Tokyo Tour: Soy, Green Tea & Hare Hachi Bu. Japanese Secrets to Living Longer.

FACT: The Japanese live longer than most anyone else. According to 2007 CIA statistics, Japan placed third in life expectancy (average woman 85.56; man 78.67; behind tiny Andorra and Macau). Until August 13, 2007, it was home to Yone Minagawa, who at the ripe old age of 114, was the world's oldest person. Since this "title" began in 1955, Japan has boasted 15% of the winners.  And, the Japanese district of Okinawa has the longest average lifespan in the world and the highest percentage of centenarians ever documented from reliable records. 

WHY? The Japanese chalk it up to their diet. Our Boscia tour guide, Sun Son, who's a walking encyclopedia of interesting Japanese facts, blames Japan's admirable life expectancy on a high intake of soy products and green tea. Soy-derived foods, like miso soup, tofu, and soy milk are eaten a few times daily, while green tea is the drink of choice after meals and as a morning pick-me-up--one of Starbucks's most popular items in Japan is the Macha Latte, a blend of Macha (super-concentrated green tea powder) and frothy milk.  Soy products also contain isoflavones,  touted to help protect against breast cancer, prostate cancer, menopausal symptoms, heart disease and osteoporosis.

ALSO: Okinawans (those with the longest life-spans in Japan, mentioned above) eat up to 40 percent fewer calories than Americans and 17 percent fewer calories than the Japanese average, while still retaining adequate nutrition. Their trick is hara hachi bu, which translates to "eat until you're 80 percent full." This, combined with a traditional Japanese diet that's high in antioxidants, is responsible for their lengthy life expectancy. The population, which has been studied be researchers since 1976, live longer but more importantly, they age successfully. Most are lean, energetic and have low rate of chronic illness like heart disease and cancer. 

PROGNOSIS: To increase your odds of living longer and aging better, when it comes to you're diet, pretend you're Japanese. Trade that afternoon coffee for green tea (or invest in Dr. Brandt's Anti-Oxidant Water Boosters; 1 drop delivers the antioxidant power of 16 cups of green tea). Eat lots of soy. And say konichiwa to hara hachi bu. 

Tokyo Tour: The Anatomy of a Clean Room

In order for Boscia's products to be made without preservatives, they are manufactured in a Clean Room--and environment free of dust, bacteria and impurities that can contaminate a product and ruin its shelf life (which is the function of preservatives in the first place).The average room contains over 35 million particles that can cause contamination. Yesterday, we visited Boscia and Fancl's manufacturing plant, and lemme tell you, it's all very "Outbreak." The clean room is the heart of the building, with many layers of clearance around it. We peered at the white-suit clad workers through a few layers of glass, separated by about 20 feet of space. The clean room consisted of 4 different areas - for weighing, preparation, filling and packing, and no where in that process are the products exposed to air, which can introduce contamination. The products are packaged in small, freshness-dated bottles hermetically sealed, with innovative, touch-free caps that are specially designed to keep out bacteria. And getting into the clean room is no easy feat: Workers must pass through 3 different cleansing rooms before they enter the clean room. First, they remove their street clothes, stripping down to their underwear. Next, they step into an air shower where they are disinfected. In the third room, they put on white uniforms that have been specially cleaned to be free of germs. They are then (finally!) ready for work. Before and after lunch, they go through the same process, again (that's a whole lot of dressing and undressing - I guess snack and smoke breaks are out!). Here are some pic's from the clean room.

Tokyo Tour: The History of Boscia & Fancl

In the US, we know Boscia as the preservative-free skincare company with an amazing roster of natural ingredients and a tight lineup of effective products. But, what many of us don't know about Boscia is that they're a tiny arm of a Japanese skincare bohemoth. Boscia's parent company Fancl has been a household name in Japan since 1979, when Kenji Ikemori founded Fancl based on his vision of a preservative-free, healthy approach to beautiful skin. Mr. Ikemori's wife suffered from blotches and rashes on her face. After extensive research, Mr. Ikemori and his team of MD's discovered that that the use of preservatives in commercial cosmetics products was at the root of the problem, and he set off to create a line of skincare and cosmetics that
to improve skin health, not just cover up flaws. The first Fancl products were packaged in small ampules containing a two week supply, which Mr. Ikemori sold out of his one-man shop. When he couldn't keep up with orders, he launched Fancl Corporation in 1981. Today, Fancl is one of larget beauty and supplement companies in Japan, with over 250 boutiques (one in Tokyo's tony Ginza district, which we'll visit tomorrow).

Tokyo Tour: Preservative-Free Beauty

Preservatives are substances that are added to cosmetic products to inhibit the development of microorganisms that could spoil the formula, thus increasing the product's shelf life. In the US, when it comes to preservatives in beauty, we think parabens. But the truth is there are hundreds of other preservatives we rarely hear about. Some we're heard of, like essential oils and salicylic acid, while others, like 1,6 Di(4-amidinophenoxy)-n-hexane we probably haven't. Preservatives are regulated in Japan and Europe, but not in the US. The European Cosmetics Legislation has identified 57 preservatives that are allowed in products made in Europe. Japan has list of 80 different preservatives. Since there's no regulatory agency governing the use of the term "preservative-free" in the US,  a product claiming this may be free of only parabens, but not the other hundreds of  substances that can act as preservatives. Why am I telling you all this? Because Boscia, and the products produced by it's Japanese parent company, Fancl are 100% preservative-free, and since it's made in Japan, it's regulated by the Japanese government. Yesterday, we toured their manufacturing plant to learn exactly how these products can be preservative free. And believe me, it's no easy feat....

