Bunshindo is Kawajiri Brush, which is located next to Kumano. Kawajiri has Koyomo brushes, too. Both Kumano and Kawajiri are located in the middle of Hiroshima prefecture.
By the way, Japan has 47 prefectures, the biggest of which is Tokyo. The second is Kanagawa that has Yokohama. Hiroshima Prefecture has only 2.8 million people, which ranks the 12th. So there are many local (small ) prefectures and small cities. Or you can say that Tokyo is too big for local people.
Bunshindo has Kolinsky hair that was bought 30 years ago. It has been kept well for long, which is good for brush.
In Japanese, 古 means ‘old,’ and is pronounced as ‘Ko.’ You may have realized that Koyomo is 古(Ko)羊毛(Yomo) (Yomo means old goat hair)
Now they use it as a brand name.
The Bunshindo web page ranks goat hair as follows: 古細微光鋒 (Ko Saibikoho)
古細光鋒 (Ko Saikoho)
古粗光鋒 (Ko Sokoho)
There are 2 more hair ranking higher than these hairs.
All have a kanji 古 (means old) so it is old hair that is softer and more expensive.
I have once asked a Hakuhodo shop manager what was the best about Hakuhodo brushes ?
Her answer was:
‘The best thing is that we don’t have to spend much time on makeup.
People are busy in the morning. ‘
If you can be ready, not spending long on makeup, it will make life easy.
That was what she liked about Hakuhodo most.
People have many reasons to buy Kumano brushes, and I wonder if this is a common idea.
I feel people buy or choose a brush based on a type of hair, type of handle, being rare(limited), a brand, etc.
What do you think ?
I often write about a history of Japanese culture.
With internet on hand, it is so easy to check history of the areas I am interested in.
The other day, I came across the first Samurai from Europe. He was a British. His name was William Adams. He came to Japan in 1600, the year when Edo period began.
After the one-year and 10 months on the ship, he landed Kyushu, near Fukuoka.
He met Ieyasu Tokugawa, the first Shogun of Edo, and was hired as a consultant on Foreign Affairs.
He was then named Miura Anjin after a seaport near Hakone, got married to a Japanese women and had two children.
It was the end of the Warrior Period, and Ieyasu Tokugawa must have thought Miura Anjin could bring a new technology to a war.
Ieyasu liked him very much, and gave Anjin land near Yokohama and Anjin became a Daimyo, a feudal lord. He built ships and traveled to China and Thailand.
He died in 1620, and in 1639 Japan closed the country to the world which lasted till 1854.
He may not have been able to land in Japan if it was later in the century.
In the 16th century, many missionaries came to Japan from Portugal and Spain. Those are times Japanese met Western people.
And the first African, who came with a missionary, became a disciple of Nobunaga Oda, maybe the most talent warrior at that time.
Anjin was the first Samurai and Daimyo, who came from abroad, so he is remembered well among Japanese.
In fact, there is a Ryokan (Japanese type of hotel called Anjin) in Izu and Anjin festival.
Maybe next time you come to Japan and enjoy Onsen, you may be thinking as if you are the first foreign Daimyo.
(Anjin Festival)
I am taking an order for SUQQU August: please let me know if you are interested.
Istan Shinjuku is the No.1 department store in the women fashion. Maybe No.1 department store all round in Japan.
Hankyu Umeda has a good reputation but I haven’t been there. Umeda is in Osaka, and it takes almost 3 hours by super express.
I have read that Isetan and Hankyu had the best service. I wrote as the past tense, as some people say it is not true anymore. I can stil see a different between Isetan and others. Isetan employees seem to know products well. They also move and reply quickly.
There are always some exhibits at stairs like this:
(at Isetan stairs)
I had an interesting chat with a shop manager of makeup company.
He is 188cm tall and good looking so he stands out at the makeup floor. He says his father is a Spanish with 2m tall, and that is how he becomes tall. His mother is Japanese.
What he is good at is that he sees me as someone who buys on behalf of others and doesn’t talk a lot about makeup, LOL.
Topics of yesterday was a dog.
He said, ‘he has three dogs.’ Bulldog, Irish Setter and Chihuahua. Very rarely I see an English bulldog in Japan so I asked how much he paid. He said ‘840,000 yen!’ (8000 USD)
I joked to him how good the company paid but still….
He says that he is single and that he doesn’t spend much money on anything else so it was not a difficult decision.
