Hi Everyone,

Many brush companies raised brush prices, and now it is Tanseido, They will raise the prices from October. Please let me know if you are interested in any Tanseido brushes before the prices are raised.

What is your favorite Japanese food?

We, Japanese, like sushi, sukiyaki, shabu shabu, etc but if it comes to daily lunch or dinner, curry rice can win a medal.

Ichiro, maybe the best Japanese baseball player, once told he ate curry every day, even in the morning. Curry, he said, increases a power of concentration. After this ‘rumor’ spread, many parents bought curry for their kids, LOL.

Regardless, Japanese like curry. Even my parents did. They once talked about Nakamuraya curry in Shinjuku. I did not pay much attention at that time as I was a boy. The other day, when I took a long bath, this story suddenly came back to me. I only remember the name of Nakamuraya so next day I checked their web page, and found an interesting story.

Namuraya began to make bread in 1901. And the first curry was made in 1926. It was created by an Indian named Rash Behari Bose. Mr. Bose came to Japan in 1915. He was working for the Indian Independence in India and was chased by Britain. At that time, Japan and Britain had a treaty so Mr. Bose hid himself in Japan and Nakamura helped him escape.

On the run, he got married to a Japanese woman Toshiko. They had one son and daughter. When the World War I ended, he became free and lived in the house of Nakamuraya and suggested that traditional Indian curry be made.

There was curry in Japan before he created it for Nakamuraya, but he was not happy with the taste and he made it taste like Indian curry. Nakamuraya curry was original to India, well maybe some changes might have been made to the curry since then, but they still call it ‘Indian curry.’ It is a household name in Japan and still sells many curry products very well. Nakamuraya curry is one reason why we love curry)

It was not really a happy story, though.

His wife, Toshiko, died at the age of 26 due to the illness from the pressure on the run. Mr. Bose continued to work for the Indian Independence till he died from illness in 1945. His son also died in 1945. He fought as a Japanese soldier and died in the battle of Okinawa.

History, especially not taught at a school text book, is interesting, isn’t it?

Thank you for reading !

Toshiya

Maybe you have heard about it.  

Japan has entered a new era called Reiwa 令和 with the new Emperor from May 1.

The eras are 
Meiji – Taisho – Showa – Heisei – Reiwa after the Samurai (Edo) period was over in 1867.

We had Showa for 63 years and Heisei for 31 years.
Japan had the war in Showa and big earthquake/tsunami in Heisei. So we wish Reiwa to be an era of peace. 

Reiwa’s wa is 和. Peace is 平和. This 和（wa) means ‘harmony’

There is a bit of difficulty, though. 

If I am told that someone was born in the 50th year of Showa, I need to add the years of Showa, Heisei  and Reiwa. It is not simple even for Japanese. So we usually convert the year from Showa 50th to 1975, e.g.

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I was chatting with Kyureido today. 

I was informed that 
there would be no more logo of 極 and fine kalla. (Please see the picture)

I asked them the reason, they say Japanese consumers like a handle with no logo brush. Well, I told them that many of my clients liked Kanji 極, but the decision seemed to be made….

 Brush companies should be attentive to foreign clients, And I think it important for me to tell them what you like ))

I saw a question of what kind of hair a particular brush had. It was about Takeda. 

Some companies make it clear  by naming their brushes after brushes’ hair.

Chikuhodo Z series are made with grey squirrel. T series are with goat saikoho.  Hakuhodo says G series are mainly made with grey squirrel and goat though they call them ‘blue’ squirrel.’

Hakuhodo naming is simple. It is easy except that many G series have no number on handles.  I  sometimes spend time on figuring out brushes’ numbers before sending them out. A shop says people touch and try at counter so they don’t care about numbers. Not good for me…

Takeda naming always puzzles me. So I asked a shop how they name it. They didn’t know… but promised to get back to me. 

They inserted a memo into a package sent to me::

For example,
16RSEPSQU(W) in the picture above.

16  is the length of a ferrule 16cm.
RS is a round style.
EP is European dressed Pine squirrel. (European dressed makes hair more straight while Nippon (Japan )dressed is not :NP)

SQU is a squirrel and W is white top.

Others  are:
WF is Tsubaki 椿 seires 
OV is oval
SOV is super oval. 
D is dense
EXS is extra saikoho 

If these make sense to you, great. I did not pay much attention so I preferred simple naming like Chikuhodo and Hakuhodo. 

On the contrary, Koyomo makes its product lines small. I guess they sell very few but expensive products in a similar strategy  to MAC (computer ) . Chikuhodo may be the same, but they make many limited brushes. 

I know many of you are more knowledgeable than I, 
but please let me know if you have a question if any, whether it is related to brushes or makeup. 
It will be good for me to know more!

Trains are crowded in April, when a new fiscal year starts.

