Fumiya Sankai (三海郁弥, Sankai Fumiya, born March 19, 1995) is a Japanese vlogger, actor, recording artist and influencer in the Philippines. He has been active in his YouTube Channel, FumiShun Base, since 2015. His fame grew when he became the first pure Japanese official housemate in Pinoy Big Brother: Otso, a reality TV show for Filipinos. The "Konnichi-Wonder Vlogger ng Japan", as he is called, Fumiya finished the 9-month running show as the 5th big placer.[2][3]
In September 2024, Fumiya launched a joint TikTok page with his girlfriend, Kate Valdez, called Onigiri Lovers.[4] The couple also posts vlogs on YouTube, under the same name.
Personal life
1995 – 2017: Early life and career beginnings
Fumiya was born on March 19, 1995, in HamamatsuShizuoka Japan. He was raised alongside his three siblings: two brothers named Yuya and Shunya,[5] and one sister named Asami. He is the eldest in their family.
After his high school graduation, Fumiya started living alone in Tokyo while pursuing his degree in Hotel Management.
He joined the hospitality workforce after his graduation from school and worked in a hotel in Ginza as a bell boy. He resigned from his hotel job after two years and decided to pursue his dream of establishing his own clothing line.
He thought that being famous would make his clothes sell faster and one way would be to become famous as a vlogger. He then started making YouTube videos.
2017 – March 2020: Life in the Philippines
Having observed their hotel guests, he realized that being able to speak English is important for his business plans. On the 28th day of April 2017, he flew to the Philippines to study English.[6]
He learnt of the PBB audition from his Filipino followers. He attended and documented his audition for his vlog content and he was able to pass all the screenings and became an official PBB OTSO housemate.[6]
After PBB, he stayed in the Philippines to pursue a career in show business.
April 2020–present: Life in the time of the COVID-19 Pandemic
On March 20, 2020, a few days after Metro Manila, Philippines was placed under Enhanced Community Quarantine to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, Fumiya travelled back to Japan. Since several cities in Japan were also placed under a State of Emergency[7] and it was also strongly advised for their citizens to stay at home, Fumiya spent majority of his time at his family home in Hamamatsu City Shizuoka.
As of 2024, Fumiya is dating Filipino actress Kate Valdez. The pair have described their relationship as "semi-long-distance," with Fumiya mostly living in Japan but visiting the Philippines once a month.[8]
Career
YouTube
Fumiya established his YouTube channel, FumiShun Base, with his younger brother, Shunya, on December 2, 2015, but they did not post their first video until September 6, 2016.
While studying in the Philippines, he continued to upload videos in his YouTube channel as a means to update his parents of his whereabouts.
He started uploading YouTube contents for Filipinos on May 31, 2017. His first video was a reaction video of Sarah Geronimo's Kilometro. From then on, he started gaining Filipino subscribers.
In April 2018, his channel hit 100K subscribers awarding him with the YouTube Silver play button.[9] On March 7, 2019, he hit the one million subscribers mark, awarding him with a gold play button.[10][11]
Other notable vlogs are his auditions to PBB Otso in Araneta Cubao and Cebu.
When the channel started, Japanese was the primary language used in his videos. English subtitles were added since most of his subscribers were Filipinos. After his stint in PBB, he shifted to a mixture of English and Tagalog. Subtitles were no longer added.
This posed a problem for his growing fanbase. With the growing demand from Japanese subscribers, he established the Hiragana FumiShun Base (ふみしゅんべーす) YouTube Channel on April 13, 2020. This channel uses pure Japanese.
The main concept of the main FumiShun Base Channel's content is his exploration of the Filipino culture. When he started being active as an actor, his content shifted to his daily life as a celebrity. The dynamics of the channel shifted and the original flavor was lost. To better categorize his content, he established Fumi (later on renamed Fumi Vlogs / ふみ) on May 17, 2020.[14] On May 25, a week after the launch, the channel has reached 10,000 subscribers.
This channel features a more personal content, leaving his main channel to focus on his exploration to the Filipino culture.
His FumiShun Base channel went back to its original content and the change was felt in the faster rise of subscribers. On June 15, 2020, he hit the 2 million subscribers mark. This was momentous for Fumiya for it is the first time that he was able to celebrate a million subscriber milestone since he was inside the PBB house in his first million.[15]
On May 31, 2024, Sankai, as content creator uploaded a 42-minute "My Last Vlog," announcing his YouTube channel "FumiShun Base" closure to focus on himself as musician instead. His debut single, "BENG," was released on June 12.[16]
Business
Fumiya's dream was to establish his very own clothing line. Most of his business ventures are aligned to this dream.
Fumiya opened the official shop for his YouTube channel on June 22, 2019.[17] The shop features his original designs from when he started his channel. Items were sold out on the first week.
He also did a collaboration with Livertineage Japan. His designs were released for pre-orders on February 7, 2020.[18]
Fumiya opened FumiShun Base Hamamatsu, his first business venture, on February 16, 2020.[19] The establishment is a museum which exhibits Fumiya's memoirs from his childhood, life as a vlogger, and his life in the Philippines. FumiShun Base merchandise are also being sold.
The earnings of his museum will be used for charity.[20]
On February 29, 2020, in adherence to government policies for the prevention of the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, the museum was temporarily closed until further notice.[21][22][23][24]
Entertainment industry
Philippines
Fumiya was already known as a creator, but his fame rose when he became an official housemate of PBB Otso. He has since been added as a regular cast in a sitcom, Home Sweetie Home: Extra Sweet,[25] and a prime time romantic comedy TV Series, Make It with You.[26]
On May 31, 2024, after releasing his last vlog on his Youtube Channel, he finally reintroduced himself as FuMi, which means "For u, Making impact". His debut single, "BENG", was released on June 12.[30]
As he ventures into a new career part as a musician, he already had several guestings to promote his single, which is released under M.S.L. Music.
Japan
Simultaneous to his activities in the Philippines, he has also started being active with his public relations in Japan.
To establish the city's public relations internationally, he was commissioned as the first Yaramaika Ambassador of Hamamatsu City on June 24, 2020.[31]
He has been featured in several newspapers and has appeared in several TV shows in Japan:
Date
TV Show
Network
June 24, 2020
Tadaima TV
TV Shizuoka
February 17, 2020
Tadaima TV
TV Shizuoka
February 6, 2020
Ohayou Nippon
NHK Japan
January 29, 2020
Ohayou Shizuoka
NHK Shizuoka
He has also released several singles under Universal Music Japan. Sige Sige Bahala Na peaked at No. 4 in iTunes Philippines (#1 under the JPop category) and No. 97 in iTunes Singapore when it was released (digital platforms) on August 28, 2019.
Health
Fumiya had an operation in 2015 for a collapsed lung. On December 4, 2019, while he was in Japan, he experienced the same symptoms prompting him to visit a doctor the next day. He was diagnosed again with a collapsed lung. His right lung was smaller due to the air pressure caused by several holes on his lung.[32]
On December 11, 2019, he underwent a surgery to remove the part of his lung with the said holes. The surgery was successful and he stayed in Japan to recover.[33][34] He returned to the Philippines after 2 and half months of recovery.
