Amid the crowds of Tokyo’s Harajuku district, a pop-up with a glowing, sunset-inspired exterior offers visitors an unexpectedly peaceful escape. The spacious interior features jars of rice grass and photographs of farmers tending their fields, reflecting the agricultural roots of Japanese skincare brand Fas. In early October, the space welcomed Japanese actors Keita Machida, Kyōko Hasegawa and Yuka Kouri, stars of the Emmy-winning series Shōgun, to mark the brand’s first standalone pop-up as it celebrates its third anniversary.
Founded in 2023, Fas takes its name from “fermentation and science.” It has entered a Japanese beauty market long shaped by established companies such as Shiseido, Kao and SK-II, as well as popular drugstore labels including Canmake, Cezanne and Kate Tokyo. While South Korea’s K-beauty industry has expanded through viral products, fast development cycles and a growing independent-brand scene, Japan has produced relatively few new beauty labels with similar momentum.
Fas is seeking to change that by building its identity around fermented black rice extract sourced from Kyotango, a city in Kyoto Prefecture celebrated for its fermentation heritage. Its leading products include the Black Essence lightweight toner, priced at JPY 11,550 ($73) for 200ml; the Black Lift eye cream, at JPY 16,500 ($105) for 15ml; and the Black day cream with SPF50+, which sells for JPY 6,600 ($42) for 40ml.
The company has grown its reputation without depending heavily on traditional advertising. Instead, it has cultivated relationships with influential beauty professionals, including editors, makeup artists and stylists, who have become customers and introduced the products to others. Its availability in prestigious Japanese department stores such as Isetan and Hankyu has further strengthened its standing. These retailers are generally cautious about introducing unfamiliar names, often favoring brands with long histories and established reputations.
An Isetan buyer told Vogue Business that Fas’s Japanese origins, clear explanation of its ingredients and limited product range helped make the brand an appealing addition. Its pricing has also attracted shoppers, including gaisho clients—high-net-worth customers who purchase luxury products through personal shopping and concierge services.
Fas has a different origin story from the typical Western beauty startup. Rather than being established by an individual entrepreneur seeking venture capital, it was created by Tokyo-based Sirok, a subsidiary of Japanese entertainment group CyberAgent, whose businesses include video games and digital advertising.
According to Minami Inoue, Fas’s founding brand manager and managing director at Sirok, the company’s backing provides financial security, credibility and operational support, helping reduce the risks associated with launching a new brand. Still, she recognizes that beauty is a deeply personal business in which consumer confidence must be earned. Unlike technology and gaming, skincare depends heavily on emotional connection and trust.
Inoue, who is from Kyoto, says Fas is focused on building a business that can endure rather than chasing immediate sales. Her ambition is to develop the label into a major beauty company over the long term. Since its launch in 2023, sales have tripled, with the brand recording 300% growth each year, she says.
Its early success has encouraged Fas to take Japanese traditions and craftsmanship to consumers beyond its home market. However, the real test will be whether it can turn international curiosity into repeat purchases and sustained loyalty.
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The international opportunity for J-beauty
Fas’s ambitions coincide with Japan’s efforts to strengthen the global reach of its cultural industries. South Korea offers a model of how cultural influence can be developed into an export strategy. Its government has invested substantial resources in promoting Korean television, music, food and beauty internationally, helping these industries reach audiences around the world.
Japan’s cultural influence, by contrast, has historically been more fragmented. Global successes such as Nintendo and Studio Ghibli have largely grown through private-sector investment rather than a coordinated government-led campaign.
In 2013, Japan established the Cool Japan Fund to promote its culture overseas. However, limited industry knowledge and unsuccessful investment decisions led to accumulated losses of JPY 54 billion, or approximately $340 million. A revised strategy published in 2024 identified gaming, tourism, beauty and fashion as priority industries. The government aims to expand the combined market value of these sectors from JPY 30 trillion to JPY 50 trillion—approximately $189 billion to $316 billion—by 2033.
Aasmi Iida, senior executive officer at Tokyo-based marketing and investment firm Trenders Inc., says the initiative initially concentrated more on lifestyle and anime, with J-beauty receiving relatively little attention. She believes South Korea’s achievements in beauty exports helped Japanese policymakers recognize the sector’s potential. Japanese cuisine and music have become widely known internationally, she observes, while Japanese beauty products have yet to achieve comparable recognition.
