Why I don't use Japanese sunscreen

Today, and March 20th annually, is Sunscreen Day 日やけ止めの日 in Japan. The anniversary was created by the well-known and very popular Japanese cosmetics company Shiseido. It is a useful anniversary as it reminds us to adopt daily sun-care habits to protect our skin as the season brightens around the spring equinox.

No surprise to learn that Shiseido, who created the anniversary, produce (among other things) sunscreen! However, the sunscreen pictured in this post is not one of theirs, because I personally don't use Japanese sunscreen. When possible I use sunscreen produced outside of Japan, because I have learned from experience that Japanese sunscreen doesn't offer the protection I need.

First and foremost, for many years you couldn't easily get high factored sunscreen that was affordable in Japan. Actually, you still can't get it affordably, but the number of products offering higher protection is increasing. However, the sunscreen bottles here are still ridiculously small, nowhere near big enough for my big family. Moreover, although they have them now, natural based sunscreens weren't widely available until recently. They still don't have a good choice of water-resistant sunscreens either.

But the main reason I don't buy Japanese sunscreen is because on the few occasions that I have tried it, I got bad sunburn. Even though I bought SPF 50+ and PA++++, providing both UVB and high-level UVA protection. One of my children bought some Japanese sunscreen last year, against my advice, and she also got sunburnt. So what I do is whenever I go to Ireland, I stock up on sunscreen from home. At home you can get large bottles that last half a year even with a family of six. Furthermore, they are much more affordable, about a quarter of the price. And they have water resistant choices too. Moreover, we never get burnt wearing sunscreen from home! 

Have you experience with Japanese sunscreen? How did you find it?