Companies give training to new employees in Tokyo before they send them to local cities, so trains and subway are more crowded than usual.  Crowded trains make me think the Japanese school system)

In Japan, kids are taught to study, and go to good schools and work for big companies  (I am generalizing this for this discussion. There are many different ideas)

So good life for kids to be ‘happy’ is  to study hard, go to good high schools and enter prestigious universities. Then work for big companies. Prestigious universities include Tokyo, Kyoto, Keio, Waseda etc. Big companies are Mitsubishi, Mitsui, Toyota, etc. 

This is still what many parents believe in. Kids may be different. 

What do I think of this idea ?

I don’t like it at all, LOL. There are many ways to be ‘happy. ‘ They can work for a favorite thing. They can create own companies. They can pursue own interests. Maybe they can be major league baseball players to earn more than $400 million))

Besides, you can challenge things in Japan. Even if you failed, you could survive and ‘live’ in Japan. (Japan is a safe country relatively, as you may know and the welfare system also assures ‘life ‘) 
So you can challenge and pursue a different life with a reasonable insurance.

Having said that,  I think  you can take advantage of the Japanese school system. 

It is an insurance. 

I know some Tokyo University grads. They say if people study for three years very hard,  they can enter Tokyo University. I believe it is true. If you have a Tokyo Uni diploma, you can use it as an insurance to get a job and wait till you find your ‘dream’ job.  Or you can have a reasonable job that may not be a perfect job, but assures a reasonable life. 

Three years might be long for a16-year old kid who wants to have social life, but still  be good investment that will pay off.   You get a long term insurance.

It is difficult. (  I was not able to do that ! No patience for three years.)  That is what companies value when recruiting students. Patience and  persistence.

I mean :
there are many intelligent students who,  if they study,  are very difficult to beat. But they might not study and do something else. So other students who may be ‘average or less’ have chances.  Even I had a chance  as an ‘average’ student but with no patience! 

Speaking of Ichiro, a baseball player who retired this year at the age of 45. He practiced baseball for 364 days a year as an elementary school student. Only one day rest ))  It is far more difficult to be a great baseball player than to study for three years.

Again, I was not able to do so. My high school years were not productive and not challenging. So I have a respect for students who continued one thing for three years.

Whether they managed to take an advance of the system or not, they are now commuting on the subway.  Crowded subway.  With me)  It is a spring and I usually revisit this thought) 

Last week, I went to Isetan that had a makeup event most of makeup companies participated in. They performed makeup shows and sold items only for this event.

I had a chance to talk to the SUQQU makeup artist who is always on instagram, though I had a more interesting ‘event.’

Abruptly, I was called by a shop employee I had known and asked  if I speak English. And how she could improve her English.  Of course, there are many ways to study English, but I told her  I was into watching the same movie again and again, and remembering conversations.  I also told her she could meet many foreign shoppers at Isetan. 

She now has a friend from Ireland, and is getting interested in foreign countries. 

That is good) 

Well, in Japan, I have this impression that women are more interested in foreign cultures and languages than men. Generally, women speak English better than men, too.

And she said she was interested in meeting foreign men. and asked me to introduce if I knew anyone.   She was very straightforward , and surprised me. I like it!

In Japan, there is a word of ‘Konkatsu,’ which means the activity to get married. And this ‘konkatsu’ market is getting big, as more and more people don’t get married or get married late.

And Konkatsu gets difficult because people have very specific or sometimes too many desires. It is said that women want to marry a man who is nice looking (Ikemen), tall and earning well.   e.g. $ 70,000 annual salary.  Average salary in Tokyo is $60,000  and $40,000 on an all-Japan basis.  So maybe the first step would be to move to Tokyo)  Moreover,  $70,000 in their early thirties is only earned in big companies e.g. trading firms and banks.  Maybe less than 10%,

So what do they do ?

There are many marriage consultants, who introduce single people.  

Omiai (formal introduction) used to be a typical way of meeting for a marriage but not these days. In Omiai, there are matchmakers who want to take care of single people in each community or village. And they talk and arrange a meeting between people who don’t know. Actually my parents met through an Omiai. My mother told me that  a 70years old lady arranged a meeting for her.

Many Omiai marriages a few decades ago.

Now Konkatsu instead of Omiai.

About the shop lady. 
I have a friend from Taiwan and he is interested) 
Will see how it goes.

Thank you for reading) 

Toshiya

In Japan, most school have uniforms, As a matter of fact, uniforms are important to students, and some students consider how attractive uniforms are when they select a school to go to. 

Personally, I was not interested in school uniform, and I wore a typical black uniform with a stand-up collar for six years. Actually, the high school I went to did not have any school uniform. However, It was a boys’ school, and they did not care much and most of students wore black ones. 

