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本帖最后由 choi 于 4-30-2018 10:38 编辑
Kathleen Baird-Murray, Tokyo Story; The sleeping giant of its sector, Japan's beauty industry is about to wake up. Financial Times, Apr 28, 2018.
https://www.ft.com/content/128f5752-291a-11e8-9274-2b13fccdc744
http://www.cetusnews.com/busines ... ens.Hy77GVQxTM.html
Quote:
"It's a busy Friday morning at Isetan, the leading department store in Shinjuku, Tokyo 東京都新宿区 [the flagship store is also headquarters of department store chain]. A queue forms for the next available seat at the Shiseido tables (the Japanese beauty brand doesn’t have counters) — each one occupied by customers in earnest conversation with their consultants.
"The sleeping giant of the beauty industry, 'J-beauty' has woken up. Long eclipsed by the success of K-beauty, the $13bn South Korean business built on insatiable demand for innovative sheet masks, snail extract creams and convoluted skincare routines (most recently resulting in Unilever's purchase of skin-whitening brand Carver Korea for €2.27bn), J-beauty, its older, more sophisticated sister, is now re-entering the spotlight. The Japanese business has benefited from the growth in Chinese tourists, following limits imposed on travel to Korea by the Chinese government and a surge of enthusiasm for the Olympics in 2020. Japanese beauty exports are tipped to exceed $2.75bn this year.
"While there is often a sense of fun in its approach (a visit to Tokyo's Matsumoto Kiyoshi pharmacy in Ginza is essential for any beauty junkie), J-beauty is steeped in history and tradition. Everything is based on the Japanese sense of ritual, which is inextricably tied to water, and traces back to the Heian period 平安時代 of 794-1185 where people would gather dew to use as a softening lotion or essence. * * * To someone from a western beauty culture, raised on a diet of problem-solution instant skincare, this can feel long-winded, but the Japanese find it grounding.
"Bigger scientific breakthroughs are due imminently. Shiseido recently acquired Olivo laboratories, based in the US and founded by renowned scientist Dr Robert Langer, so that it can develop a new artificial skin technology. Made from an elastic, durable polymer that's waterproof and sits comfortably under UV or make-up, second skin is flexible, durable, and breathable. You dab it on like a lotion and it makes wrinkles disappear, staying in place until you remove it with make-up remover, when presumably the wrinkles return. Further innovations are not far behind.
Note:
(a) There is no need to read the rest of this report.
(b) Isetan in quotation 1.
(i) In 1886 in Tokyo 小菅 丹治 KOSUGE Tanji founded 伊勢屋丹治呉服店 Iseya Tanji Kimono fabric shop (the English name is from company's English-language website), precursor of Isetan
(A) 菅 is a sedge (a kind of grass 1 to 2 meters tall, growing on land). I have no idea why Japanese are obsessed with it.
(B) Japanese-English dictionary:
* go-fuku 呉服 【ごふく】 (n): "cloth (for Japanese clothes)" (Both "go" and "fuku" are Chinese pronunciations of kanji 呉 and 服, respectively.)
(ii) Noël Nouët (translated into English by John & Michèle Mills), The Shogun's City; A history of Tokyo. RoutledgeCurzon, 1990, at page 46
https://books.google.com/books?i ... 20iseya&f=false
("The names of such firms as Mikawaya, Omiya, Iseya and Isetan in present-day Tokyo, show that a large number of merchants come from the provinces of Mikawa, Omi and Ise")
(A) Mikawa Province 三河国 is "in the area that today forms the eastern half of Aichi Prefecture [愛知県, whose capital is 名古屋]" (en.wikipedia.org).
Mikawaya (founded in 1910 in Los Angeles by Japanese-American husband and wife Koroku and Haru HASHIMOTO; Frances Hashimoto became CEO of Mikawaya in 1970 when she was just 27 years old; Mochi ice cream, which was created by Mikawaya's former CEO and President Frances Hashimoto, now represents the majority of Mikawaya's annual sales) en.wikipedia.org.
Our History. Mikawaya, undated
https://www.mikawayamochi.com/our-history
("Mikawaya (pronounced 'me-kah-wah-ya') has been specializing in fine Japanese pastries and desserts since 1910. Our business is named after founder Ryuzaburo Hashimoto’s hometown in the Mikawa province of Japan. Frances Hashimoto, the youngest grand niece of Ryuzaburo, held the key to one of Mikawaya’s best-kept secrets: the recipe for the perfect Mochi dough, which has remained our staple for so many years. And by combining our signature dough with sweet, creamy ice cream, we created something truly special. Today, we pride ourself in offering this traditional, handmade treat in freezer sections throughout the US")
If one google with "Mikawaya" and this confectionary is what you get. However, googling with "三河屋" the return are quite a few, including the name of an old hot spring hotel.
三河屋
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/三河屋
("酒、味噌、醤油、酢など醸造された食品、及び関連する商品を販売する小売店 * * * の俗称として用いられる場合が多く、主に江戸時代から昭和期にかけて使われた。 * * * その由来は江戸時代の * * * 組合には醸造業の盛んな三河出身者が多かった為、各々が三河の入った看板を掲げ、これが庶民の代名詞となった")
my translation: [Mikawaya] refers in common usage to mom-and-pop shops that sold alcohol, miso, soy sauce and vinegar -- things that went through fermentation. The term was used mainly from Edo period to Showa period. * * * The origin was in Edo period, one association (guild) was 醸造業 mostly composed of proprietors who had hailed from Mikawa province and displayed signboard with Mikawa on it. The term has become another word for common people.
(B) Ōmi Province 近江国
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ōmi_Province
(today comprises Shiga Prefecture 滋賀県 [Shiga borders "Kyoto Prefecture in the west": en.wikipedia.org]; map)
SAKAMOTO Ryōma 坂本 龍馬
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sakamoto_Ryōma
(1836 – 1867; Ryōma was assassinated at the age of 31 at the Ōmiya 近江屋 inn in Kyoto, not long before the Meiji Restoration took place)
This is the only search return with Omiya or 近江屋.
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发表于 4-30-2018 10:33:27
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