Konichua, Konbanawa, Genki Deska. Welcome to the Wabi Sabi podcast. This is episode number 202.

In honor of AA&HPI month coming up, the Japanese beauty rituals that I grew up with

are nothing new to my family and I from Kishu, Japan, but I wanted to share with you in honor of

this month the rituals that are timeless practices that are rooted in simplicity, discipline,

and really cool self-care. So everybody can actually practice these. They are accessible to all of you. And I really

encourage all of you to start sharing this podcast a lot more with your girlfriends, your guy friends,

anybody who might be interested in better self-care. So long before Jay Beauty became this

global trend and long before Japan has recently become like the hottest,

coolest country to visit, appropriate, to take from. There were rituals that were simply

part of my everyday life in the Kumai family and in all families throughout

Japan. These things weren't labeled as beauty secrets. They weren't anything special. When you are in the

culture, you don't necessarily see how different you are from the rest of the world. I took a lot of

notes when I was a young girl. And these were just practices in the way that we lived.

I grew up watching my mom, my aunts, and my grandmother, and my great aunties follow these quiet, consistent practices.

They were not excessive.

They were not performative like they are today on social media, sadly.

And over time, I began to understand that beauty in Japanese culture isn't something that you

chase or share or tout and it's not about narcissism or your looks. It's about something that you

protect. It's about patience.

And it's about an exquisite beauty to one individual self, like a subtle, clean, and open-minded beauty that a woman can possess.

Sometimes it's in a feeling, so we're not going to be able to truly feel that through a podcast.

But I think if I'm on to the right next steps of my career,

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