Those dogs with a different shape of mouth need special treatment – French bull, Pug, Bulldog, etc. So he needs to spend more time than on other dogs, but he looks happy)
Hakuhodo has a plastic cover on each brush now so that customers cannot try them now.
It seems that life in Tokyo goes back normal. I can see commuting trains are not as crowded as before. When I take a subway at 7pm, which is usually packed, there is a big space between people.
All the department stores are now open. I went to Isetan to buy Dolce & Gabbana. Though it was crowded, I saw a half as many people as usual.
———————-
Japanese ‘lockdown’ has not been as strict as those of some other countries. It still remains to be answered how Japan recovered, but I can tell wherever I go, people wear a mask. Almost 100%.
One thing I can say is that people usually wear a mask to prevent themselves from being infected by influenza in winter. People make it routine to wear a mask.
Some women wear a mask when they don’t do makeup.
You can say mask has been a Japanese culture before the corona virus , and now there are more and more fashionable ones.
I have received orders for SHAQUDA brush cleaner. I asked a client of mine why she liked, and here is her reply.
‘The cleaner is has a lovey fresh fragrance. I spray my brushes after use and wipe them on a micro fibre towel (actually I use the artis ones). It doesn’t get the foundation brushes as clean as a wash does of course but it’s enough to keep them in good condition in between washes. I particularly like it on my natural hair brushes I don’t think I’ve tried it on a synthetic brush. I am very happy with it.’
Please let me know if you have any questions.
If you used Hakuhodo soap or Koyudo cleaner, please let me know.
One is T11, Liquid (6200 YEN) and the other is T12 (2200 YEN) eyeshadow.
Both are Takumi series with saikoho goat hair.
Please let me know if you are interested.
‘Loose’ lockdown worked in Japan.
Shops, department stores, gyms, museums, etc will open gradually.
People are wondering why it worked, but I haven’t heard any convincing theories except
Social pressure.
Social pressure or people’s desire to be the same may be unique to Japan. Japanese people are sensitive to social pressure, and many Japanese try not to stand out.
Yet,
Social pressure is mostly discussed negatively in japan as it keeps people from being different or creative.
School encourages kids to be creative, but not many of them want to be different.
Japanese are good at being efficient while we are not as creative as people in some other countries.
Personally, I am not a big fan of the pressure to be the same, but some people like it.
I cannot say this is good or bad, since I have seen both good and bad sides.
For example,
in this corona situation, this culture works better.
I cannot go out without a mask.
99% of people wear a mask on the street.
When I forget wearing a mask, I go home to get it.
There is a joke.
A person felt hot with a mask, so he pulled it off. Someone walking toward him suggested him to wear a mask, but this person was not wearing a mask….
Well, this is a joke, but this is kind of pressure that makes people wear a mask.
Anyway, Now life gets back to normal.
The EMS situation remains the same as in April.
Please wait a little and I will let you know when it gets better,
They still have 2018 Noel. Please let me know if you are interested.
It is Rouge and Rose.
(Rouge 34800 Rose 15000 yen)
It is 30C in Tokyo and maybe people stay home more.
During this ‘stay-home,’ I walk a lot. Day and night.
When I walk, many ideas come up to me. Walking is good for a brain)
I remember lots of memories from my boyhood time with my grandmother.
And my memory related to my grandmother is pleasant.
She took me to many places because my mother was running a stationery shop all day every day.
I was raised at a small town in Hiroshima.
My favorite place was an ‘Okonomiyaki’ restaurant.
At the small okonomi place, there were no people eating – only me, my sister and grandmother.
I wonder how they ran a restaurant. My grandmother was living on her small pension, and did not spend much. Maybe this Okonomiyaki was big for her.
I remember one thing about my grandmother very clearly.
Totally unrelated to Okonomi.
She loved professional wrestling!
It was at 8pm on TV on Saturday night.
Yes, professional wrestling was on air during the Golden Hour.
As you might know, in professional wrestling, there are a good guy and bad guy.
There was a bad guy called ‘Abdullah the Butcher.’ Well, he said he was from Sudan, but he was from USA. I have recently checked it on the web)
A good guy was Giant Baba from Niigata with 2m tall.
I was watching it maybe in a diferrent way than other kids did.
Kids talked about who was the strongest.
They said Baba was not so strong.
I said, ‘it is not the point.’ It is entertainment. I learned a lot about people’s relation from it.
But they were not interested in my argument, LOL.
Now I have someone in my office. I joke with him, and he comes back with a serious opinion, which seems to be not to the point.
