We recently connected with Lei Hattori and have shared our conversation below.

Lei, appreciate you joining us today. Was there an experience or lesson you learned at a previous job that’s benefited your career afterwards?

My prior job: Modeling.

What was the most important lesson/experience you had in a job that has helped you in your professional career?:

1. Authenticity
I was tall and thin, so I mainly did runway work. The runway job involves going to each casting to see if you get the job or not. In the first week of starting as a model, I was rejected at every casting.

On the way back from a casting, a senior model who I happened to be walking with told me, “If you have what the client is looking for, you’ll be chosen, and if you don’t match what they want, you won’t be chosen. It’s as simple as that. So there’s no need to be upset every time you’re rejected at a casting. If you shape up your own personality and style, and do your best, the right client and job for you will naturally come your way.”

Shaping up your own originality means facing your authenticity. And when you can do that, life becomes much easier. And your originality usually includes both your complexes and your charms. It’s up to you to turn your complexes and charms into value, and you control your value.

Everyone has things they’re good at and things they’re not good at, so when you can offer what you’re good at, the work goes more smoothly. What’s meant to be will be, and what’s not, won’t. It’s liberating to accept that.

Modeling may seem like a competitive job, but I don’t think it is. It’s not about competing with others. It’s about objectively knowing your own personality and making use of it to get work.

I think there are similarities to the world of acupuncture as well. There are different sensitivities, schools, and backgrounds, so each acupuncturist has their own personality. And each patient seeks different things. It’s important to communicate authentically with patients about what I can offer.

2. There is no such things like “beauty standards”

I had tendency to work in high fashion and art, so I had wore a lot of funky outfits and make-ups.

What I understand from that is that the definition of beauty is different for each person, and that’s what makes it interesting.

I think beauty is not in the object, but in the eyes that see the object. And when it comes to beauty, it’s important to first understand that for people other than those for whom it is a profession, it’s a world of self-satisfaction.

When I came to America, I saw young people around me getting plastic surgery and Botox, and I wondered why they would willingly create their own problems.

During my time as a model, I knew girls who were pressured to lose weight and such by her agency’s president. Personally, I think only those in jobs where beauty expenses are tax-deductible should be worried about face and body shape.

But I’m getting close to 40, and I really understand the desire of women to look young, so I feel strongly about supporting women’s beauty in terms of self-care and grooming.

I think anti-aging care after a certain age is similar to mental care. Also, for women around this age, the motivation of beauty often becomes a catalyst for re-evaluating a healthy lifestyle, which I think is very positive.

I will provide as much treatment as I can through my scope of practice. I also hope that through these treatments, people can find a healthy balance between self-acceptance and self-improvement.

What I always want people to remember is that beauty comes in very different forms, and beauty is in your eyes.

3. Visible values and invisible values

The fashion industry is essentially a gathering of visual content creators. I have spent a long time in a world where “seeing” is indispensable. But after quitting modeling and coming to California to attend acupuncture school, I became an assistant to a blind acupuncturist and learned the value of the “invisible world” through practicing acupuncture points with my eyes closed. Oriental medicine is a field of medicine that values “qi” and other “invisible” and unmeasurable things when compared to Western medicine.
When I got my license, I didn’t have much intention of working with cosmetic acupuncture or micro-needling. However, as I was often asked by female friends and started to see the joy in their faces and the improvement in their health, I realized that I want to work towards beauty and health within the female community. There is an expression in English, “turn full circle”, which recently a friend told me “I feel like your life has gone full circle”. I thought, “Yes, it does feel that way.” Having experienced both the world where visible things are so much valued and the world where invisible things are valued, I believe I have an original stance to support women.
In addition, facial acupuncture, it’s not just about beauty care, it’s about mental care too. The face is physically very close to the brain, it’s the area where the sensory orifices, the eyes, nose, mouth, and ears come together. The sensory orifices are the doors between external world and you. By treating the most superficial part of a person, the face and skin, we are also approaching the deep psychological aspects of a person. Facial acupuncture is deep and interesting.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am an acupuncturist, Chinese herbalist, and massage therapist.

– How you got into your industry :

When I was a child, I was weak. I often caught colds and suffered from severe constipation, stomach aches, and nausea. I think it was because I grew up in a tense household with strict parents. I was always tense. My body couldn’t relax properly, and I also disliked taking medicine. Cold medicine made my body feel like I’m in the chaos. It made me cry.
As a child, I would reluctantly take cold medicine when my parents told me to, but as a teenager, I pretended to take it and stopped. As I got a little older, when I got sick, I didn’t want to take medicine, so I went to acupuncture. I don’t remember why, but I naturally chose acupuncture. Since then, I always made appointments at the acupuncture clinic when I was unwell. In fact, my body always felt better after acupuncture.

When I was in high school, there was a summer training camp for the dance club. At night, about 10 of us would gather in the shared dorm room with 4 beds and hang out. One of my friends complained of muscle pain, so I touched her back and shoulders and was praised for being good at it. I was asked to massage others for 500 or even 1000 yen, and I made 3000 yen that night. I felt really satisfied and happy to be able to use my talent to help others and be appreciated for it. It was a little tiring, but it was fulfilling to bring joy to others and to find it interesting to understand where they were feeling pain. I thought it was a good job. I believe that if I hadn’t had this experience at the summer training camp, I wouldn’t have entered this world of touch.

