Kamen Joshi's Kamiya Erina from idol to popular YouTuber

Kamen Joshi’s Kamiya Erina has been one of most interesting people to watch on YouTube.

Granted she has found her niche on how to attract viewers, but she has come a long way and has become one of the more popular YouTube Japan stars, and while many are used to seeing the smiling face of Kamiya on YouTube, life was not easy for Kamiya.

From going through school diagnosed with strabismus (misalignment of the eyes/crossed eye), she would accomplish her dream of becoming an idol but had to deal with the hardships due to it. In an article featured on Yahoo! Japan, Kamiya talked about her struggles that many people were not aware of.

Kamiya’s strabismus was extreme to the point when she went to sleep, the eyeball would not return to its original place. That when she would go to handshake meetings, she intentionally had to hide her left eye with her bangs and when she would take photos with fans, she intentionally squinted.

Her doctor warned that if she was in front of strong lights in a dark setting, she may not be able to continue idol activities. She was so shaken that she would stay in the bathroom crying at a live venue.

Kamiya would experience symptoms of double vision and often feel lightheaded and have headaches to the point that she didn’t know where she was standing on stage and would bump into members during dance routines.

In 2015, Kamiya would undergo surgery to correct the strabismus but there was risks involved. Primarily that the strabismus could return.

But Kamiya wanted to be an idol, so she went through surgery but unfortunately a year later, in 2016, the strabismus came back. That a second operation would be performed, one that is more complex than the last. She was told that surgery can only be performed for a limited time on her eye and that the possibility of a relapse was possible.

But her fans gave their support on social media, to keep fighting and to not give up. And she had the second surgery and so far, so good.

In October 2017, Kamiya would create her own YouTube channel and the first video surpassed over 250,000 views but it was her second video that would go viral and would receive over 18 million views.

It was her impression of Akira 100%, a Japanese comedian who would be nude on stage, but would cover his nether region with objects, so no one can see anything.