I just want to have a fun conversation, not a serious discussion.
Not that I was wrong or that he was right.
It is supposed to be fun, that is it.
Gradually,
I don’t get to talk much to him.
So, professional wrestling.
Maybe Butcher was stronger, but he did not win.
He used a weapon in the end and the matches usually ended up with his loss from a disqualification using a weapon.
My friends said that Baba was not so strong. Butcher was stronger.
Again, it was not the point.
I like this story. I read a blog about a wrestling later.
Someone who went to wrestling saw Baba and Butcher playing baseball before a match!
They were actually good friends, but on TV it was different. They were enemies.
Some people pretend to lose though they actually ‘win’ because they know it makes the relation better or people happy.
Butcher and Baba : they are good at people!
If I try to entertain someone by a joke and he or she comes back with pointing out that I am wrong or a small point, I will not discuss a matter seriously when time comes.
It may be only me, but
It is the air or space where I enjoy and want to joke with people. I also enjoy the air or space where I want to discuss seriously. But they are different times and places.
My boyhood memory :
Butcher and Baba were my teachers.
I still pay a respect to them.
They show me a good example.
Baba died 20 years, and Butcher retired at the Sumo Arena in Tokyo in front of a full-house crowd.
Butcher said, ‘ I enjoyed a lot talking with Baba over cigar.’
I don’t watch wrestling any more, but this memory comes back from time to time.
I received several feedback on MK-KO powder brush.
Thank you.
Some people were interested in the background of the Carp design so I want to write a bit about the history.
Hiroshima Carp Baseball club was born in 1950, five years after the war ended.
At the time, Japan had a professional baseball league. Most popular are the Giants in Tokyo, and the Tigers in Osaka. It is similar to the rivalry between NY and Boston.
Hiroshima Carp.
A week team in a small city.
They were not able to pay even train tickets to Tokyo.
At that time, no super express Shinkansen that takes only four hours now. They took a train all night.
The team was in financial difficulty from the beginning. So, Manager, Coaches and players collected money by visiting many towns in Hiroshima.
It is like crowdfunding.
I remember reading one story.
When the team was taking a train to Tokyo, an old lady came to see off the team and gave the manager ‘Onigiri.’ I think his name was Shiraishi.
Onigiri is a rice ball, a typical home made dishes in Japan.
The train left the Hiroshima Station, but Shiraishi-san could not eat it. His tears didn’t stop.
It was 1950.
The Carp was a hope of the city or Hiroshima Prefecture, which was trying to recover from the war damage.
People donated money though they still suffered from poverty.
The Carp would not have survived without the donation. That is why the Carp is called the team of the citizens.
Yet it took 25 years till they won the league.
Even now, the Hiroshima Carp is struggling because good players choose to leave for big city clubs, e.g. Giants in Tokyo, and Tigers in Osaka.
But in a way, they are spoiled. As far as they are playing in Hiroshima and don’t leave the town, they don’t have to win. Fans are happy with the team.
Very different from Tokyo Giants or New York Yankees who ‘must’ win.
Things changed when the new stadium was built.
For last several years, the Carp attendance has been more than 2 million. This is huge, considering the size of the city – a little more than 1 million.
(this is a home of the Carp)
(This is at a play-off at Osaka, the number of Carp fans is increasing)
People buy Carp goods in red,
Every game is sold out, so that they can pay good money to players.
They won three years in a row!
The morning in Hiroshima starts with a conversation ‘how was the Carp last night?’
So it is easy for me to speak to Kumano brush companies.
A little talk about the Carp makes business easy.
I have to confess, though, I was a Tokyo Giants fan when I was a kid, LOL.
All department stores are closed in Japan for food sections.
People are encouraged to work home.
If the request to ‘stay home’ gets long, it might be discussed whether the school year should be changed or not. From (April – March) to (September – July), which will be the same as that of many countries.
Japan is very slow in changing the system, so I don’t think it will happen.
But many people are discussing a ‘after corona’ world.
Now USA join the list of the countries that EMS cannot be mailed to.
I can still send brushes to most of Asian countries.
Hakuhodo and makeup products, I hope, will be available from May 6, when department stores open again.
I will keep you posted.
Hakuhodo and Koyomo are on sale at a discount 0f 5% till May 6.
Rare products are requested from time to time by my clients, but due to a shortage of hair, they are not available.
Those hair include:
Canadian squirrel
White Canadian squirrel
Kolinsky cheek or powder
Saibikoho goat
I send requests to make brush makers, but it is slow….
