Is Your Handbag Summer-Ready?

All my windows were open yesterday, with breeze and sunshine pouring in.  It is a beautiful, late spring!  But those of us who have experienced it know that the hot, humid beast that is summer-time Tokyo lurks just around the corner.  America's citizens, on the other hand, are weak.  As with rain, we are used to our climate-controlled bubbles and have little need to develop the weapons necessary to fight the ravages of weather.  

Not so Japan!  The Japanese Woman encounters many challenges as she cycles to work, climbs stairs in 4 inch heels (ok, not everyone is in 4 inch heels, but it sure seems that way), takes her child to the park, squeezes onto a rush-hour train, waits in stuffy elevators, and swelters through last summer's Electricity Savings  (will this year be easier?).  Yet, she almost always looks serene and...cool?  How is this super-human feat possible?  I consider myself to be generally put together, but leave me outside for 10 minutes in August and I am a hot, drippy mess.  Makeup starts to run, hair starts to frizz, and my kid starts to grouch.  Meanwhile, my train station platform companion is elegantly sleek-haired and her face is completely matte.  Her kid is also quiet. I hate her.

For the past two summers, I simply resigned myself to the truth: I am a less-completely evolved female.  Until I was bitterly commenting on my envy of the Japanese woman's perfect hair, and the utter uselessness of my hair straightener after June 1st, and my friend said,

"Oh, we all get our hair straightened."

"Wha....what?  WHAT!?"

"Oh yes, Japanese permanent straightening.  I go to the salon every six months.  It's amazing!"

The hair straightening is for another post.  But the conversation did engage my mental cogs.  If Japanese women had found a way to have perfect, summer-time hair, could there be other secret weapons that I didn't know about?

Yes.  Yes, there could.

My case has cherry blossoms and bunnies.  Ridiculously cute!

Say hello to face-blotting papers!  I know, we have these in the States.  But have you ever actually used one?  Do you know anyone who's used one?  Professional makeup artists, I guess.  I have had a drawer packed full of beauty products for over a decade, and face-blotting papers have never taken up residence.  Until I was on a March MWR sightseeing tour to Nara, and stumbled upon a Face-Blotting Paper Store.  Yes, a store entirely devoted to scented face-blotting papers and their cute carrying cases, that are also perfectly purse-sized.  This is why shopping in Japan is awesome.

After picking out the most attractively scented papers and the cutest paper case, my makeup is now prepared to handle the worst that summer can throw at me!  I cycled home yesterday, Little TF on the back, and worked up a slight sweat.  So I took my face-blotting papers out of my handbag for their inaugural spin.  That little square soaked up everything. No more shiny face!  No more runny makeup!  Now I can finally hold my own next to that cool and serene platform companion. If we're talking about matte faces, that is.

Remember, check the mirror.  You don't want to leave a shiny spot!

If you can't make it to the cute Face-Blotting Paper Store in Nara, just pop in your local drugstore or 100 yen store.  I've seen the papers at both kinds of stores.  This summer, enjoy a face that looks fresh and cool (even if the rest of you isn't)!

Ganbatte,

-The Tofu Fox

The Super Cute Face-Blotting Paper Store in Nara is located down the street from the Kofukuji Temple.  It's on the street that runs past an enormous pond.  If the Kofukuji Temple is on your right and the pond is on your left, the store is a block or two down, on the left-hand side.


Disclaimer:  I do my best to make sure all my information is accurate.  However, details may change or I may just be flat-out wrong.  Please let me know if something needs a correction.  Thank-you!