why japanese skincare

About Kaizen

What does KAIZEN mean?

About Kaizen Skincare

Kaizen is a word used in business and the natural world that means a process of continuous improvement. It’s a quintessential Japanese idea — endless growth and refinement — and that’s why Japanese skincare products are among the best in the world.

The intensive care, research, and testing involved in every Japanese product is unrivaled by other countries.

The result? More effective natural beauty products with higher-quality ingredients that are backed by science and designed to enjoy.

In short, Kaizen Skincare is your resource for finding the best small batch dermatologist developed authentic Japanese skincare brands online.

We’re here to help you Kaizen and evolve into the best version of yourself as we do.

Our founder's story

When Keika Yan, a resident of Tokyo, Japan, was diagnosed with Melasma at 38, her dermatologist recommended a specific collection of small-batch products sold exclusively by estheticians and dermatologists in Japan.

Why?

Western skincare brands and luxury skincare products from the U.S. and Europe often revolve around routines with harsh peels and stripping the skin which, with her sensitive skin, left her always peeling or red and itchy.

K-Beauty from Korea with its 12 steps was just too labor intensive for a mother, wife, and company owner to add to an already busy life.

After trying all these and never loving her skin, she knew it was time to ask the pros and went to a great dermatologist.

That’s when she really learned that Japanese skincare is the opposite; it's plumping and pampering, not punishing the skin you live in.

Kaizen’s mission is to reveal the hidden beauty gem of J-Beauty to you, and is Keika Yan’s way of sharing these amazing products with the United States because J-Beauty is her passion, and now it’s her business too!

It started with a personal experience.

After her experience with Melasma and all her trouble finding skincare that actually worked, she became a true J-Beauty fanatic.

Skincare from Japan, aka “J-Beauty,” is a simple 5 step routine (5 if you count double cleansing as 2 steps) that preps the skin for maximum absorption, then plumps from the inside and protects with a great UV product.

The science, QC, and availability of amazing natural ingredients in Japan makes these products coveted throughout Asia.

And because it uses natural, clean, low irritant ingredients that are scientifically proven for efficacy, J-Beauty skips the harsh products and goes straight to restoring beautiful, healthy, glowing skin.

“Suhada Bijin” is a goal in modern Japanese beauty that means “a makeup free beauty” and is about loving the skin you’re in and having refreshed healthy glowing skin that you
don’t need to cover up with foundation to look great.

And why sell these in the U.S.?

Japanese expats living in America have trouble finding J-Beauty products. K-Beauty, from Korea, has made its way into stores everywhere, yet it’s nearly impossible to find clean, small batch, high performance Japanese products here.

Second, small-batch Japanese brands are nearly invisible to the
world, especially in non-Asian countries. Meanwhile, wealthy Asians flock to Japan to bring home suitcases full of J-Beauty products because of how clean, rich, gentle, and effective they are.

Lastly and most importantly, Keika Yan is confident that if
Kaizen Beauty can help get the word out, the U.S. is bound to fall in love with J-Beauty.

Japan produces some of the finest, high-spec beauty products in the world, but many of the best products remain a secret because of Japan’s general weakness in marketing (sorry Japan, you’re just not great at getting the world passionate about your excellent products outside of your home country!) and selling outside of Japan.

1) CARD SECURITY, LOGISTICS, AND SAFETY

Your trust is our top priority. That’s why our Tokyo-based business was developed by a U.S. agency and is fully hosted on secure platforms. Safe, secure, and encrypted, Kaizen is powered by Shopify for total eCommerce protection for our shoppers.

Via Shopify and its built-in payment processing system, we never see customers’ credit card or personal data (unlike other Japanese skincare websites that store data internally).

Even orders, returns and chargebacks are all conducted with Shopify so you’ll have none of the stress or worry that shopping from overseas can cause.

3) AUTHENTIC! Really Made in Japan

The skincare industry is (unfortunately) filled with knockoffs and counterfeit Japanese products. Our founder and Kaizen Skincare personally negotiate directly with clinics and dermatologists to secure and sell only genuine Japanese products. Keika refuses to take any chances with her skin, and neither should you! As we said, trust is our top priority.

There’s a large problem with counterfeit products flooding Asia and making it to the U.S. via Amazon. That’s why Kaizen does not sell to China (Keika home country) or on Amazon as both are popular outlets for fake J-Beauty products, and popular products get reproduction counterfeits as soon as they get visibility.

2) Quick, affordable, reliable shipping

Since our products are made in Japan, they are shipped from Tokyo. We don’t want our customers waiting for frustrating overseas shipping, so Kaizen works with some of the most reliable shipping partners in the world. Thankfully, Japan is great with logistics.

4) Natural, Effective, Dermatologist-Designed Products

Lastly, Kaizen is all about natural, powerful Japanese products that are developed and recommended by dermatologists and tested in-house to make sure we’re only selling skin care we’d use ourselves, personally.

About Our Founder, Keika Yan

Meet Keika.

After graduating from a Japanese university, she worked for decades in business development between Japan and China with a “play hard, work harder” mentality.

Recently, she stepped back to live a more fulfilling life.

That meant more time with her family (a loving husband, son, and poodle named Louie) and pursuing her passion: Japanese skincare.

Her departure from corporate Asia led to founding her own international wholesale company selling overseas to France, Australia, Singapore, and the United States in 2020. This successful venture quickly expanded into direct-to-consumer pipelines, leading Keika to begin collaborating with other J-Beauty fanatics and launching Kaizen Skincare.

Her new motto is “Do more, have less” and her love of Zen temples and cutting out the unnecessary things in life to do more with less is an integral part of how she runs Kaizen Skincare.

Looking to the future, Keika hopes that Kaizen is able to raise awareness of J-Beauty worldwide and eventually host events and tours for skincare fanatics visiting Japan. She strongly believes that J-Beauty and its amazing products, techniques, and brands deserve to be enjoyed by the world.

Remember self-care.

When Keika Yan isn’t busy running her business, she’s probably visiting Japanese Zen temples, reading a new book or taking a nap (2-3 per day if possible! Sleep is skin care!)

Working is a passion for her, yet self-care is non-negotiable. In an effort to prevent “the grind” from grinding her down, she focuses on gentleness; that includes gentle products, gentle people and gentle stress-free processes.

“Honestly, I am not the best at putting on makeup so I have always valued skincare,” says Keika Yan. “My philosophy is to keep things simple and kind to my skin. I want to encourage my skin’s natural healing power so I prioritize things like face wash, serums, and UV creams more than covering my skin up with foundation. Beautiful skin is the best makeup we can invest in. If you love your skin, it’ll love you back.”

She also takes one day off a week from all skincare products to let her skin harness its own natural healing powers. And her skin still looks amazing on that day off.

She’s not saying that, we, the writers are, her skin is goals! (No really, look at her photo, it’s untouched.)