A year has passed since Waphyto started as a total lifecare brand with overwhelming support from a wide range of people including industry figures as a one-of-a-kind presence merging phytotherapy, science and domestically produced plants. We spoke with Atsuko Morita, a pioneer in phytotherapy and the founder of Waphyto.

Ms. Morita, what is your source of inspiration when developing products? “The nature and environment of Japan. I like walking through the mountains. When surrounded by nature such as the Northern Alps, Kamikouchi or my own home town of Higashimikawa, we humans acutely feel that we are part of nature and want to make things that are suitable for nature.”

For example, five types of plant chosen as typical Waphyto ingredients are mulberry, chrysanthemum, gotu kola, wormwood and field horsetail. We have been growing all these in Higashimikawa without using agricultural chemicals for around 24 years. I learned about phytotherapy in Paris, but Japanese plants were not widely used or systematically organized. I then worked with several universities to begin analysis of constituents and clinical trials. As a result, we found the existence of many miracle herbs produced in Japanese soil that are able to compete with those from Europe. After continuing my research for around 20 years, I became convinced that I should make products using these plants. The number of ingredients from nature that initially began at around 70, has now increased to 150 to 160 types. Of course, I am presently in the middle of conducting research on ways to extract and mix these.”

*Numerous plants Ms. Morita is focusing upon. Photo 1 is ashwagandha, Photo 2 is purple coneflower and Photo 3 is holy basil.

“I lived in France for many years, and have traveled to a variety of places including Europe and Asia, but I have a renewed sense of the beauty of the mountains of Japan. In particular, the route from Kamikouchi to the Northern Alps is in a class of its own. Kamikouchi can also be written with characters that mean ‘the place where god descends.’ Five or six years ago, before I started the Waphyto concept, there was a day when god was said to descend on Kamikouchi. Strangely enough, it was the same day as my birthday, and when I went via Kamikouchi to climb the Northern Alps that day, I was enveloped with an indescribable feeling when I gazed at the sunrise.”

“The connection and meaning of being born in this place. The flow connecting my ancestors and parents to my child Feeling things like this, my heart was filled with a sense of happiness. It felt like even my body was warming up. It was a soaring feeling of inspiration hat transcended emotions like beauty or prettiness. This is when I began thinking about giving form to the research I have conducted until then. It was a journey befitting of creating something from scratch. I have lived and worked overseas, but Japan was right for me. It is for this reason that I named the business Waphyto, representing Wa (Japanese) phytotherapy.”

*Photo 1 is Kamikouchi, Photo 2 is the Northern Alps.

“The thing I place the greatest importance upon when developing products is affinity with the skin. Our skin, hair and blood are all actually made possible by plants. I don’t want to make products entirely out of plants, and I don’t believe they must be organic, but I place much emphasis on affinity with the skin because that is where the products ae applied.”

“Long ago, I suffered from atopy and asthma. In the past, I fell ill in the eighties, and when the conditions were at their worst, I was unable to breathe and lost my hair, forcing me to be hospitalized. I was also told that I would not be able to have children. Eventually, my hair and cells were rejuvenated by the female hormone-like action of phytotherapy, and I was also able to give birth in my mid-forties. Through phytotherapy, I was able to feel the importance of knowing that I am a part of nature. I also believe that product development should not be separated from nature or humans.”

“These are the Intimate Wash, Lubricant and Intimate Oil for caring for the delicate zone. I graduated from the School of Medicine at Paris University 13, and studied sexology there. People cannot live a healthy life simply based on the desire to eat and sleep. When I returned to Japan, there was little knowledge about the delicate zone, and there was a tone of it being unpleasant and difficult to talk about. I wanted to completely change this, so I have spoken more about sexology than phytotherapy in the past.”

“Rather than simply washing and moisturizing the delicate zone, I wanted to convey the importance of women knowing more about their bodies. In that respect, I was developing delicate zone products before founding Waphyto, and the products were criticized from the outset. However, they are now very well received by customers. A woman’s health and vigor are not just on the surface. It is important to properly treat the entry points to what is inside. We would like to place importance on delicate zone care items.”

“The second Waphyto lotion is called Regena Balancing Toner (front of photo). The first, Regena Toner, is a type of product that uses plant polysaccharides for moisture retention and moisturization of the skin, providing resilient skin. We received a request from a customer who said, ‘I have become concerned about my pores as I have grown older.’ The second product focused on tightening the skin of adults, where the pores become a concern.”

“We focused on the effect of lemon buds that we had been pursuing for around 20 years, and created a lotion specializing in tightening the skin where pores are a concern by repeating clinical trials. The buds contain little baby-like lemons. The polyphenols they contain promote cell regeneration. The constituents of lemon skin are also used in essential oils, but buds are rare. They are little known parts that do not often make an appearance. By combining this with other ingredients, we have developed a product we are proud of, focusing on the main theme of tightening pores.”