Welcome to HoFu!

Ho Fu 豊富 in Japanese means Abundance.

I created this website to share and educate viewers all around the world about the micro self-care and daily wellness habits of the Japanese.

I created this website to share and educate viewers around the world about the micro self-care and daily wellness habits of the Japanese. The highlight of this site is the items I have curated to sell directly from my suppliers that hail from various prefectures across Japan.

As a non-Japanese myself, I have only found the best skincare products from Japan. There are so many underrated things in Japan. By 2023, I have plans to create my skincare products and line to share with all of you. HoFu products can be purchased from this site once I have them ready and out of production sometime in the summer of 2023. So stay tuned! I am starting this out as a passion project while I work full-time in a high-pressure corporate job and to help me take the edge off whenever I have free time. I hope this might inspire some of you who are contemplating starting a side hustle or passion project. By taking a risk and pursuing what gives you pleasure and feeds your soul.

In October 2016, at 29 years old, shy of turning 30 in 7 months, I came out to Tokyo on my own on a cheap budget flight and a small Airbnb in the back street of Shibuya to attend a bilingual job fair. My chances were slim and I was on the verge of taking the LSAT (Law school entrance exam for the Juris Doctor program) from Singapore where I was based. At the time, I was in between jobs and I looking for inspiration on how to push myself out of Singapore and find more freedom, and challenge myself living on my own in a different culture. I narrowed it down to utilize the weakest of the four language skills which was Japanese. So, I figured that I needed to put myself in a situation where I could improve my Japanese language skills in a business setting. (I had minored in Japanese in college as an undergrad but I did not take it seriously as it was forced onto me to study it at University.)

After many interview rejections, and dealing with typical excuses of not providing visa support and having only lackluster Japanese language skills at the time, I finally got my big break in Japan to work at a global technology firm as the Head of HR. Slowly, I built my life in Japan while managing a long-distance relationship at the other end of the world, Brazil, of all places... Therefore, the stresses of my new life in Japan and managing my personal life were rather tough at the start of my journey in Japan.

In my free time after work and on the weekends, naturally, I was drawn to the Japanese drug stores -- specifically the cosmetics and skincare isles. As a young girl, I was also interested in the drug stores in Singapore and wherever I traveled. However, I discovered that the Japanese skincare products were unique and of good quality. Being naturally curious about how it would improve the texture of my skin, time would pass so quickly with me laser-focused on every word and description on the labels trying to read the Chinese characters (Japanese Kanji) trying to to decipher the purpose and use of each product. Today, almost six years later, I have narrowed down my interest to specific products in Japan from natural and organic sources from different regions of Japan; the less commercialized the better.

As my passion project, I would like to bring to you, my readers, and customers at my store, what I enjoy using for the benefit of my skin.

I can attest to the benefits it would bring to your skin too. These products are genderless, skin color agnostic, and are high quality to improve your skin barrier and texture. To Japanese (women) and myself, the condition of your skin is what matters, not the makeup. The better we protect our skin, the longer we can ensure its maintenance throughout the years to come as we age gracefully. Please take a look at the store and feel the sense of gratitude, calm, and abundance all around us. The Japanese language is littered with phrases and sayings of gratitude. I hope the pictures of the culture of Japan help you envision the state of mind we should be in as we indulge in these products originating from specialty grass-root stores from Japan.

More products and content coming up shortly!

HoFu has a social impact element to what we plan to do to support others in the community. We will be sharing our product roadmap and how we plan to be a sponsor for those who could benefit from HoFu, in due time.

Abundantly,

Sabine