I majored law at the university. I kind of liked logic, and it seemed like a stable and strong path for employment for good companies, so I decided to pursue it. But when I thought about my career after graduation, I suddenly felt like I wanted to become a massage therapist. The memories of the summer camp in high school and the joy I felt at that time were deeply ingrained in my heart. So I went to consult with a respected female massage therapist. I wanted her to teach me massage. When we met and talked, she said, ‘I don’t think you need to decide on a career like a massage therapist or any type of therapist at such an early age. Life experience that allows you to imagine the needs of your clients will be the key to success as a therapist. I don’t accept students who are under 26 and younger. Hehe.’ I was turned down. She told me, ‘If you have other things you want to do or are interested in, just do that now. You’re still young. If you still want to be a massage therapist in your late twenties after several years, then come and talk to me again. There’s no need to rush.’ She said she had seen people with limited life experience struggle with their growth potential as a therapist when they started at a young age. I understood her point, so after graduating from university, I started working as a model. I had a little experience as a model in junior high, so I thought it would be good to try it out seriously.

When I was 28 or 29 years old, I was completely exhausted from life in Tokyo. I didn’t feel much personal meaning in my work as a model. It was fun to be in the creative scene, but ultimately, being a model just meant selling things. I wanted to choose the products I promoted, but regular models couldn’t do that. Even when I wore a high-end $5000 bag on the runway, I couldn’t really connect with the people who would buy it. I did runways and high fashion work, and while it was certainly creative and enjoyable, but after all I felt that it was just a fancy word for endorsing consumer culture, and personally I couldn’t be proud of that.

I remember feeling that discomfort at the age of 28, in early spring. I was on the Sobu line, on my way to work, when I started crying while looking at the river around Iidabashi station, I was surprised at the tears that flowed. They were unpleasant and sticky, like cerebrospinal fluid or oily sweat. That sticky tears made me aware of that I was thoroughly exhausted at a soul level that such a repulsive liquid would seep from my body.

At that moment, I thought, “I should leave Tokyo. Actually, I should leave this country.” It wasn’t a grand decision, just a feeling of being cornered. I realized that I couldn’t have the kind of hope I wanted here. I couldn’t forget the discomfort of those tears. They told me, “You’ll become a wreck if you stay like this.”

Three months later, I quit my job. Another three months later, I came to visit a acupuncture school in San Diego. I couldn’t speak English, so I went to an English school for a while, then went to the acupuncture school, got licensed in the state of California, and here I am now.

Ironically, since coming to San Diego, I haven’t had any physical problems and I’ve become healthier. I haven’t had to go to the hospital. I think the climate and the people just suit me.

– what problems you solve for your clients

I practice in

1) Acupuncture
2) Chinese Herbal Medicine Prescription
3) Manual Therapy (Massage Therapy)
4) Microneedling

So, the indications for these therapies are diverse.

Sports injuries and chronic pain (such as shoulder, back, and headaches) generally speaking, acupuncture works. For sleep disorders, mood disorders, and digestive symptoms, I tend to approach them with both acupuncture and herbal medicine prescription.

The effectiveness of which modality will be determined based on the patient’s condition.

Cosmetic acupuncture and microneedling are also effective in improving wrinkles, dullness, and acne scars.

I have a strong feeling that herbal medicine prescription is particularly suitable for gynecological conditions such as uterine fibroids, PMS, menstrual pain, and menopausal symptom relief.

The good thing about traditional Chinese medicine is that it allows for a holistic approach.

By understanding the patient’s lifestyle, we search together for the root causes of their concerns.

Pain and discomfort are not enemies. They are friends telling us the truth. They are trying to teach us what we need to change in our lives. It’s up to us whether to ignore them or accept the message and shift to a clearer life.

I believe that it is my job to support each patient’s healing journey through my scope of therapeutic methods. It’s the feeling of accompanying the patient on their path to healing. I often hear “You healed me,” but I am not the one healing. They healed themselves. I help them activate their own self-healing function. I am just here to support the time when they face themselves or hear their inner voice.(which can be scary at times).

– what you think sets you apart from others.

While attending acupuncture school, I had a teacher and worked as an assistant. He is a blind acupuncture practitioner. Under his training, I practiced palpation and point location with my eyes closed. As a result, I believe that I have a sensitivity for palpation and known for delicately locating acupuncture points by my clients.
In Japan, the historical background of acupuncture evolved uniquely due to blind acupuncturists. They have a highly developed sense of touch compared to sighted individuals. They discovered that the position of acupuncture points can vary subtly from person to person and even shift based on one’s physical condition. The tube-in-needle design used by acupuncturists today was also developed by a blind acupuncturist in Japan. While some acupuncturists do not practice manual therapy, I deeply believe in the power of hands-on treatment, and I also conduct manual therapy. Starting this year, I will begin teaching acupressure at a massage school. I believe there is much to learn through teaching, and I continue to learn forever.

I hope that those seeking a natural approach to health will give it a try acupuncture and herbal medicine. I believe that in today’s world, there is an excessive reliance on seeking external solutions. When symptoms arise, the standard care immediately turn to medication for treatment. But what if the chronic symptoms persist? Will they continue taking medication indefinitely, without investigating the root cause of the symptoms?
Pain relief through acupuncture, generally speaking with no serious side effects, can reduce the need for pain relief medication and contribute to medical cost reduction. I want more people to be aware of the possibility that there may be a more sustainable approach to healthcare rather than intaking something all the time.
It is worth trying 4-10 sessions of acupuncture treatment. I want people to know that there are various approaches beyond “the standard care”.

If you could go back in time, do you think you would have chosen a different profession or specialty?

Yes.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Authenticity.

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