Aya Suzuki, a Tokyo-based senior analyst at Euromonitor International, also notes that Japanese brands have generally been slower than Korean competitors to establish international visibility. Nevertheless, she believes current consumer interests could create a favorable environment for J-beauty. Its focus on scientific effectiveness, prevention, craftsmanship and consistent skincare aligns with growing demand for longevity, wellness and authenticity.
Rather than trying to compete with K-beauty through speed and constant product launches, Suzuki suggests Japanese brands can build a distinctive identity around long-term skincare, healthy aging and reliable results.
Iida identifies several characteristics that distinguish Japanese beauty from other Asian markets. These include traditional botanical ingredients such as rice bran, green tea, camellia oil, sake and seaweed. She also highlights Japan’s strict approach to formulation. Many Japanese skincare products fall under the “quasi-drug” classification, which requires extensive clinical testing and supporting data before approval. Japanese formulas also frequently emphasize protecting the skin and preventing damage instead of relying solely on treatments after problems appear.
Other domestic brands are already pursuing international expansion. Japanese haircare company &Honey, acquired by investment firm KKR in August, has increased its presence in North America and Europe, entering retailers such as Ulta Beauty and Target in the United States, and Selfridges and Boots in the United Kingdom. Skincare label Takami, which has been backed by L’Oréal since early 2021, launched exclusively in the UK through Space NK in June and is also expanding into Southeast Asia.
Fas is preparing to follow a similar path. The company currently operates one physical boutique in Kyoto but intends to open additional stores across Japan, beginning with Tokyo. It is also considering international locations, including New York and Paris. In autumn 2027, the brand plans to host its first international brand trip, inviting influencers and editors to experience its origins in Kyoto.
A modern interpretation of fermentation
Before working with Sirok CEO Yuta Iizuka to establish Fas, Inoue founded N Organic, a Japanese cosmetics brand launched in 2015 for women in their 20s through their 40s. Conversations with customers eventually prompted her to consider how skincare needs change with age. She recalls hearing questions about what happens after 40 and how people should approach beauty when they are no longer trying to look as they did in their twenties.
Those discussions inspired her to create a brand that combined a modern, sophisticated identity with a broader understanding of wellbeing. Fermentation became the foundation of that concept.
The process transforms locally sourced ingredients—including rice, honey and soybeans—into formulas intended to be more potent without irritating the skin. It is also used to support cellular turnover and deliver deeper hydration by improving how ingredients penetrate the skin.
Although fermentation has become increasingly familiar in Western beauty through developments in biotechnology, it has been part of Japanese and wider Asian food cultures for centuries. Ingredients and products such as miso, soy sauce and sake rely on fermentation, which has traditionally been used to preserve food, develop rich umami flavors and support gut health.
“Fermentation is one of the oldest things in Japanese life — think miso, soy sauce, sake — but precisely because it is so familiar, it has been overlooked,” Inoue says.
Fas’s approach also extends beyond the products themselves. At the October pop-up, actors Machida and Hasegawa expressed appreciation for the brand’s contribution to local employment and communities. Kyotango is not simply a source of agricultural ingredients: Fas also provides direct financial assistance to local farmers and regularly takes employees to visit the farms.
However, depending on locally grown ingredients creates supply challenges. One farmer in Kyotango, who previously worked as a salaried employee in Tokyo before retiring to pursue a closer connection with nature, explains that a poor harvest can disrupt production for an entire season. Fas says it is responding by building up reserves and working toward greater stability in its agricultural supply.
Inoue acknowledges that maintaining this approach requires patience. “The work takes time,” she says, “but the day we let that go is the day Fas stops being Fas.”
The philosophy reflects Kyoto’s distinctive relationship with tradition. The city is known for preserving its heritage not only through museums and historical sites, but also through the continued production and everyday use of objects, tools and crafts that have existed for centuries.
That commitment to continuity, rather than chasing whatever happens to be fashionable, is central to Fas’s identity. Inoue hopes the idea will resonate with consumers around the world, particularly as attitudes toward aging and beauty evolve.
“Modern Japanese society tends to prioritize youth, but what we found in Kyoto pointed the other way,” she says. “Beauty lies in the passage of time itself. Skin and lives that have accumulated years with care hold a beauty that youth cannot reproduce. It is a realization that could only have come from Kyoto, a city where objects that survived centuries are still in use.”
For Fas, taking J-beauty global means offering more than a collection of skincare products. It means sharing a Kyoto-inspired philosophy in which craftsmanship, patience and the passage of time are valued as essential parts of beauty.