A manufacturer needs a minimum order unit. e.g. 100 -300 brushes.
They want to get a bigger order.
I have been thinking of 2 alternatives:
One is crowdfunding.
It is funding but more like ‘pre-order.’
If there is a new idea or request for a product, I post to a crowdfunding site.
If I can get a funding sufficient to order in a bulk, I give an order to a brush maker.
If the amount is under the required amount, all money paid will be returned.
We can tell whether a product is popular or not.
The other way is a group order.
I recognize you often belong to a fude community that sends me a group order.
If the number of orders reaches the minimum units to produce brushes, I can order them. This is easier for me, if there are a sufficient number of clients.
Either way, I want to make it work. I need to be creative!
If you have an idea, please let me know!
Here are pictures of a drug store I visited yesterday.
Now that the corona virus was spreading not only in Tokyo, Osaka and Fukuoka, but also in local cities, the Government declared the state of emergency all over Japan.
It will last till May 6, but could be longer than the date, the current situation considered.
Kumano brushes can be bought from Hiroshima, but department store items might be late – Hakuhodo, Shaquda, Laduree, D&G, Paul & Joe, ADDICTION, etc.
These will be on sale in May or June(1st D&G, Chanel and Snowbeauty)
I will keep you posted.
The other news is that all Japan residents get 100,000 yen (about 1000USD), whether Japanese or foreigners living in Japan.
People seem to get more and more serious about following the ‘stayhome’ request.
Sorry it took long to send a updated letter. I have been working on new email system)
(The picture is limited face powder of Elegance with Swarovski, which will be released in June)
Hi Everyone,
It was raining so hard all day yesterday in Tokyo.
People in Tokyo have been requested to stay home, and the heavy rain made them stay home all day.
I usually walk in the neighbor but yesterday I stayed all day. I made a simple ramen.
There was a new lunch shop nearby, and the prices are reasonable.
Kyoto and Nagoya also closed shops and now I will need to order products from local cities. I ordered Jill Stuart from Gunma, far north of Tokyo.
Now I am an expert on where department stores are in Japan )
I ordered Hakuhodo from Sapporo, and Hiroshima will be an option too.
During this ‘stay home,’ I began to read English study books so I decided to write a blog about English study in Japanese. I hope some people will read them, but outputs are always good to remember what we learn!
I chatted with Kihitsu. He offered some limited products, which are shown below. Please take a look.
The situation with brush makers, I think, are the same as other companies who are in trouble.
Especially, Hakuhodo has closed shops except for Sapporo.
I can still order Hakuhodo brushes from Sapporo for the time being.
Hiroshima Hakuhodo will reopen a shop on Monday, but now that Hiroshima citizens are ‘requested’ to stay home, they may close it again.
I guess online shops are in trouble as well, but compared to face-to-face shopping, they are performing better.
This corona situation force many people to change their lifestyles.
Maybe more rapidly than the Lehman shock does.
I had a friend working for Lehman, which was located in Roppongi Hills. She seemed to be enjoying both business and private lives.
The next time I talked to her was that she was on the hunt for a job.
Japanese people like the word ‘stable,’ but being stable might make people more exposed to a risk. It is ironic, but people who are willing to change could cope with a risk better.
The number of corona patients is increasing in Japan, and Nagoya was added to the group that declare the state of emergency.
As for mailing to overseas, now Australia is added to those countries that EMS cannot be sent to.
I walked around the neighborhood today.
Two kids were walking happily.
I talked to Kihitsu and here are 2 sets available now.
Saikoho set with a paulownia box -18200 yen
A set of Saikoho + lip brush + Saikoho Echizen with mini rose as a novelty, which Kihitsu wants to present to cheer up.
(the picture is SUQQU Summer that will be released on May 1)
(Please see some other brands released in late April)
Hi Everyone,
It looks like the Government will order an ‘lockdown’ soon.
It will be in several cities, including Osaka and Tokyo.
Well, Japanese are, in a good or bad way, optimistic and still go out.
The increase of patients has not been dramatic, but still is growing.
Yesterday, I talked about ‘corona divorces.’
Today, I want to talk about a ‘plastic surgery.’
Now people are encouraged to stay home and to wear a mask when they go out.
Orthopedic surgeons get busy – ‘now good time to do surgery, especially under the lockdown.’
Always both sides of a coin whatever happens.
I picked up a parcel that was returned from the airport because (the Japan post said) it contained a spray, which is actually a pump.
