A Rising Star in the Philippines; Who is Fumiya Sankai?

Have you heard of him? His name is Fumiya and he is sensational in the Philippines. First time to hear the name? Let me tell you a bit about him.

A Japanese vlogger who captured the heart of the Filipinos is slowly rising to fame. He is 25 years old, born and raised in Shizuoka, Japan. He is the eldest among three siblings. He moved to Tokyo after high school and worked as bellboy in a hotel while pursuing his studies in Hotel Management. Upon observing the guests in his workplace, he realized that English is important for his business plans. He wanted to put up his own clothing line. And so after two years, he resigned from his job and moved to the Philippines to study English.

Along with English, he also realized that to sell his clothes faster, he had to be famous, hence, he started making youtube videos in 2015. At first, it was to update his parents about his life overseas. His own Youtube channel FumiShunBase gained Filipino audience when he started posting reaction videos to Filipino singers and celebrities. His covers to Filipino songs paved a way for him to be further noticed and gave him a million subscribers. Youtube awarded him the Goldplay button. His witty and fun contents, including his broken but adorable attempt to speak the Filipino language were noticed by tv networks that featured him on multiple occasions.

What catapulted him to fame was his stunt on the Filipino adaptation of the Big Brother’s House, a reality tv show in 2019. His bubbly character made the audience fall for his charms. He finished as the 5th big placer after the 9-month running show.

It is safe to say that 2019 was Fumiya’s year. He released many singles which topped music charts.

Soon after he left the Big Brother’s House, he then appeared on many local tv shows as well as minor roles in movies. He held his major concert in November 2019.

As he was busy in the entertainment industry, he also started his clothing business which he launched in his youtube channel. It was sold out on the first week. From then, he collaborated with some brands. Soon, he opened his first venture. a museum that exhibits his early life, as a vlogger and his life in the Philippines. The earnings from the museum were donated to charity. Due to the pandemic, it was temporarily closed in February 2020.

Upon the onset of the pandemic, Fumiya had to go back to Japan to be with his family and had been staying there due to the restrictions.

But despite his absence in the country, his popularity didn’t die down.

Fumiya is probably one of the most popular Japanese persons in the Philippines. He is loved for his genuine and fun personality. He didn’t need to act or pretend to be someone else. But he isn’t the first foreigner to be so. Sandara Park aka Dara of 2NE1, one of the prominent Kpop girl groups, was also popular in the Philippines before her rise to fame in S.Korea. She was also a product of a reality tv show. It is believed that her being a member of the group contributed to the popularity of Kpop in the Philippines.