Ludy Sforza
Born in Tokyo Metropolis to an Italian father and Japanese mother. In 2012, he moved to Chichijima in the Ogasawara Islands, where he lived until 2024. He has been publishing the free magazine ORB, through which he transmits the culture and history of the islands from his own unique perspective, since 2016, while also doing translation work. Even now, after leaving the Ogasawara Islands, he continues to explore and share their art and culture, such as by planning exhibitions of works by the Czech artist Václav Fiala, who visited the islands in the early 1920s.

Ludy visited the Ogasawara Islands for the first time in his mid-twenties out of a vague desire to “leave the city and experience a different way of life.”

“The Ogasawara Islands take twenty-four hours to reach on a ship called the Ogasawara Maru. After spending the night on the ship, I woke up to the sight of a breathtakingly blue ocean, and green islands eventually came into view in the distance. The endless excitement of adventures in this beautiful natural environment had a huge impact on me, and it was an unforgettably powerful experience. That’s what made me decide to move with my wife.”

Ludy, who has an Italian father and Japanese mother, says he was also fascinated by the exotic atmosphere of the islands.

“Talking to the islanders, I felt a sense of closeness, like I could relate to them in some way. Since the Ogasawara Islands were once a territory of the United States, there are people with various ethnic backgrounds living there. This multiculturalism is another reason why I was drawn to the islands.”

While prefacing that he wants visitors to enjoy all sorts of activities, like swimming with dolphins and visiting beautiful uninhabited islands, Ludy recommends “not overscheduling too much.”

“The secret to really enjoying the Ogasawara Islands is setting aside lots of free time during your stay. Taking time to just sit idly on the beach or watch the sunset with the islanders, not thinking about anything, will inspire your imagination. I’m sure you’ll discover the unique appeal of the islands.”

Ludy explains, “My goal for the first three years after moving was to establish my livelihood. Then, my goal for the next three years was to find something I could do on the islands.”

He says he has always enjoyed creative work and wanted to pursue it on the islands. He kept on searching while asking himself what he wanted to do, until the long-awaited moment finally arrived.

“The owner of an establishment with whom I was friendly showed me a local newspaper from forty years ago and said, ‘By the way, I used to publish this.’ The moment I saw it, I thought, ‘This is it!’ I wanted to revive it in a new form, so I launched the free magazine ORB.”

That was back in 2016. Ludy has since put out eight issues, which are available in cafés and shops on the islands.

He says that the magazine’s title alludes to “seeing the essence of the Ogasawara Islands through the eyes of islanders,” since eyes are also a kind of orb. Accordingly, the magazine’s content is not just tourism information. The articles carefully report on the culture and history of the islands from a global perspective and describe them in depth. They are accompanied by English translations, which Ludy says is intended to convey that English is also a language of the islands, having been used on a daily basis by islanders descended from the initial settlers both before and after World War II.

However, Ludy had zero experience with editing at the start. He says he fumbled forward through repeated trial and error, taking his favorite free music magazine, DEAL, as a model.

But with digital magazines the mainstream nowadays, why publish one in printed form? Ludy gives the following answer.

“Of course, digital media is really convenient and meets the needs of the times. But I also feel like print media has its own advantages. For example, the free newspaper that the owner used to publish still existed in physical form forty years later, and because of that, I saw it and was inspired by it. Maybe one day, decades from now, ORB will also catch someone’s eye, and they’ll think, ‘Wow! There used to be a magazine like this!’ I’d like that to be the case.”

What interested me most about the islands was their culture.” says Ludy. When learning about culture, history always rears its head. In creating ORB, Ludy says he began to research the islands’ past—what they were like originally, and how they have changed over time.

“While doing so, I learned that a number of artists from overseas visited the Ogasawara Islands in the 1920s. There’s actually not a lot of information available about the terrain and landscapes of the islands during the period immediately prior to World War II, because any photos or paintings depicting them were seized by the Japanese military. But the islands back in those days are preserved in the work of the Czech painter Václav Fiala.”

Ludy organized two exhibitions of Fiala’s works on the islands, in 2021 and 2023.

“I was glad to get a good reaction from the islanders. A lot of people apparently didn’t know about Fiala and were surprised that the natural scenery one hundred years ago was the same as it is now.”

Although things like buildings and equipment appear to have changed over time, Ludy says that if you actually look closely, you can find traces of those days in everyday life.

“But they’re such faint traces that you’d miss them if you didn’t know. That’s why I’ve learned to always use my imagination when looking at things.”

Finally, Ludy shares his hopes for the future.

“Fiala actually isn’t the only talented artist to have painted the Ogasawara Islands. I’d like more people to know how much the islands have been loved by overseas artists. My dream is to widely organize exhibitions that convey the charms of the islands through the perspective of art.”

Ludy continues to transmit the deep fascination of the Ogasawara Islands within the islands, throughout the rest of Japan, and to the world. Seen through his eyes, the islands sparkle as precious places home to rich natural environments and culture as well as a unique history.

The Selected Multiracial Short Stories of Jack London
This book compiles eight short stories dealing with the deep psychology of multiracial issues. “Bonin Islands” records London’s 1893 visit to Chichijima Island as a sailor on a sealing ship. “Since London wrote it based on his own experience, it gives you an image of what the Ogasawara Islands used to be like.”

Photographic Album of the Ogasawara Islands: From Discovery to the Prewar Period (edited by Yoji Kurata)
This collection of black-and-white photographs serves as a record of the Ogasawara Islands from their discovery to the outbreak of war. It contains a number of historically valuable photographs that vividly depict the daily lives of islanders back in the day. “This book is hard to find at normal bookstores, but you can buy it in the shop on board the Ogasawara Maru. It’s good to read as advance research on the ship.”

Born in Surf (directed by Matthew Clem and Nami Miyagawa)
This documentary introduces the culture of the islands and the history of surfing through the experiences and perspectives of seven local surfers from different generations. “All of the people featured in the movie are unique characters and have been living on the islands for a long time, which makes being able to hear their perspectives really valuable. The beautiful scenery of beaches and the glittering ‘Bonin Blue’ ocean is another highlight.”

*This article was written in October 2025.