I started out Fude Japan by helping friends with purchasing Japanese beauty products. When word got out, great interest from people all around the world followed and demand started growing – “Fude Japan” came to life. It is my goal to become a person in bringing a little bit of Japanese culture and tradition to each and every one of you.
I also write blogs here, and introduce Japanese culture, tradition and lifestyle, from Tokyo life to an interesting story of Japan and Japanese.
Online store is here
https://store.fudejapan.com/ja
Thank you!
Toshiya
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.
You see many companies: they look like products provided big Kumano brush companies and are sold as own brands.
While I take orders every day, I receive a question daily about brushes and makeup, and it may be interesting to write about it.
Today, I was asked how AB-HC of Bisyodo is compared with J210 Hakuhodo.
Both are goat, and Bisyodo officially says it is Saikoho. I don’t think Hakuhodo has Saikoho now. They just say ‘goat.’ Maybe at Hakuhodo, Saikoho is mixed with other kinds. And they don’t say Saikoho unless it is 100%.
Here is feedback from a client who uses both.
“AB-HC is more fluffy than J210. J210 is a little bit softer than AB-HC. AB-HC can be used more than J210 to parts of face”
Your question is welcome and I will look into it and will share it in my blog if you don’t mind.
I began to go to a sports gym where we need to wear a mask and have our temperature measured at the entrance.
I wonder this type of arrangement will be permanent under this circumstance.
With a mask, I feel I consume more calories, though.
Now restaurants and shops open and operate as usual. It seems that people go out at night as well….
There are still very few tourists in Tokyo. Have you ever been to a quick sushi place?
It is an automated sushi where sushi is carried by a belt conveyor. It is called ‘Kaiten Sushi.’ ‘Kaiten’ means revolving and it is usually a belt conveyor.
Maybe you have been there if you travel to Japan.
One plate usually costs 100 to 200 yen (1 to 2 USD) with 2 nigiri sushi, and I find it very convenient when I am hungry and I don’t have time.
The first Kaiten sushi was opened in 1958 in Osaka, by a person called Shiraishi san. Shiraishi saw a belt conveyor in a beer factory and thought it could help busy employees.
He created a place to eat sushi standing in 1947, and changed it to a belt conveyor style in 1958.
Sushi is regarded expensive food on a special occasion e.g family dinner. So fast food style and sushi waas not a good match, but apparently Kaiten Sushi makes a niche ( or a big ) market now.
There is an ideal speed of a conveyor for a customer to think and decide to take a plate. It is 0.14km/hour, well I don’t know how fast it is…
The sushi place is called ‘Genroku Sushi.’ and now it is VERY big.
This is a good example to create an idea. An idea doesn’t have to be innovative. A good idea is born when you combine exisiting ideas from different industries or fields.
Shiraishi combined sushi with a belt conveyor.
I guess that is what I need to do – combine existing ideas.
I am not able to create completely new brushes as famous makeup artists do. I need to hear what clients say and add those elements to current products.
This is one small step I make now – I will add a cheek brush to Fude Japan.
Tsuyu (rainy season in Japan) has not come to Tokyo yet, but it is raining every day. I wonder which is better, 33C sunny & humid day or rainy day. In July and August, Japan has very little rain except for Typhoon.
This summer will be even more difficulty as people wear a mask.
I have been to Isetan a lot these days. They provide good service, and they have many limited products to Isetan.
(Isetan and Hankyu have many own limited products. )
Besides, fewer people are shopping at Isetan than before, and I can buy products quickly and comfortably.
This is Isetan limited RMK products – Ukiyoe Modern.
Ukiyoe is painting that was very popular during Edo Period (1603-1867). It is made from woodblock prints, so that it was easy to copy the original. People were able to buy them at a reasonable price, and it became popular among people.
(This is a painting by Utamaro)
These are Laduree limited.
Lasting Pressed Powder 4800 yen
Glittering Eye Color 3000 yen
Pressed Cheek N Mini 3600 yen
Please let me know if you are interested in these limited products.
I had a call from Laduree shop manager, who will be on her maternity leave.
That was nice of her, and maybe only second or third time to get a call from shop outside business.
Only one company called me after the ‘stayhome.’ It was Mikimoto, and it really impressed me )
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EMS is not still working. I am talking to DHL and FedEX now. I will try using DHL this week!
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,
I walked more than 10km yesterday. It was the longest way during the stay-home.
I use iPhone to check how far I walk and it is more than 5km a day on average this week.
It is not much fun to walk (LOL) but hearing youtube makes it easy to carry out.
As I said before, ‘lockdown’ in Japan is not ‘strict.’ There are some shops that are open, and I even see Izakaya with a few people inside.
Yet, I see 99.9 % wear masks. I sometimes forget to wear a mask in which case I go back home to get it. I haven’t been told by anyone to wear it, but I feel some kind of pressure on the street…..
Maybe ‘Japan lockdown’ is working…
I noticed another thing when walking.
Poodle is the most popular pet.
Maybe the next is Shiba dog or Chihuahua.
And yes people wear masks. It was 100% yesterday.
If I was at a small town, people would ask (tell) me to wear a mask.
In Tokyo, though, people have a distance with others and only ‘say it inside.’
In a rural town, people are considered a part of community, and they actually ‘say’ it. It is like a family member.
This is good and bad.
I had been raised for 18 years in a small town till I came to Tokyo for a university.
I remember my mother was telling me that she went to several hairdressers in the neighbor in turn.
There were three or four hairdressers, and as she ran a stationery shop, she wanted those hairdressers to think she was fair in choosing a hairdresser.
Living in a small time makes you feel you are a part of the community, but you worry things that you don’t have to in a big city.
Some people like being a part of community, and others like being on their own.
To me, living in Tokyo or in a small town in Hiroshima is completely different.
It is like a foreign country to each other.
Here are things I purchased.
Some of them cannot be sent now so I will keep them.
Here is a list of countries EMS cannot be mailed to.
We had a summer-like day today, and Tokyo had only five new corona cases and Osaka had zero.
Many cities’ life was back to normal though the lifestyle has been changing.
This week, Nayoya Takashimaya will be back to normal operation where I can buy Hakuhodo and makeup products – not all brans but getting close to normal.
Mailing situation remains the same – no EMS to USA, Russia, Australia and most of EU countries. I really hope it will recover soon!
Sorry – please wait a little more till you receive brushes and make-ups.
I was informed by a client of mine that Celvoke was selling old limited eyeshadows.
I have also seen a Chicca eyeshadow 06 Neo Sepia, which was sold one year ago. I was asked by some clients to buy it when it was on sale again.
I was going to ask my clients but it was sold out within one day…
So quick..
But this is interesting because I know some of you are interested in old limited producuts.
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.
Japanese Government decided to extend the ‘stayhome’ to the 31st of May.
They will revisit the timeline on the 14th. So the period may be shortened.
I have received orders for items sold at department stores, such as SUQQU, THREE, D&G, Lunasol, etc.
I will try and buy them as early as possible.
Sorry to keep you waiting!
I wrote about crowdfunding as a method to have rare products produced.
I checked which products have been bought most, whether limited or regular. The following order is ranking by amount, so more sets, powder and cheek brushes than eyeshadow brushes.
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.
Fude Japan (Makeup brushes from Japan) 