Tokyo Blog: Oolong Tea Eats Fat from Inside

Nothing makes a girl feel larger than shopping in an Japanese department store. I swear their XL's are the same size as our XS's. And their XS's? Total girls 6X's. The song "I'm Big in Japan" is starting to have new meaning to me. The active lifestyle and very healthy diet over  here certainly has much to do with the svelte statures of the Japanese. But, they also have a few daily diet secrets that they stick by--and one of them is Oolong tea. They drink this Chinese tea because they think the Chinese are very skinny (gee, I can't WAIT to go shopping there), and believe that Oolong tea eats away "internal" fat. At first I just liked the idea (sipping it now), but then I did a little internet research and found that there may be threads of truth to their theory -- Oolong tea contains large amounts of polyphenols, which are good for you all around. I did find a few study citations on tea websites, one from the International Journal on Obesity3, saying that Oolong tea inhibits intestinal absorption of fat. But those sites may be just a little biased. Till I have time for further research, I'll sip my Oolong tea with meals, and bite my pride as I buy that totally fabulous XL shirt.  

Tokyo Blog: Boscia Tour Tomorrow

That's it for today, but tomorrow we'll bring you to Boscia HQ, and show you their top secret Clean Room, where they ensure all their preservative-free products are completely free of impurities. We'll also tell you more about their parent company, Fancl, and talk a little more about preservative-free products - what that means, who regulates it, and how products get that way. So, we leave you with this image of Japanese school girls lunching on Bento Boxes. How cute are they? Sayonara! 

Tokyo Blog: Sit or Squat Scwabble, Solved

I apologize for the bathroom talk, but...when it comes to toilets, do you sit or squat? Me, I'm a sitter, and I HATE sqautters (aka"sprayers"). Likewise, I'm sure, for the squatters--dirty sitters soil the toilet seat, making them have to squat in the first place. Well, today I discovered a toilet that solves all that--in some Japanese public bathrooms, the toilets are in the ground. After the initial culture shock (what do I do? Should I take my pants off?) I noticed this handy sign above the toilet, instructing me to squat over the toilet. Gotta say, i preferred it. The lack of toilet seat removed the squat or sit conundrum, and the whole experience seemed a heck of a lot cleaner. 

Tokyo Blog: Shady Ladies

Clear, bright, milky skin that's free of brown spots and sun damage is highly prized in Japan. As such, the skin "whitening" market is huge. Walk into any department store or pharmacy and you'll see tone of whitening products and regimens, some from popular US and French companies that you won't find anywhere but Japan. But, the women here are also educated in protecting their skin from the sun. In the spring and summer, it's usual to see women walking around with umbrellas on a perfectly sunny day. Here, they make UV-protection coated umbrellas (modeled here by our Boscia tour guide, Sue Son), specially made to block out UVA and UVB rays. To us, it looks a little odd since we associate umbrellas with rain or the beach, but in soft pastel colors, they're actually really pretty. I say we bring back the parasol. If it's good enough for Nellie Olsen, it's good enough for me.

Tokyo Blog: Take a Bow

The Japanese are extremely polite. There's a general respect and formality that's not seen in the US--zero garbage on the streets (no garbage cans, either - perhaps that's why), impeccable dressing, and all social transactions are begun and ended with bows. In Japanese culture, there are 4 different types of bows, (called ojigi) ranging from a simple head nod to a full fledged bend. The deepest is the bow that a husband gives to his wife (especially when he arrives home late after a night of drinking), at a respectable 90 degree angle. On average, an office worker bows 50 times per day, (they even while talking on the phone) which, as our Boscia tour guide Sun Son says, helps explain how the people stay so slim. Note to self: bow more. 

Photo Courtesy of Chet's Sushi Page

Tokyo Tour: Beauty and the Blog hits Japan!

Konnichi wa! For the next 5 days, Beauty and the Blog is reporting live from Tokyo! We're here with Boscia, our favorite preservative-free skincare line, which is formulated and manufactured outside Tokyo. Interesting stuff: Boscia's parent company, Fancl, is the first preservative-free skincare line, created in the late 1970's by Kenji Ikemori to help his wife (aww!) find skincare that was gentle enough for her sensitive skin. But more on that later....in the meantime, we'll be bringing you tons of beauty and beauty-related trends from Japan, snapping pic's on the streets, sharing what we learn while we're touring, getting travel tips from our fellow tourees (tons of Sephora beauty experts!) visiting the famous Harajuku Girls (and channeling Gwen) on Sunday, and so much more: Next week, we're hanging with the trend experts from CS Scout, authors of one of our fave blogs, Trends in Japan. So stay tuned for the beauty that's BIG in JAPAN!