Waphyto cultivates beauty and wellness in Japan’s super-aging era

How do we maintain our well-being when we might live over 100 years? Japan boasts the world’s longest average life expectancy at 84.6 years (the number is higher for women at 87.14 years), trailed by Singapore’s 83.7 years and Australia and Norway’s 83.2 years as of 2022. By 2050, the number of people living to 100 and older is predicted to reach nearly 3.7 million.

What are future self-care products if their main objective is to look good today and sixty and seventy years from now? To answer this, Waphyto returns to the past, with nature-driven medicinal plants and herbs as the source of healing. Here is the story of Waphyto according to its founder, Atsuko Morita.

Interviewee Profile: Atsuko Morita

Atsuko Morita began exploring phytotherapy when she developed a dust allergy while working in the airline industry and suffered from the side effects of asthma medications. Phytotherapy eased not only her bronchi conditions but also her emotional well-being as she recovered. She then left her air attendant career and studied phytotherapy at the Faculty of Medicine at Paris 13 University.

She has since spearheaded plant bioresearch and phytotherapy in Japan and launched Saint Louis International LLC and the Le Bois Phytotherapy School, certified by the AMPP French Association of Phytotherapy Promotion Medicine. Waphyto collaborates with Osaka University and other businesses to pursue the science of plant and herb healing power as part of the Saito Bio-Heath Incubator. In 2022, Morita was chosen as one of the 100 changemakers in the world by ELLE magazine.

Waphyto inspired by Japanese phytotherapy

What is behind the concept of Waphyto? “I studied Chinese medicine in college and medical herbs in Europe during my 20s. Learning phytotherapy outside Japan opened my eyes to the wonders of Japanese medicinal plants and herbs grown in rich soil conditions you would find nowhere else. Phytotherapy is to dink, coat and enjoy the scents of plant and herb ingredients. What if we develop products based on these Japanese plant nutrients – “Wa (the ancient name for Japan) + Phyto” – to nourish and protect our skins?” Waphyto’s main ingredients are mulberry, Japanese calendula, cantella asiatica, mugwort and horsetail, all grown locally without pesticides.

While phytotherapy was systematized in France as a subfield of alternative medicine rather recently, the medicinal study of plants and animals in Japan predates the 8th-century Nara period. Blending these Western and Eastern pearls of wisdom, Waphyto products use homegrown plants and advanced biotechnology. Its patented production method packs plants’ nutrients and natural defense mechanisms (called phytoalexins) in their original state by extracting them through low-temperature steam delivered into plant cells to avoid heat-induced tissue destruction and alternation.

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Waphyto in the aging society

Waphyto upholds “4E” as its corporate philosophy: “Elemental” as its products derive 100% from natural plant-based pure oil; “Environment” by reducing, reusing, recycling and upcycling its packaging; “Ethical” for being cruelty-free; and “Empowerment” of women of all ages, including seniors.

Morita comments, “The idea of ‘femtech’ has finally caught up in Japan, and women have begun to look after the wellbeing of their feminine parts. Women in Japan were long unable to do so, and they still struggle with menstruation pain, premenstrual syndrome, infertility and menopause while fulfilling their global careers and prospects. Recognizing these effects of female hormones and their changes, I would like to work with women and transform their working environments. I envision Waphyto as a business that contributes to women’s empowerment.”

In super-aging Japan, the nursing care industry faces ever-growing demand but suffers from long and hard labor and low pay. Morita sees phytotherapy as a way to remedy it. “We have a serious shortage of nursing care professionals. Preventive care with healing plants will reduce the scale of nursing needs, and young people can pursue careers in it.”

Morita also considers the use of homegrown plants accelerates local employment creation. Wapyto’s plants and products are manufactured in the Higashi Mikawa area of Aichi Prefecture, the home of the Tokugawa shogunate. It is located on the Median Tectonic Line, Japan’s longest fault zone, making the region high in energy flow. The first Tokugawa shogun, who grew up in the area, was reportedly an accomplished herbalist and expert in geology and lived a long and healthy life, surviving the warring period. It is the cosmetics version of the “farm-to-table” concept, benefiting from nature’s treasures where they bloom.

Brand’s vision for a sustainable future

Morita wishes to accompany women’s journey at home and beyond, now and in the future. “I hope Waphyto will become a lifestyle brand that offers ‘health literacy’ to customers facing challenges and complications and explores potential solutions together. Japan is behind in thinking about sustainability as a social concept, an environmental issue and an industrial target. In contrast, those who reside outside Japan or have had cross-cultural experiences have global views.

As Japan faces unprecedentedly low birth rates, a cosmetic brand bears social responsibilities ranging from ensuring healthy ingredients to supporting wellness for women in multitasking with parenting, household duties and senior care in the aging Japanese society. Our work can contribute to the well-being of society by promoting women’s empowerment and work-life balance.”

Waphyto’s products are available through its stockists in Asia, Europe and the Middle East, as well as online, including in the United States.