Yuui Vision is becoming the change she wants to see

Do you see a way to include beauty in the community fridge?

I want to take the idea of what the community fridge can be even further and branch into giving people access to free makeup and skincare. I believe that beauty is a form of healthcare; it’s a tool that can help you get ready to face the day. 

People say makeup is a luxury, but while I know it’s not a necessity, it is something that really helps people. As we are all going through so much, a little bit of self-care and me-time is so important. 

I get judged for caring about appearances, but I think we need to see beyond the surface and understand how it’s really important to take 5 minutes with yourself and see that time in front of the mirror as a meditation, a pep-talk, a grounding moment, whatever you need to make it through the rest of your day.

Since we’re on the topic of beauty, can you tell me a bit about where your love of beauty started?

I grew up dancing and always wore an obscene amount of makeup while being immersed in that world, so I think my foundation came from simply too much makeup! Too much was expected; my teacher loved me with a ton of blue eyeshadow and excessive eyeliner every day. I really was a tomboy, though, and didn’t play around much with makeup outside of that. 

Still, my older sister was obsessed with European culture, so I was forced to watch a lot of beautiful movies and read Italian Vogue, which gave my eyes some excellent training. My mom dedicated a lot of time to museums growing up, which I feel is not typical of a traditional Japanese childhood. So when I look back, I did have an excellent ‘education.’

As a teenager, I think this Euro-centric influence kind of backlashed in a way, looking in the mirror started to make me not feel pleased about my looks. At the time, I thought I looked “too Asian” and felt really ugly, but I eventually started playing around a lot with makeup and learned a lot of tips and tricks from my older ballet friends. That gave me a way to play around with my looks and experimenting my way into a place where I felt comfortable. 

Although I never felt truly beautiful until I finally accepted myself and how I look – instead of trying to change myself.

Did being from a mixed background – Chinese and Japanese – have something to do with that?

I think so. I almost felt like I looked even more “Asian” than everyone else. I know it sounds crazy because we’re all Asian in Japan, but the beauty ideal at the time was an almost fetishized European-ness – all about how to make your eyes look bigger and not Asian. It was also so focused on being cute and Kawai, which was never really my thing; I’m all about looking cool. 

When I went to the US, I suddenly got so many compliments on my eyes that it started to change my mind, and I came to like the way I look. It’s unfortunate, but our perception of our own beauty is so heavily influenced by what other people think of us, especially at a young age, which is why I want to focus so much on that message to young people in Japan. I’m just making a suggestion, but I want to tell them: you do you. You don’t need to look like someone else.

Being a teenager in Europe in the nineties, I feel like we were so influenced by Japanese fashion and beauty, so it’s interesting to hear the story in reverse. I think we almost fetishized Tokyo street style, and I personally always thought there was such freedom of expression?

Even within those scenes in Tokyo, the cliques can be so strict. I think if I had come back at a younger age, I would probably have tried to fit in again too. I am old enough now to have had the experiences abroad that give me the foundation to trust myself and my urge to feel different.

I see it in the young kids here, though; they feel the need to be in a category, they’re afraid to be questioned and be asked why they look different, you know? It’s frustrating to me to walk around Shibuya; I can’t tell anyone apart. Of course, people follow trends worldwide, but in New York, for instance, it feels like people digest and interpret a vibe, as opposed to here, where they copy and paste a look. 

Japanese people feel more comfortable when they can ‘figure you out’: people ask me such intimate questions all the time because they can’t read who I am from the way I dress. They can’t categorize me, so they ask about all aspects of my personal life to not fear me. 

I think true beauty is unique to each person, so I never liked doing makeup tutorials. I want to speak to the person about what they want to do, learn about their fantasies, and find out how to highlight their uniqueness and express that fantasy. I don’t want to do makeup on someone just because everyone has agreed that this is what we all like right now.

There’s a lot of talk going on about gender and sexual expression in Japan at the moment, too, right? 

Yeah, I think Japanese politicians are being really dumb, discriminating against the LGBTQ+ community here. I felt like I could be myself in New York because of my community, who all take pride in being entirely unapologetically themselves. That is not something that is valued here as much.

I think it ties in with what I am trying to do with the community fridge, creating a place that celebrates individuality and can give people that courage. I found that in the fashion and beauty world in New York, so really, what I’m doing with mutual aid here is so close to my life experience being a makeup artist.