Now that it was mailed to Russia, I cannot send it to Russia so I pick up and keep it at home. Some EMS cannot be mailed to some European countries, which includes Russia.
A good side of this trip to the JP Post is that I was able to find a nice Sakura place.
If Tokyo is locked down….
As far as Fude Japan is concerned, domestic courier and international mail are important. Currently, domestic courier works, so I can get brushes from Hiroshima to Tokyo.
Internationally, I can still send parcels to most Asian countries, and North America.
Under the lockdown, it is important if a domestic courier and EMS work or not.
(the picture is sakura in Tochigi, north of Tokyo)
Hi Everyone,
I walked underground in Shibuya, and yes less people.
This Corona virus is affecting many aspects of life in Japan.
One is called ‘corona divorce.’
Many husbands and wives, who usually work outside, stay home. And they spend all day together.
This causes a big stress to people. who had a reasonable distance in their marriage life.
The Japanese divorce rate is not so high compared to those of other countries.
But the reality is that some or many couples would be divorced in other countries’ culture.
Japanese couples stay, from an economic reason, a social pressure, especially from the perspective of raising children.
I worked for Canon in NY, and many Japanese come and work with their family.
In USA, couples stay together on weekdays and weekends as husbands don’t go out alone as they do in Japan – Izakaya, fishing, pachinko, whatever hobbies they have.
Interestingly, some Japanese couples’ relationships get better by talking more, and some get worse as they ‘get to know ‘ better.
I saw some who improved their relationships, and some who got divorced.
Now this seems to be happening under the corona circumstance where they cannot go outside.
There is a joke called ‘seven eleven’ in Japan. Wives are happy when husbands work from 7am-11pm so that they don’t have to cook dinner and take care of them. They can concentrate on raising children.
This lifestyle is forced to change. By corona.
I visited Isetan yesterday.
Well, it was quiet, and they have shortened the operation time, and closes at 7.
It will be closed this weekend.
Decorte has a new foundation – the first time cushion foundation.
This picture is shade 00 – colorless.
I called a shop, and found out that it is their first cushion foundation.
It has five shades, and 00 is colorless.
It has skincare ingredients as other AQ series do, so if you put it in the morning, you will have skincare all day. So, friendly to your skin.
Besides, no primer is needed and good for busy people in the morning.
(the picture is suqqu summer, please let me know if your interested)
Hi Everyone,
I regularly talk to Dior.
Two weeks ago, my contact said that fewer people were shopping these.days.
Few days ago, she told me that the shop was very crowded. Consumers came back.
As far as I am concerned, I still go to department stores on a regular basis, and it seems that there are many visitors there.
Isetan had many Chinese before but these days I mostly see Japanese. Still crowded.
Though many people are worried, they go shopping.
This is the current situation in Japan.
I visited the Pokemon Center and Nintendo at the new Parco. First time, but yes looks busy.
I don’t know how long it takes this situation to be over. Japanese seem to be relaxed. Mass media is busy with making people worry as always, as they can get more viewers and readers.
I cannot tell what will happen in the future, but one big factor is the Olympic Games.
I think it will be postponed, till later this year or 2 years.
Once it is decided, more moves will be seen in Japan.
————
There is another thing I can see. Many companies encourage workers to work at home or avoid the rush hour.
This may be big.
Japanese are evaluated by their faith or loyalty to a company not by individual performances. They don’t say so, of course but still is.
There are so many changes introduced to workplaces, but how faithful is still important. If your performances can sh0w numbers e.g. sales, it is different, but many performances are evaluated by their superiors, and this vague ‘faithfulness’ is counted.
Now this coronavirus.
Remote work is encouraged and their performance will be evaluated by their output or what they produce. That will be a performance based evaluation.
The coronavirus might be a trigger for many people to change their workstyle.
I was informed thatJP Post cannot send a parcel to China from Japan, due to the decrease of fights between Japan and China. Now I cannot send products to China, excluding Hong Kong and Macau.
It seems that we can still send EMS to most countries.
The other days, I found that we cannot send EMS to Kazakhstan.
In this newsletter, I want to talk about how I send brushes and makeup to your country, and some issues I encountered.
I use EMS (Express Mail Service ) mainly. Very rarely I use registered mail.
The big difference is the amount of insurance covered by each method.
Registered mail insures 6000 yen at max, regardless of an amount put to the label.
EMS insures an amount written in the label and it is free coverage up to 20,000 yen.
