EP 203 Happy AANHPI Month: Stand Proud, Stay Rooted, and Know Where You Come From

About this episode

This episode honors AANHPI Month by exploring the cultural significance of Japanese beauty and wellness practices, particularly focusing on matcha and the stories behind them.

AANHPI Month: Honoring Japanese Beauty, Wellness & the Truth About Matcha: Konnichiwa, my friends. Genki desu ka. This AANHPI Month, we begin not with trends—but with truth, reverence, and remembrance. Because behind every bowl of matcha, every beauty ritual, every moment of calm that the world now celebrates...there are generations of Asian hands, stories, discipline, and devotion that made it possible. And for a long time, those stories were not told. This episode is about honoring them. It’s about honoring Japan, and the greater AANHPI community: China, Korea, the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, India, Indonesia, Hawaii, and beyond: the cultures that have shaped global wellness, beauty, and food in ways that are only now being recognized. It’s about bowing—not performatively, but with deep respect: to the teachers, farmers, chefs, artisans, and elders who came before us. Because what we are witnessing right now w/ the global rise of matcha, the fascination with Japanese beauty rituals, the obsession with “clean living”—this did not happen overnight. And it did not happen without us. For decades, Asian culture was overlooked, misunderstood, or reduced to aesthetics without…

People in this episode

Host: Candice Kumai

Topics covered

• AANHPI Month
• Japanese beauty
• wellness
• matcha
• cultural heritage
• Asian stories
• global wellness

Keywords

• AANHPI Month
• Japanese beauty
• matcha
• wellness
• cultural heritage
• Asian culture
• mindfulness

Mentioned in this episode

Places: Japan, China, Korea, Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, India, Indonesia, Hawaii

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