NL 2

Makeup? Check. Outfit? Perfect. And yet, something very important seems to be missing.

Japanese fashion model Tsubasa Masuwaka is considered particularly petite, even by the standards of her nation and profession. While her official profile is mum on the subject of her body weight, some sources list the 30-year-old native of Saitama Prefecture as weighing just 37 kilograms (81 pounds).

Still, Masuwaka doesn’t look to be malnourished in her photo spreads and live appearances. For example, here she is during a recent shoot featuring items from fashion label Eatme.

But another photo taken that day makes us wonder if maybe her ultra-lightweight frame is the result of not having all the same parts as the rest of us. See if you can spot what we mean.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BCtV0asrfaU/

Sure, Masukawa’s hair and complexion both seem healthy, and her makeup and outfit are just right. But at the same time, it doesn’t look like she has any legs!

And no, Masukawa is not an amputee, so her photo prompted online reactions including

“Where…are…your legs?”
“Oh wow is that eerie.”
“Tsu-chan, I hope nothing bad happened, but please take care of your legs.”
“Where did your legs run off to??”

Masukawa herself was as surprised as anyone when her fans pointed out the oddity, and says the photo hasn’t been edited or doctored in any way. “People have been saying my skin is kind of pale these days,” she joked via Twitter, “so I wonder if my legs have just become transparent?”

Other theories we’ve come up with are that she’s a robot equipped with a hover system, a fashionable witch who uses a designer bag to fly instead of a broom, or a ghost (since Japanese spectral apparitions don’t have feet).

But while we can’t entirely rule out those possibilities, or perhaps some magical undead robot combination of all three, Japanese Twitter user @ruuchan3232 offers an explanation that’s more grounded in reality. The skirt Masukawa is wearing in the photo has an unusual cut with a hem that ruffles ever so slightly just past the knee. If the model has her hip pointed to the side, causing the fabric to bunch up against one side of her leg, from certain angles it can become difficult to see the silhouette of her lower limbs, especially if the part of the skirt they’re peeking out from is just out of frame.

▼ Assumed location of Masukawa’s legs marked in pink

As further evidence, Masukawa’s Twitter account is filled with photos that show off her bipedal assets.

https://twitter.com/tsubasamasuwaka/status/707502232355229696 https://twitter.com/tsubasamasuwaka/status/707484822684303360

Still, we’d probably recommend against Eatme using the photo that caused all the ruckus for the cover of its next catalogue.

Source: J Cast via Hachima Kiko
Top image: Instagram/tsubasamasuwaka1013 (edited by RocketNews24)