If your purchase is 15000 yen and written on the label, it is fully insured by EMS for free premium, but registered mail insures only 6000 yen. If more than 20,000 yen, with an additional charge, e.g. 50 yen to the next threshold, basically all is covered when lost or damaged.
It has been good for several years except for some delays.
I have recently had several issues and want to write about them.
I had three parcels that were not delivered last month. It was very rare to have three cases at the same time.
Holland, France and Brazil.
Those parcels werenot delivered.
When not delivered, an investigation request is submitted to the JP Post by me.
I usually bring it to a big Post. The closest one is Shibuya.
Usually, actions are taken directly the investigation is submitted.
The parcel in Brazil was delivered to a client very quickly, but there have been longer processes for French and Dutch cases.
Eventually, I was informed that the French one waslost, and that the Dutch one was returned to Japan.
It was not the end of the story for the French case.
I was requested to send a letter to seek for the insurance – 6000 yen for registered mail, but later, the box arrived at my place!
There was a report that it was lost but it actually was returned.
For several years, I have been sending parcels overseas, so far no loss of a parcel. And this time ended with no loss.
I felt sorry to my clients that wait so long…
I wish all to be good, but these types of troubles or exceptions give me good knowledge.
My purpose to go there is only to have my hair cut short. So I usually go to a 1200 yen hair cut that takes only 10 minutes.
A person who cut my hair spent more than 10 minutes and did a good job. She dyed her hair blonde, looking fashionable.
I guess she felt,
‘This guy just came to have his hair cut, and what a waste of my time. I want to work for a sophisticated place in Omotesando…..’
————
The other day, I talked about my high school days when I lost my motivation to live proactively.
Actually, it lasted for another 2 years at university (this picture is a university I attended) in Tokyo.
I know you travel to Tokyo and enjoy Tokyo fully. But, Tokyo did not change me. What a waste again…
Students in the junior year had to take a seminar for two years. Among the classes I took, I chose ‘marketing.’
(Actually, I did not go to school much except for exams…)
I was not into marketing but into the professor.
He was a professor but more like a motivator.
There are many good things I learned from him, not about marketing.
He talked about his story when he studied at Harvard. He was not good at English. Harvard is known for a case study where you need to discuss a case with other students.
He had a strategy.
He was not able to understand and speak when a discussion progressed as he did not understand English well.
He sat in front of a professor and asked a professor to call him to speak firsr. He arranged it with a professor before a class started.
That way, he did not have to understand deeper discussions in the middle of the class.
Today, I was watching youtube.
A researcher in the youtube was talking about how to be a leader.
It is a simple way.
Speak first.
If you speak first, others regard you as an extrovert person and a potential leader.
You actually don’t have to be an extrovert. You can be as you are. But speak first.
If you speak first, others evaluate you as a leader, and you will get more tasks. Those tasks make you study or work, so you will be working at another level.
I just recalled my professor after I watched the youtube.
He might have used this strategy,
Do you know the second highest mountain after Mt.Fuji in Japan?
(The picture above is Mt. Fuji)
Actually,
Mt. Fuji is so famous that many Japanese don’t know it.
I didn’t know, either.
So,
I checked Wiki and found out it is Mt. Kita.
It is not as beautiful as Mt. Fuji, but looks good, right?
That makes me think this :
Important to be No. 1.
Many people can tell the gold medalist of a 100m competition, but who is the second?
What is the largest country in the world?
What is the second?
—
Peter Thiel, a founder of PayPal, says that it is important to start a business in a small market and win it. And grow from there.
PayPal focused on the heavy users of eBay first.
It has grown by taking a good market share by focusing on the small market.
Now PayPal is huge.
——
When I was a high school student, I lost my motivation to study. I spent very lazy and worthless three years. No dream, no plan, and no fun.
And I have found myself in trouble that I will not be admitted to any university.
The problem is not that I don’t go to a university, but that I cannot find what I want.
Very hesitant to say this but I need time to think what to do before being on the job market.
What a negative motivation to go to a university!
It was too late to study all subjects,
English, Math, Japanese, World History, Japanese History, Chemistry, and Physics for national universities.
So I began to search for universities with fewer subjects.
Keio University has only three subjects. English, Math and World History.
The good thing was also that the English scores account for 50% of the total.
I kept studying only English as I was interested.
It was November. The exam was in February.
I tried scoring the minimum score to pass. English first and World History second. Studied hard for three months by my standard, lol.
