What to bring back from Japan

It has been far too long since I have posted. When I originally sat down to write this post, I was feeling the winter blues and looking forward to longer days and sunshine. How quickly things have changed since then. I will be honest, it has taken me a long time to find the motivation to finish this post. I hold travel so dearly in my heart and consider it a necessity to the well being of my soul, but with the uncertainty that COVID-19 has brought to our world, I do not know when I or any of us will be able to travel. However, I am trying to remain positive that it will be sooner than later. In the meantime, I am reminiscing about my recent travels and specifically rummaging through all of the goodies I brought back from my trip to Japan. I can’t think of a better way to mentally help bring me back to the moments of joy while traveling. So I want to share with you my top list of goodies to bring back from Japan. I brought back the most amount of goodies I have ever brought back from any country. I think it was because Japan is so far and I didn’t know when I would be back, but also there really is just that much awesome stuff in Japan that you can’t always find in the States. My advice is, bring spare luggage or pack lightly. You will need it! Enjoy my post and stay healthy and safe. We will travel again! 

Beauty Products

I really didn’t know much about Japanese beauty products prior to my trip and have mostly been into French skincare and beauty products. While watching youtube videos, mostly all from Kim Dao who is a beauty video blogger, I discovered that Japan has some really great drugstore skincare and makeup products. Most are pretty cheap ($4-$20 range) and if you buy a lot, you can get duty free on them (for more details on duty free or links to Kim Dao videos, please refer to my earlier Japan posts). Below are the products I found to be most popular while researching. I bought most of these at Donki or random drug stores. Since it has been a couple of months since I have been back from Japan, I have had a chance to test these out.  When considering Japanese beauty products to bring back, research on youtube or Pinterest before your trip as there is a lot and most are in Japanese characters and hard to decipher. One thing I will point out, if you are someone who pays attention to parabens, I will say you have to be careful with Japanese products as some do still use them. You can also find most of these products on Amazon, but be careful when buying them online as some are knock offs that ship from China and not the best quality.

From bottom left to right:

Cleansing net: I had never heard of these things prior to Japan, but apparently all Japanese women use them. Basically they are little mesh nets you use with your foam cleansers that help your face wash get super foamy, making your cleanser more effective. They work and are worth the hype.

Biore UV Face Sunscreen SPF50: I have not used this too much yet as it hasn’t been super sunny in Chicago, but I did test it out a couple of times. I totally get why this is vey popular in Japan. It is super light weight, more like an essence, and not like the super thick sunscreens we are used to in the States. I will test it out more in the summer and hopefully it will not clog my pores. So far so good!

Sana Nameraka Honpo all in one moisture jelly: Sana is a really popular drug store brand in Japan and this product is awesome for those days you can’t get yourself to put on serum, eye cream, toner, moisturizer and whatever else us girls like to layer on! Works pretty well.

DHC Cleansing Oil: You can find this product and brand in the States, but it is much cheaper in Japan. I read somewhere that a bottle sells every couple of minutes, might have even been seconds, globally. Japanese women are big into double cleansing and I have slowly been getting into it. This one has clean ingredients and is worth buying.

Kanebo Suisai Podwer Cleanser: This is another popular Japanese brand. Each container contains about 32 powder cleansers. These are awesome for travel as they are disposable and all you have to do is add warm water to each cleanser pod and mix it with the powder. It foams nicely, cleans well and I can usually stretch each pod into two uses.

Senka Perfect Whip: Senka is a drugstore brand and this is the most popular face wash. I saw it as cheap as $2. Its best used with a cleansing net and it foams up to a whipped cream consistency. It cleans really well.

Curel Cleansing Gel: Another double cleansing product. This is more like a jelly you use to remove your makeup before using your normal cleanser. It works really well and has to be one of my favorite products.

Sana Nameraka Facial Milk: In Japan, toners are normally called lotions, so be careful when buying moisturizers. This product is called a facial milk, but it’s more like a lightweight moisturizer. It is made with soy milk and is great for layering moisture. The brand also has a toner from this line that they call lotion and the bottle is almost identical.

Rohto Hada Labo Gokujyun Hydrating Lotion: This is the number one Hyaluronic Acid drugstore serum in Japan and is worth the hype. Make sure you apply it to dry skin because applying it on damp skin makes it dryer. I apply this before I moisturize and it does make my skin dewy.

Yojiya Blotting Paper: Most popular oil blotting paper from Kyoto. I will be putting it to go use in the summer.

Rhoto Mentholatum Vitamin C Concentrate: I have been using this instead of my normal vitamin c serum. It’s great for spot treating and works great on acne scars. It has a slightly oily texture but absorbs well into the skin.

