J-Scent
Founded 2017
J-Scent was launched in 2017 by LUZ, a Tokyo perfume maker with its own lab in Tokyo and factories in Shizuoka and Saga. Its perfumes turn everyday Japanese smells into wearable scents, such as roasted green tea, ramune soda, a rainy day and a sumo wrestler's hair oil. Everything is designed and made in Japan.
Hours and prices change, so check with the shop before you go.
Sources (7)
Tea, soda and sumo, made into perfume in Japan
J-Scent is a perfume brand launched in 2017 by LUZ, a Tokyo fragrance company founded in June 2001, with its head office and lab in Shinagawa. Its idea is to blend Japanese scents into perfume: the aesthetics, traditions and everyday smells of life in Japan, chosen to call up scenes people remember.
LUZ plans and makes its own-brand perfumes and has factories in Shizuoka and in Karatsu, Saga Prefecture, and J-Scent is sold as made in Japan. The range runs to about thirty eau de parfums, from roasted green tea and ramune soda to a sumo wrestler's hair oil. A deeper line, J-Scent Profound, followed in 2024 and was released overseas first.
J-Scent has no shop of its own. In Tokyo its own list of stockists includes Ginza Tsutaya Books on the sixth floor of GINZA SIX, Tsutaya Bookstore in Shibuya Scramble Square, @cosme TOKYO in Jingumae and Haneda Airport Tsutaya Books in the Terminal 2 international area. Stock varies by shop, so the brand suggests checking ahead. A 50 ml eau de parfum costs ¥4,950. Try Hojicha first: it smells of tea leaves as they roast, an easy first step into the idea.
- HojichaThe toasty smell of carefully chosen tea leaves as they roast, and of hot water poured over them.
- RamuneA summer festival stall, pressing open a bottle of ramune soda under paper lanterns.
- RikishiThe bintsuke hair oil that drifts from a sumo wrestler, powdery and warm.
- KoiameRain that brings back dear memories, from the smell before it starts to the rainbow after.
- HanamizakeSake drunk under the cherry blossoms, soft and gently boozy.
Where to buy
- Ginza Tsutaya Books, GINZA SIX 6F, 6-10-1 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo
- Tsutaya Bookstore Shibuya Scramble Square 11F, 2-24-12 Shibuya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
- @cosme TOKYO, 1-14-27 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
- Haneda Airport Tsutaya Books, Terminal 2 international area 4F, 3-4-2 Haneda Airport, Ota-ku, Tokyo
- Kyoto Tsutaya Books, Kyoto Takashimaya S.C. [T8] 5F and 6F, 35 Otabi-cho, Shijo-dori Teramachi, Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto
- Official online shop (luz-store.com)