run aground. Therefore, I postpone, I have an account. This is very funny, because most Russian teenagers have a feeling that millions are something to spend.

Your most stupid expensive purchase?

This bracelet, which cost three million rubles. I don’t really need him now, and I don’t know what to do with him. I even deleted a clip for a song dedicated to this bracelet. And it is very stupid.

You have a boyfriend? And isn’t it a rapper?

Yes exactly. In general, I am Monogamous. If I meet a man, then a long time. My first relationship lasted more than three years. And in my current relationship, we have more than a year.

What is romance for you?

I do not even know. Romance - just sit in the arms, watch some cartoon. Something to drink and eat ...


Just like us! Tell me, why do you shoot in a paper magazine?

I knew that there was such a magazine - MAXIM. The guys from the Yoola media network, who help me with development, came up with such a project, and it was very interesting for me to play on the cover and see what happens. I always liked this genre of photography - the naked female body. (Maxim Russia)

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