Years later, I read an essay Haruki Murakami, a novelist,  wrote. I don’t remember it exactly but it was like this :

‘My (Murakami’s) high school had a vote whether students should wear uniform or can wear anything we like.  The result was that we should wear uniform. I was disappointed at the result as we did not choose ‘freedom.’ We did throw away the right of having freedom.’

I am not sure if this is an issue of ‘freedom’ but rather Japanese don’t want to stand out from colleagues. Maybe most people feel comfortable when they belong to a community where they feel ‘same.’

At the same time, freedom is not something that is given free, history proves.

Well, when I see students wearing school uniforms, I recall that essay that Murakami wrote, and I think of ‘freedom’ or ‘culture.’ 

Thank you for reading again,
Toshiya

As I am not big, there are many things I try to improve. It is not as sophisticated as other companies. Sorry ! Though it is not complete, here is how the process works.

How do I get orders?
I am not good at building my web page, lol. I have my site.
https://fudejapan.com/
I try to make it easier for you, but I know it is not there, so my web site doesn’t take many orders. Actually, I also have a shop there.
https://fudejapan.com/shop/
My friend helps this shop so it is good)

Others include:
email ( I take orders most by email )
instagram direct message ( this works, but I usually ask a client to give me an email address as I can send an invoice quickly ) 
Messenger:  LINE, Viber or Telegram if preferred. I haven’t used these as I might miss a message. I try to be better and attentive!

Then I ask money to be sent : usually paypal or credit card.   I know paypal exchange rates are not good, but I cannot find a better way yet. For a big amount, bank transfer is better, but you need to go to a bank and it takes time…  I have one client from Hong Kong to use  ‘Transferwise.’
https://transferwise.com/ Transferwise’ Remittance is less expensive than bank transfer and quick/easy. The exchange rates are the same as banks. But it seems to be working only in a certain countries.  

On receiving money, I purchase goods :

I work in Shibuya, which has Tokyu, Hikarie, Seibu, so I walk to stores to buy them. It is a good exercise, lol.  I know most of you enjoy shopping,  but not me.  My shopping is quick and simple: just ‘buy,’ The thing is that female customers try makeup, and shop sales people help them so if they are occupied, I wait. Some shops are good and very attentive, but some make me wait forever! So personal relation is very important. Those sales people I know well find me and move quickly, thank you!

For orders of Kumano brushes,  I email them orders and they send me a box. It is a weekly process. 

It is a bit tricky to buy limited products. They limit one or two products per person, SUQQU is notorious for the limitation per person (LOL) so I call different shops from Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, sometimes very small cities. e.g. Okayama 

Sweets : I buy at supermarket. Unless limited products, there is one good shop in my neighbor) 

Then I ship:

I usually use  ‘EMS’ (Express Mail Service ) It is insured up to 20,000 yen for free, . Very quick and reliable. 

My experiences tell me it takes only
three days to four days to Asia
four or five days to North America

It should be quick to Europe, but EU customs are strict and take time so I don’t know exactly how long it takes.. 

The other one is registered mail, which takes a few days more than EMS, but I see European clients prefer this method to EMS. 

I know there are many areas I need to work on, especially for clients. I am really thankful for your patience!
Please feel free to ask me questions. I promise I will write more in details later.

Thank you for reading this again)

Toshiya

Hi Everyone, 

This year Tsuyu ( rainy season ) is really rainy ! Now at mid-July, it rains almost daily. Most weekends we have had rain since June,  and an umbrella is always in a bag. Usually July is a month when we suffer from hot night(Lol) but this year is different.

When I watch baseball in the rain, I feel sorry for attendants who get wet terribly…. Baseball traditionalists say it should be played under the Sun and domed stadiums are not poplar in North America, but I think Japan needs more domes! Now we have 6 domes (a half of 12 teams ) for professional baseball but we need more. Well, 50% of fans are against this idea in Japan, but I don’t like watching baseball in the rain.

Good thing in Tokyo is that we can move around by subway. I am located in Shibuya and Isetan is 3 stations away from Shibuya by subway so that I don’t get wet when I shop there. 

On a rainy day, I went to Isetan for Shu Uemura and Chicca. Shu is busy but Chicca is a shop that usually has no waiting clients.  But this time was different…There was a long line for Chicca. Very unusual. 

It turned out that Chicca was going to close the operation. It is surprising as I get orders from time to time.

Chicca is a Kanebo brand so I assume employees are going to work for Kanebo.  

Anyway, if you are interested d in Chicca, please let me know. 

https://www.chicca.jp

Other brand updates
Hakuhodo Canadian squirrel is not back in stock yet. 

Do you know Hakuhodo has products limited to USA ? Mostly S series:

These are ones I know.

151 150 165 5221a 5523b 147 149

I am planning to sell Bisyodo and Koyomo by 10 % discount in August.

I will keep you updated)

Thank you for reading again, 
Toshiya