Shiseido Joins “Japonismes 2018” as an Official Supporter

Shiseido Company, Limited (“Shiseido”) is taking part in “Japonismes 2018: les âmes en resonance (souls in resonance)*1,” a festival of Japanese art and culture (Secretariat in Japan: The Japan Foundation; hereinafter “Japonismes 2018”), as an official supporter. Japonismes 2018 is jointly organized by the Japanese and French governments to commemorate the 160 years of friendship between Japan and France. It showcases the diversity of Japanese culture, presenting everything from the simple beauty of ancient Jomon pottery to contemporary art employing cutting-edge technologies at about 100 venues across Paris and other cities in France for eight months from July 2018 through February 2019. Shiseido actively supports this public-private partnership project and hopes to contribute to introducing unique Japanese aesthetic in France, which has a great cultural presence in the world.
*1 Official webpage: https://japonismes.org/

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Background and purpose of the support

Shiseido has cultivated and accumulated “corporate culture” since its foundation and considers it as one of important business assets for its corporate identity. Through communication of this cultural information and support for artistic and cultural activities, we realize our corporate mission, “inspire a life of beauty and culture.” French culture had a huge influence not only on Shiseido’s founder Arinobu Fukuhara and its first president Shinzo Fukuhara but also the entire corporate culture of Shiseido. Through participation in this event and showcasing Japanese culture in France, which is the base for our EMEA business at present, we strive to embody our corporate mission and at the same time create a new value through beauty innovation under the company’s medium-to-long-term strategy VISION 2020.

Connection between Shiseido and France

The relationship between Shiseido and France dates back to the eras of Arinobu Fukuhara, who started Shiseido in 1872 as Japan’s first Western-style pharmacy, and his son and Shiseido’s first president Shinzo Fukuhara. In 1900, Arinobu visited the Paris Exposition and was inspired by French technology, art and culture, as well as its avant-garde atmosphere. Shinzo went to Paris in 1913 and stayed there for about one year. During his stay, he actively communicated with many artists while himself photographing life in the city of Paris, and left many works as a photographer. After returning to Japan, Shinzo transformed Shiseido’s core business to cosmetics and introduced artistic elements of French Art Nouveau and Art Déco styles into packaging, logos and advertisements of Shiseido’s cosmetic products. The influence of French culture has been reflected and infused in Shiseido’s unique aesthetic and various corporate activities such as product development, advertisements, art support activities, and others.