In the end, I was accepted to a school I targeted.
My presents still say to me, ‘it is such a waste of money to send you to a prep school.’ I quit attending the prep school after the first week…
I wish I could do three years at high school again….
Since that time, it has been my direction all the time to focus on and excel in a small market.
To find a small market and invest my time.
Looking at Fude(brush) market, it is not the largest of all cosmetics, but I feel the enthusiasm of the Fude lovers. This market has the depth.
I want to focus on the fude market!
By the way, the largest country is Russia.
Canada is the second.
Thank you for your feedback on this newsletter)I will continue to write more about Japan as well as makeups)
I found a new subway station today – for Ginza Line.
Ginza Line station in Shibuya was very hard to find but this solved the situation well.
By Ginza Line, Shibuya is only two stationsaway from the new National Stadium where the Olympic games will open in July.Or you can enjoy walking from Shibuya to Omotesando/Harajuku and to the stadium.
Today, I want to talk about Ramen shop ‘Ichiran. ‘
Ichiranshop owner walked around Japanto taste many types of food and decided to open pork-based ramen. Ichiran ramen isonly pork soup based.
And the taste wasimproved continuously. That is important,
but
there are many other aspects of marketing to attract people and improve efficiency.
I will write the secret of the Ichiran success here.
The shop is ‘divided by partition.’Many Japanese women don’t want to go to a ramen shop alone. Ichiran provides private space by a partition.
About 40% of clients are women, which is much higher than other ramen shops.
The partition also works to improvethe turnover rate of seats as they don’t talk at seats.
Besides,they have no choice but toshare a picture at Instagram、LOL.
There is also paper at the seat to write an order on so no mistake is caused by communication with an employee.
Ramen shop is manually operated so that it causes mistakes between a shop and client.
Elon Musk of Tesla Motors ordered ramen at ramen Jiro, which must have been difficult)
When people enter a shop, the machine automatically says ‘Irasshaimase !’ so that shop employees can easily say this welcome word.
Moreover, shop employees don’t have to communicate with a client due to the partition. It is said to be hard to hire an employee for a restaurant but it is easier to hire an employee at Ichiran. Employees feel more comfortable.
Please take a look:
Maybe you can try ramen at Ichiran when you travel to Japan ?
It is a free food service when ordering a drink in the morning. You can pay only for a drink and food comes free.
I was told it was invented in the city of Ichinomiya near Nagoya. Their free food is too good there (please see the picture below)
The reason I found it was a bit funny.
I go to a makeup shop on a regular basis to buy products for my clients. And I can remember much better where she or he is from, rather than her or his name.
Because I can relate a person to a special product to the place or food or sports team.
The other day, I asked an employee of Albion where she was from as usual) She said, ‘I am from Ichinomiya’ ‘ Ichinomiya is a city where ‘Morning’ service was invented. ‘
Now I will never forget her.
Besides, I got something to write for a blog.
My world expands that way, LOL.
If she is not a Japanese, more interesting.
Department stores have many Chinese employees nowadays. I asked them where they are from, too, so that I can get to know more about China geography.
There was also one employee who is from Ukraine at Panasonic Beauty. Luckily she is from Kyiv.
I like remembering the capitals of countries all over the world.
I confirmed that my method works. Pola cosmetic taught me the concept of ‘being interested in something’ or ‘being curious.’ is good for skin.
Their product stimulates a part of the brain that is in charge of ‘being curious.’ The more we get curious, the younger our skin gets. Pola told me.
I was thinking about it too.
Something new or new place or new language, etc.
Maybe you can learn Japanese.
That gives you a new stimulus and a benefit to your skin.
Have you eaten and drunken at Izakaya? It is a very Japanese drinking place, with good food and a reasonable price of a drink.
A place to go while you are travelling in Japan.
Now they have competitors.
Convenience stores.
We call them ‘Conveni.’ コンビニ. They are Lawson, Family Mart, Seven Eleven etc.
And Yakitori and Oden are very good at a convenience store.
*”Oden” consists of boiled eggs, radish(daikon) and fish cakes, etc.
Some people say Yakitori at convenience stores beat that of Izakaya. Yes food is good there.
The problem was that there was no space to eat. People buy food and eat it at home.
But you see now more and more convenience stores have an eat-in.
So Izakaya is in a crisis.
Maybe a convenience store takes over the position of Izakaya soon? It is possible.
But there are things about Izakaya. Why do the Japanese go to Izakaya?
