Fude Japan (Makeup brushes from Japan)

Hi Everyone, 

Have you visited Japan before? If so, I hope you had a good time and you visit here again )

This is a story of an Irish writer who came to Japan for Rugby World Cup. 

Ireland lost to New Zealand and he was going home next day. 

Sadly, he lost his cell phone. He left it at taxi. 

He had a receipt so the front desk kindly called the taxi company and the taxi company kept it. 

He arrived there with a good surprise. The taxi company not only kept it but also fully charged his cell phone. The taxi company thought he would need it directly the phone was returned. 

He said, “If you lose your cell phone, Japan is a good country to do so.”

He also wrote:

There are some troubles if you leave a tip at room. Some hotels send the money back to a home country.  (In Japan no tip is necessary)

We call it ‘Omotenashi’ (おもてなし）

Hotel, restaurants … employees are trained to give more service than expected. 

Omotenashi is critical. 

Japan doesn’t have natural resources, 

Japan lives on trades, buy materials and sell complete goods.  They need to survive on good qualities of goods and services. 

Travel industry is important too, therefore, good service is critical. 

Well, I say this, though. 

Japanese consumers are spoiled and take it for granted that good services are given. It is tough for shop employees. Sometimes stressful, I imagine.

So what I do is try shopping in a way that I give a shop as little stress as possible. 

And I ask questions on how Japanese consumers are like.

They select words, but yeah… some consumers give them stress, I can tell)  Foreign consumers are more welcomed, I can feel it.

thank you for reading!

Toshiya

Part 2

Hi Everyone,

Today, I want to talk about shops other than Hakuhodo. 

Hakuhodo has been leading the brush industry with its aggressive marketing.  They are different internationally and domestically. 

A big difference is that Hakuhodo owns sales forces which others don’t. Most big department stores have Hakuhodo shops. 

Mitsukoshi Ginza

Tokyu Shibuya and Hikarie

Takashimaya Nihonbashi

Tobu Ikebukuro

Interestingly, Isetan has no Hakuhodo shop but Mitsukoshi and Isetan belong to the same group so Isetan has Hakuhodo events from time to time. 

How about other brands?

Most of them don’t use own people except for Takeda. 

Takeda has a shop in Shinjuku Takashimaya where you can buy Takeda and get tax free. 

https://www.takashimaya.co.jp/shopping/beauty/0300002588/

Kihitsu and SHAQUDA are sold at Isetan B1F.

For other brands, maybe the easiest is to buy at Tau Ginza. Many prefectures have shops in Tokyo, which sell special goods to own regions. Tau is a Hiroshima shop so you can buy Kumano Fude as well as food/sweets special to Hiroshima.

https://www.tau-hiroshima.jp/shop/2f/kumanofude

They have :

Chikuhodo 

Koyudo 

Mizuho

Kumano Select 

Kyuka

Please be noted that it is a select shop so not all products are displayed and can be bought. A shop manager selects brushes and sets on her own.

If you want to buy products not being sold in Tokyo, please let me know. I can send them to your hotel.

Thank you for reading,

Toshiya

Hi Everyone, 

Today, I want to write about a question I often receive. 

‘Where should I go to buy Japanese brushes in Tokyo?’

Kumano brushes are made in Kumano, Hiroshima. You can buy at their factories or at Hiroshima Station. But Hiroshima is far from Tokyo, and maybe you don’t have time to visit Hiroshima. 

I have to tell you that Japanese brush shops are not everywhere, like ‘ Matsumoto Kiyoshi’

Maybe an exception is Hakuhodo.

And that may be why the name of Hakuhodo represents Japanese brushes. 

Hakuhodo can be bought at many places in Tokyo.

2 Tokyu shops in Shibuya  ( will be 1 from next March, as one located next to Hachi will be closed)

Mitsukoshi in Ginza

Takashimaya in Nihonbashi 

Tobu in Ikeburo

Flagship shop in Aoyama (please see pictures below)

I was chatting with a Chinese buyer the other day at Hakuhodo. 

I asked where he was buying hakuhodo. His answer was one of the two at Shibuya. 

He said, ‘Mitsukoshi charges a fee when he gets a tax back, Tokyu doesn’t.’

By the way, the tax rate is now 10% after October 1, and the tax free treatment to tourists gets more important. 

I just called Aoyama today and found out that tax free treatment is not provided.  They basically have all products and you can take a picture freely. (some department stores don’t allow pictures to be taken) So maybe it is worth visiting, but only for pictures) The staff at Aoyama speaks English.

Among Shibuya shops, one at Hikarie has more product lines so it is easier to buy at Hikarie.

It is irrelevant here, but for your information, Hakuhodo only sells at their own shops, and never uses a retailer. Therefore, I buy them at department stores at retail prices. That is why I add a  fee to the price. 

I feel sorry to my clients that I cannot sell at tax and fee free, like other brands, but that is why.  Hakuhodo doesn’t give good future to my business to be honest, LOL, though I totally understand it is most famous brand)

Thank you for reading!

I will write about other brands tomorrow,

Toshiya