This is Chichijima, Ogasawara Village, Tokyo. However, it does not have the mood of urban individualism that only Tokyo can generate. If Tokyo's image color is a grayish blue like the color of buildings, the color of Ogasawara is a clear, cloudless blue that allows you to see all through to the depth of the ocean. It is surrounded by coral reefs and tropical forests that have developed their own unique ecosystem. Thus, it is an undiscovered region. This is because the Ogasawara Islands were first inhabited only 200 years ago, in the 1800s.

Several people leave the Ogasawara Islands every year. But some of them move to the Islands to live in this pristine natural environment. Yuka Kojima is one of them. 

It takes 24 hours by ship to get to the Ogasawara Islands from Tokyo. In the past, there was a plan to open an airplane route to Chichijima, but the crescent-shaped island could not accommodate a sufficiently long runway, so the plan had to be abandoned. 

On the Ogasawara Maru Ship, Kojima Yuka read the pamphlet she had picked up and thought about her new life. After graduating from high school, she entered a vocational school and worked as a beauty advisor for two years, but she was not satisfied with her life. Something must be different. She thinks that she should improve her career and shine more. 「I just haven't found the job God has destined for me yet!」 It's only one day until she arrives in Ogasawara.

It's been one day since she arrived in Ogasawara. Yuka Kojima stepped off the ship with a pure white pale complexion created by coating her skin with multiple layers, modeled on Korean idols. Her outfit was an Instagram-worthy sleeveless dress that she had just bought a week earlier on July 23. The first thing that greeted Yuka was the warm, comfortable humidity and the welcoming of the islanders.

"Welcome to the island, Yuka! It's nice to meet you today!"

Yuka Kojima was greeted by the owner of the guest house where she would be living and working. Perhaps the most surprising thing for Yuka at the island was how tanned the islanders were. The owner and all the other islanders who greeted her were completely black! And they all wore simple clothes; T-shirts, shorts, and sandals called gyosan. 

Is this place really Japan?

One month after arriving in Ogasawara, Yuka is finally getting used to island life. Yuka's job is to take tourists on a boat to snorkeling spots in the ocean. Most of the tourists who come to Ogasawara are families and men who are familiar with Ogasawara, but sometimes there are women in their 20'. As I talked with the female tourists, I wondered if their personalities change when they come to Ogasawara.

When I told her that even if she wore sunscreen in the ocean, she would turn black in Ogasawara, she said, 

"Don't worry, I hope I can be as black as you while I'm here.”

But in a cosmetic corner in a high Tokyo building, I'm sure Japanese females say it for a beauty advisor.

 "You said this sunscreen never makes my face be black.”

And they will criticize an advisor because they are all so focused on creating themselves. They don't realize that each word they say robs others of their vitality. Nevertheless, there is nothing more frustrating than creating themselves. 

Through the month, Yuka's makeup became lighter and lighter, and her skin gradually turned browner and browner.

It had been a year since she arrived in Ogasawara. Yuka is now YUKA. She's an Ogasawara Islands YouTuber. She posts about making bubble rings in the ocean, swimming with dolphins, and the snorkeling skills she's perfected over the last year. She also introduces the snails and pigeons that are indigenous to the Ogasawara Islands. 

She thought she had come to Ogasawara to find her new identity she should have. But I threw away everything I had accumulated so far in Ogasawara. There is no "something" but just "me. My former white life is now colored with brown sunshine, red coral, blue dolphins, green banyans, orange sea pants, and pink boats.