Cure Natural Aqua Gel: I absolutely love this product. It is a gel you apply to your dry skin that works as a gentle exfoliator. You rub it on your dry skin and seriously watch the the dead skin come of. I will be sad when I use it up, but the bottle does last a long time. I have barely put a dent in it using it twice a week.

From bottom left to right:

Heroine Make Long and Curl Mascara: This is the number one selling mascara in Japan. It does make your lashes super long and curly and it is super waterproof. You will need those double cleansers to get this one off, but it does not smudge!

DHC Medicated Lip Cream: Another best seller you will see everywhere. Really great for super dry lips. I bought a couple and gave some out as gifts.

UZU Eye Opening Liner: I have never been into liquid eyeliner, but I am obsessed with this one. It goes on super smooth, stays put and the bristles are made by hand in Japan. After googling I found that they do have a U.S. online store and I like it so much I ordered two more online. This one is on pricier side at $16, but really worth it. Link

Pore Putty BB Cream: This BB cream has great coverage and minimizes pores. Ideal for those days you don’t want full make up. It includes collagen which is really good for your skin.

Club Suppin Pressed Face Powder: This is a top selling translucent face powder. It covers pores and evens skin tone and includes ingredients like collagen, hyaluronic acid,  and Neubara Fruit Extract (moisturizing ingredient). It is said to protect you from environmental toxins and does not need to be washed off as it that safe for skin.

Pore Putty Pressed Powder: I bought this powder in a light color, but it does come in translucent, and I love it. It really helps my makeup stay put, minimizes pores and evens out my skin tone. It is also a top selling product in Japan.

Canmake Cream Blush: Super cute packaging and really popular cream blush. Its very light and easy for color layering. Stays put pretty well and has a very natural look. Best part is it was less than $5.

Canmake Cover and Stretch UV Concealer: I love this concealer and I feel like it works better than my NARS concealer for a fraction of the price (It was somewhere around $7-$8). It protects from UV light, is waterproof, stays on for a long time and does not cake.

Maquillage Dramatic Rouge Lipstick: This brand is a drugstore Shishedo brand, but surprisingly not really cheaper. However, this has to be my all time favorite lipstick. I have never really worn lipsticks as I always found them to dry out my lips or just didn’t like the way they looked. This one is hydrating and goes on smooth and I bought it in this really pretty red color (I could never find a red color that worked on me prior to trying this one). It set me back about $29, but I will be very sad when I run out.

The items above deserve some honorable mention. Japan like Korea is known for face masks and there is an overwhelming amount to choose from. The two in the back are Utena Pure Collagen and LuLulun and the box at the bottom right hand corner are Kabuki themed ones I bought for fun. The Utena masks come in a pack of 6 and are supposed to brighten and moisturize your skin. I found them to be ok. Lululun is a daily mask and the pack I bought has 36 masks in it that have 8 different essences that tighten, repair and moisturize your skin. They cost about $14 and do work. I also bought eye/lip area masks from Kose and they are awesome. They cost about $6-$7 for a pack of 32 and they are great for wrinkles, moisturizing and firming up the eye and mouth area. I also bought pain patches (little circular disks you put on pain areas that work wonders), compression socks that slim your legs (semi work), baby foot peel mask (I thought it didn’t work but it took a couple of days for my feet to start peeling and it did leave my feet soft), patches for your calfs/soles of feet that are great for a day after wearing heals and cotton squares for using toners/removing makeup (Japan apparently is known for high quality qtips and cotton balls/squares). One of my favorite products above is the Dao Megurism steam warm eye mask in lavender. This eye mask can be found everywhere in Japan and its meant to be used to relax tired eyes. It warms up to 100F and the steam and heat combined with lavender help relax tired eyes. It is great to use on airplanes to help you relax.

While in Japan I wondered how it was possible for women to always be wearing skirts and dresses when it’s chilly out and seemingly look warm. So of course I googled and discovered the magic of Kairo. What is Kairo? It is a single-use heat pack that you activate by rubbing when you are ready to use and it stays hot for 8 hours and sometimes longer. These wonderful little things come in different versions, stick-able patches you can put on your clothes(put them on the outside of a t-shirt/clothes, never directly touching your skin or you will burn yourself) packs you can put in your coat pockets and patches you can stick in your shoes to keep your feet warm. These things are amazing and keep you nice an toasty. They can be found in convenience and drug stores all over Japan and for a pack of 10 it costs maybe $3-4 bucks (might even find them cheaper).

 

I had to buy something at the flagship Shishedo store since it was located in the neighborhood we were staying in, so I bought the above anti-wrinkle cream. I have been using it at night and it works pretty well. I would skip buying it in Japan as I found it cheaper on their U.S. online store. This one was a splurge. I will let you google it for the price!

