Hey guys, there is a Japanese supermarket in San jose California and they sell... Bravas, Mandol, Lucido, and more Japanese aftershaves, I will post a pic soon, the market is called, Mitsuwa Marketplace.
Japanese aftershaves available in California
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Thank you for this information. Details on location? I'm heading to the San Jose area for a few months.
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Their address is 675 Saratoga avenue San jose California
The mandom is 7 the bravas is 20
The mandom is 7 the bravas is 20
I got an aunt who lives nearby. She's 1 min from Netflix HQ, and this is about 10 min away from there. It's closer to Campbell than downtown San Jose, and is up the road from Westgate mall. Assuming you are going to have wheels when you go, it shouldn't be too big of a detour when you go
Good news for my American brothers! 
I remember that there was a great little Asian restaurant in the same area as the San Jose Mitsuwa. I think it was Kahoo Ramen--I was kind of jet-lagged. Great place to eat some spicy noodle soup while you check out your aftershaves.
So, are these particularly different from what we normally get here, or are they just interesting because they're foreign?
Lucido (made by Mandom) is an excellent aftersahve. Light menthol and unscented...plus Mitsuwa market is a great place to eat lunch and sample some sake!!!
The MANDOM certainly is like nothing else.
The aftershave closest to what you would find in the US is Eroica. I'm pretty sure that it's a clone--an old and venerable one at that, but still a clone--of Tabac. Eroica Valiant is a more citrusy variation on the theme.
The best of the rest--Valcan, Bravas, MG5--are citrus/herbal aftershaves that are comparable to any you could find in the US or Europe. Many have a nice menthol kick. In fact Lucido is a pleasant unscented splash of sheer menthol. They make your face feel great.
There's nothing overtly "Asian" about any of them. While most of them are pretty well established, they are certainly based on older American and British models. You're not going go get a bracing splash of ginseng, a jolt of yuzu or a whiff of ginko. So they're not novelty items. They're solid, enjoyable performers. I think that a wetshaver should think about them in the same way they think about Proraso, Floyd, Harris, Aqua Velva or any other front line aftershave. And, even with the import markup, they're a great value.
Mandom is pretty cool too. The Bronson commercials make it seem like some kind of a Hai Karate type thing, but it isn't. I would give some of the other Japanese aftershaves the edge in performance, but it's my personal favorite.
The best of the rest--Valcan, Bravas, MG5--are citrus/herbal aftershaves that are comparable to any you could find in the US or Europe. Many have a nice menthol kick. In fact Lucido is a pleasant unscented splash of sheer menthol. They make your face feel great.
There's nothing overtly "Asian" about any of them. While most of them are pretty well established, they are certainly based on older American and British models. You're not going go get a bracing splash of ginseng, a jolt of yuzu or a whiff of ginko. So they're not novelty items. They're solid, enjoyable performers. I think that a wetshaver should think about them in the same way they think about Proraso, Floyd, Harris, Aqua Velva or any other front line aftershave. And, even with the import markup, they're a great value.
Mandom is pretty cool too. The Bronson commercials make it seem like some kind of a Hai Karate type thing, but it isn't. I would give some of the other Japanese aftershaves the edge in performance, but it's my personal favorite.
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Oh yeah. I'm flying into San Jose next week and will have to pick some up on my way to Monterey.
I think I've seen Mitsuwa Marketplaces in LA, too. For some reason, I thought they were a club store - like Costco. Can you just go in an shop, or do you need to be a member? If you can just go in, I'll have to pick one of these Aftershaves up.
You can just go in and shop. If you like Japanese food, there are usually very nice prepared meals (bento) that you can get for take-out, and there's lots of sashimi-grade fish too. Pretty nice liquor store too if you like sake or Japanese beer.
Since that's about 10 minutes from our apartment, I'm going to stop by this afternoon and stock up!
got some lucido AS from the San Jose Store yesterday after work, and I noticed that they have lots of mandom AS too. It was only a 15 minutes drive, so definitely worth it for me. Pickup up some sushi japanese vegetables and some great sake. I will be back for sure. Thanks to the OP for the info!
Funny story, it turns out that I've been to this place a bunch of times but never went any further than the noodle counter by the front door. Quite the look of surprise on my face when the GPS pulled me into the parking lot!
BTW, excellent noodles here, some of the best I've had yet.
BTW, excellent noodles here, some of the best I've had yet.
I hope you boys will eventually post reviews of all the goodies you're trying out!
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