Isehan Co., Ltd. President and CEO Haruko Sawada

Cherishing tradition while continuing to take on innovative challenges

President and CEO of Isehan Co., Ltd.　Haruko Sawada(Haruko Sawada)

■ Profile
After graduating from university, he worked for a trading company and taught at a cultural school before joining a management consulting firm. He worked as a corporate education consultant for around 20 years, providing practical training to department stores and other businesses. He then joined the Isehan Group in 2003, where he served as head of new business development and president of a group company before assuming his current position in 2009.
As we approach our 200th anniversary in 2025, we will continue to challenge ourselves as an innovative, long-established company while cherishing our traditions.

Isehan Co., Ltd. develops and sells a variety of products with the mission of "More beautiful tomorrow." They were the first to introduce the now common self-service sales system in the Japanese cosmetics industry, and their "Heroine Make" line, born from an innovative idea, has enjoyed sustained popularity since the brand's inception. We spoke with President Haruko Sawada about the origins of Isehan's appeal and the secret to keeping up with the ever-changing trends.

During my student days, I tried a variety of things, such as singing in a choir, teaching instruments, and playing volleyball. I was always full of curiosity and had the mindset of "if I'm unsure, I'll just give it a try."
When I graduated from university, the economy was in a recession and the current atmosphere of promoting women's participation in the workforce had not yet taken hold. Companies would openly advertise their recruitment efforts by saying, "We are hiring men." This made job hunting difficult in a way that is different from today.
After graduating, I joined a trading company and a few years later, I met my current husband through an introduction from a relative. My husband's family was the founder of Isehan, and although I stayed at home for a while after we got married, I continued to have a stronger than average desire to work in a way that involved society. Fortunately, with the support of my parents-in-law, I decided to join Isehan and help my husband with his work.

■A bold and challenging mindset passed down through generations

Isehan was the first in the Japanese cosmetics industry to introduce the PSP (Perfect Self Package) system in 1966. This system involved displaying individually packaged cosmetics on racks and selling them in a self-service format, which has now become a common sales method for cosmetics.
It all started when my father-in-law, the previous owner, visited the United States and saw customers choosing and purchasing cosmetics by themselves in a supermarket. At that time in Japan, even what we now call self-service cosmetics were sold by beauty consultants who explained the products. It was common to buy them at specialty stores called haberdashery stores, and there was a division between supermarkets, where you buy groceries and daily necessities, and drugstores, where you buy medicine, so there were concerns about the handling of cosmetics.
Under these circumstances, many customers found that even if there was a color they wanted to try, they were unable to bring themselves to tell the beauty consultants, and ended up buying a different product as recommended. When our predecessor learned of this, he thought that the self-service system he had seen in America might allow customers to enjoyably choose the cosmetics they really wanted, and after introducing it, he began receiving feedback from customers saying things like, "I'm happy I can choose what I like myself." In addition, the practice of printing product descriptions on packaging, which had previously been the responsibility of beauty consultants, spread throughout the industry, leading to the significant growth of the self-service market that we know today.

■The success of young people is essential energy for the vitality of the company

Isehan is taking various measures to stay on top of rapidly changing trends and quickly incorporate them into product development, sales activities, etc. One of these is creating an environment where young people can thrive.
The company strives to create an environment where trend-conscious young employees can thrive, specifically through "employee influencer activities." Young employees selected from within the company act as employee influencers, sharing information about the company's products and their own lifestyles from a perspective even closer to the user than on official social media, in an effort to increase the number of Isehan fans. In addition, there are active efforts to incorporate the sensibilities and opinions of young employees in various departments, including sales, research, and development.

■ "Heroine Make" is a hit born from "unique creativity x dedication to delivering authenticity"

Furthermore, by having all employees, not just juniors, think carefully and boldly tackle difficult challenges that no one has ever attempted before, we have been able to create some unique products and promotional strategies. One such example is "Heroine Make," which was launched in 2005 and is now a brand that represents Isehan.
Starting from the concept of achieving beautiful eyes like those of a manga heroine, we created a worldview including an image character, a story, and a rule such as "you must be perfectly beautiful at all times." This original idea, which is rare for cosmetics, initially drew strong mixed reactions within the company. Throughout the development process and up to the product's release, we faced anxiety and difficulties before the product was accepted due to its originality, such as the packaging printed with characters never before seen in cosmetics.
However, at the core of it all was a strong commitment to quality, which could be said to be the artisanal spirit of Isehan, that "will not fall even if you cry." By making people understand that the product has a strong impact but is not simply a show-stopping product, it quickly gained support from users upon its release. I believe that trends will continue to change in various ways in the future, but I would like to keep my antenna up and develop new products.

■Message to university students

Once you enter the workforce, you will need physical strength for everything. Concentration is essential to see things through, and basic physical strength is an important source of that, so I recommend that you work on building up your physical strength while you're a student to stay healthy both physically and mentally. Next, I think it's a good idea to develop the ability to think deeply about each and every thing while you're still a student. I think that if you consciously make it a habit to "always think, and once you've made a decision, see it through," it will be extremely useful when you enter society. I'm sure you will face various struggles and conflicts every day, but I hope you won't be afraid of failure and will try many different things.

Interviewed by Student Newspaper Online on May 25, 2023 by Renpo Maeda, a fourth-year student at Chuo University