 

Kit Kats and Other Sweets

You can not go to Japan and not bring back Kit-Kats. I repeat you can not. I can’t list off all of the different flavors as there are too many to count, but google them for fun. Prior to Japan I liked Kit-Kats, but I wasn’t obsessed with them. Having now tried the Japanese kind, I am! They are not as sweet as the ones in the U.S. and the flavors are bold. You can’t find the different flavors anywhere outside of Japan, but I have gotten lucky and seen them occasionally at World Market or local Asian grocery stores. The flavors I brought back are red bean, green tea, strawberry, raspberry, orange chocolate and dark chocolate (not pictured above). My favorite are raspberry, dark chocolate and green tea. You can find bags of Kit-Kats as cheap as less than $3 up to premium flavors for $6-$7 (some might have been more). I would buy these at Donki or in local areas for best prices. Don’t wait to buy them at the airport as they do not have the bags, only large boxes.

Above are the random sweets I found at Regional Japanese satellite/convenience stores that are worth a mention. Bottom Left to Right: Sea Salt Butter Cookies, Chocolate Covered Almonds, Dark Chocolate Bites, Bourbon Brand Variety Cookies and Chocolate biscuits. I also bought green tea cookies not featured above.

The above cookie/chocolate boxes I bought at the airport and I am so glad I did as they were delicious. I did not see these anywhere outside of the airport and they ranged in price from $8-$14. I would consider these more premium sweets. Notice the pretty packaging on all of them. From Top Left to Right: Royce Chocolate are these truffle like chocolates that come in various flavors and are made with milk form Hokkaido which is known for premium milk. Buy these at the airport as they do need to be refrigerated and they will give you an ice pack to put them in at the airport so you can get them home. Campanella dark chocolate sandwich cookies (nothing short of amazing), Saqu Langue De Chat cream filled biscuits(made with Hokkaido milk and in flavors like wine, hazelnut, caramel, cheese and green tea) and Colombin cream filled biscuits also made with Hokkaido milk. The cookies in Japan I noticed had a lot of French influence and were very delicate and flavorful.

Green Tea and Coffee

You can’t go to Japan and not bring back green tea, well unless you don’t like green tea. Above are my top picks that I found (left to right): Matcha powder from Kyoto, loose leaf sencha from Kyoto, and green tea bags. I also bought powdered green tea, green tea latte and roasted rice green tea not featured above. It might seem like a lot, but green tea is very cheap in Japan, so much so that I didn’t pay attention to the prices.

I was not expecting to find good coffee in Japan, but yet again I was surprised. The number one popular coffee item featured above was this single serve drip coffee pod you put over your cup. You can find these in every convenience store and they had them in our hotel room daily. The coffee is really good and the package of 18 is about $4. I forgot to take a picture of the box but you might be able to spot it in my overall goodies picture found below this post.

Ramen and Other Savory Items

Japan and Ramen are synonymous and if you love Ramen like I do, you have to bring some back. The box above is from the Ichiran Ramen shop chain (one of the most popular ones) and I bought it at Donki for $18 for 5 servings. To your right is the finished product excluding the egg I added. Be sure to also check out 7-11 and other convenience stores as they sell Michelin rated single serve ramen for cheap. In addition to Ramen, you can buy rice cracker mixes, crab chips and other savory oddball items. If you scroll down to my pics you might be able to spot the packaging for Ramen and crab chips!

Kitchenware

If you have the room in your luggage you need to bring back some ceramics and chopsticks from Japan. The mugs on the left and chopsticks on right I bought at Daiso. Mugs were $3 a piece and the chopsticks were $1 a set! Other items I bought at Daiso for $1-$3 were mesh laundry bags (used for your delicate items) and this cute nylon egg timer you throw in with you eggs that changes colors to let you know when your eggs are soft, medium or hard boiled. The pretty matcha set I bought at a local market and it was roughly $10-$12. Super affordable if you ask me and I only wish I had more room to bring back more ceramics.

I bought this ceramic knife at Donki after debating if I should or not. It was $30 and it was so worth it. This is the best knife I have owned for chopping/dicing/slicing. You have to be careful with it as it is ceramic but it is super sharp. Everyone should own one.

Art

Don’t forget to pick up some local art and good luck charms(omamori) while in Japan. The painting we bought at a temple in Kyoto and the charm was from a temple in Tokyo. You can find the charms in all temples throughout Japan to provide luck with exams, health, fortune or to protect you while traveling/driving. They should not be opened (you can take them out from packaging) and should be carried with you (you can put in your wallet or hang on your purse/keychain).  Keep in mind temples only accept cash and prices range $3-$15.

Clothing

Finally I will spare you the pictures of clothing I bought, but will note that you can find some nice cheap clothes in Japan. Sizes do run smaller so keep that in mind. I bought a really cute wool skirt at Uniqlo for less than $30 and cute organic pjs at Muji for about the same. I usually wear a small but in Japan I range from a medium to large.