After work, they need a place to be drunken, and talk about work or complain about their companies.
Izakaya allows them to be drunken. Almost everyone is drunken. Sometimes noisy. So people can be comfortably drunken.
Japanese can show a different face at Izakaya because everyone there is drunken.
You cannot do it at a convenience store.
None of the people shopping there are drunken. What if they see drunken people with red faces at eat-inns? I think those drunken people would feel embarrassed.
So it is a cultural thing again. Japanese don’t want to stand out or to be different or unique. And they behave within the socially allowable boundary.
Have you heard of ‘Morning’ when you travel to Japan?
It is a free service of toast at cafe in the morning. If you order a drink e.g. a cup of coffee, you can get light food with it.
Many coffee shops had this service before.
But these days, with more coffee chains, family-owned coffee shops are vanishing. And the ‘Morning’ service is vanishing, too.
When I was a boy, I met my father during his break, he brought me to a coffee shop. It was in the center of Hiroshima City, near Mitsukoshi. Yes, Hiroshima has a Mitsukoshi department store, LOL.
Time seemed to be passing so slow that I was able to be relaxed with having ‘Morning’ service, I remember.
The prices with those coffee shops are higher than those of current chain shops, and people are moving to less expensive options, it is natural.
I will not say it was a good time. It was just my good memory.
This makes me wonder.
In Japan or maybe all over the world, many old people complain about current society and young people.
If young people are not different nor advanced, we cannot enjoy the convenience of this society. We would still live in the same world as 1000 years ago.
I am talking about Japan. I cannot generalize this on a world basis.
My parents lived the TV age, and they still do. They don’t have an iPhone, and they read the newspaper in the paper.
Young people in Japan are not attracted to TV. They use the iPhone to watch YouTube/Netflix and also get information from twitter. The number of newspaper subscriptions is decreasing dramatically.
And Information sources get diverse. I can talk to people all over the world so that I can get a different view from the ‘news’ published by media.
I have been writing this blog (newsletter ) every day for a week.
I am getting used to writing it)
Someone told me it is easier to continue daily than e.g. 3 times a week.
I feel that it is true.
It becomes a habit and I don’t have to decide if I should do today. If three times a week, I have to come up with a good reason to do it or not to.
Another daily thing is to go to a gym and walk (sometimes run ) for 30 minutes. That is getting easy, too.
Besides, when I walk, I can come up with something to write for a blog. Walking gives me a new perspective.
It is still so difficult to come up with an interesting subject, as every day is every day, and I don’t usually have anything special daily.
The good thing about working in Shibuya is I can see something in the town.
Today, I found oyster udon at Marugame at 690 yen, LOL. It was new.
It would have been difficult if I still lived in Hiroshima, my hometown. I can only write about baseball and my home team Hiroshima Carp, but how many of you would be interested in the subject? lol
I try to add my thoughts to daily things or Japanese things. I hope to improve my skill)
I usually mix something about Japan with makeup topics.
I know many of you are interested in both Japan and makeup, but not all of you. So if you are only interested in makeup, please skip my Japan subjects.
(Today’s brush ) this is Hakuhodo 7 brush set.
Now January makeup products’ reservation starts this week.
Today I want to introduce the SUQQU lineup. Please email me or DM me in instagram.
Today is Christmas Eve, and shops and restaurants are the most crowded of all year.
I walked around a department store on Sunday.
I saw many men there. Usually, 90% of visitors to the makeup floor are women, but at this time of the year, men come with women.
I enjoyed observing them shopping.
Because I always had a hard time when I was waiting in line, I wanted to know how men behaved! People watching is very interesting!
I have products in mind when I am at shop.
I get an order and go and buy it there, So my visit could be done in less than one minute.
When I see customers waiting in line, I go to another shop to spend time. But when I have only one shop to visit, I will wait there.
That waiting time gives me ………… total agony.
I have nothing to do but to take a picture. It is done in less than one minute so I work on iPhone or pretend to do so…
So I was curious about how men wait.
Some men are sitting next to their partners. Some are waiting outside a makeup counter.
But what do shop employees think of the couple ?
I asked this question to two employees.
One shop person did not like it. They are just flirting and not buying. Yes, it is one way to look at….
The other person loves it. It is likely that men pay and that women buy it more often than usual. That employee tries to talk to a man to keep him involved. More conversations, more fun, and they will buy. Clever.
This reminds me of one joke ( or true).
Man is a bank ATM to get money from. A popular joke in Japan.
