Letter from Boston

A Most Unusual Trend

By MASAKO YAMADA

最近の変わった流行

Of course, everybody knows that Japanese cars and electronic products are popular in the States. They have been popular for years, and many of the manufacturers are household names. Some people know that frilly, novelty products like Sanrio goods, Tamagotchi or "print club" stickers have also been popular among young people.

But who would have guessed that a facial cleansing product would spread like wildfire in drugstores across America? Innovative though the product is, I would not have imagined that Biore brand pore-cleaning strips would become as popular as they have.

Japanese cosmetics brands such as Shiseido, Pola and Kanebo are not very well known by the average consumer here. One can see these names at high-end department stores or small boutiques catering to well-heeled Asians, but one would never see these brands at common drugstore chains like CVS, Osco or Walgreens. Most of the practical young women I know buy their beauty products at drugstores, not department stores. Japanese youth may perhaps consider Chanel to be the high-class designer brand of choice, but here Shiseido and other Japanese cosmetics brands are treated in much the same way.

That is why it's so surprising that I now see these pore-cleaning strips everywhere, including chain drugstores and supermarkets. Biore may not be the most costly brand in Japan, but its products are still expensive by common American standards. Drugstore beauty products such as shampoo, lipsticks and nail polish usually cost a few dollars here. Even the better products cost about $10 (¥1,100). I was therefore shocked to see these strips fly off the shelves at a cost of about $5 (¥550) for only six strips.

Imitators followed at the heels of Biore very quickly. I now see at least five or six brands of pore strips at my local drugstore. The drugstore even sells its own store brand of discount strips, which, interestingly enough, are still "Made in Japan." Some of them have fancy medication or sensitive skin treatments contained in the strips, but the basic design is the same for all of them: A sticker-like strip is plastered onto one's nose and then peeled off when the glue dries.

Impurities are pulled out with the strip. These impurities remain on the strip and can be observed by eye. It's hard to choose the best strips, because they all seem the same, but the pioneering Biore does advertise that its strips clean better than the others.

It seems to be somewhat of a trend among youth to show others their strips after their treatments. At least, that is what I sense from the many advertisements I've encountered. One particularly memorable radio segment involves a bunch of gossipy teenagers talking excitedly about these pore strips. Apparently, they love to gross each other out by showing each other their used strips.

Group facials have been a popular activity for a long, long time — it's fun to see a bunch of friends with oatmeal masks on their faces — but pore cleansing seems to be the new group beauty ritual of choice. The radio commercial is heavy on teenage slang and it makes the product seem hip and exciting. However, I've seen magazines for older women praise the practical effectiveness of the strips as well.

What I have yet to see is the emergence of pore strips for men. I have seen pore strips for men at a Japanese pharmacy, but I doubt they will take root in general. I think it would be considered much too feminine for the vast majority of men here. I do know a few homosexual men who use facial cleanser and moisturizer to keep their faces smooth, but most men I know use the same bar of soap to wash their entire body — sometimes including their hair. I've certainly never read fashion articles or advertisements encouraging men to remove excessive body hair using waxes or electrolysis. I know one man who plucks his eyebrows, but this has elicited chuckles among my friends.

Cosmetics for women remain popular even in the era of professionalism and efficiency, but I suppose most men prefer not to exercise their own equal rights to engage in elaborate beauty rituals.

Shukan ST: Jan. 22, 1999

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