Miss Paris Gakuen Educational Corporation Chairperson Shimomura Akemi

Nurturing beauty professionals who can work globally

President of School Juridical Person Miss Paris Gakuen　Akemi Shimomura(Akemi Shimomura)

■ Profile

Born in Kagoshima Prefecture in 1957. Graduated from Ikenobo Junior College. Opened "Shape Up House (now Miss Paris)" a weight loss specialty store in 82, and "Dandy House Men's Aesthetic Salon" in 86. Opened Miss Paris International School in 90. Established Miss Paris Gakuen Educational Corporation in 2008 and opened a vocational school. In April 23, opened "Beauty & Wellness Professional University", the first university in Japan to teach about beauty and health with the aim of improving people's quality of life.
The salon, which started in Namba, Osaka with a capital of 6 million yen, now has 95 stores and 15 beauty salons across the country. It has also expanded overseas with branches in Shanghai and Taiwan. Director Shimomura Akemi of Miss Paris Gakuen is so committed to training estheticians that she is known in the industry as the "Miss Paris of Education." At just 25 years old, she started her own esthetic salon and will open Japan's first professional beauty and wellness university in April 2023. We spoke to Director Shimomura, who continues to train beauty and health professionals, about her journey so far and her current aspirations.

■ During my university days, I studied Japanese culture, including tea ceremony and flower arranging

 I graduated from Ikenobo Junior College in Kyoto with a degree in Home Economics. While 63 credits are required for graduation, I earned 77. In addition to general education, I also studied prestigious Japanese culture, studying tea ceremony and flower arrangement from top Kyoto teachers. At the time, it was common for people to return to their hometowns after junior college graduation, arrange marriage through arranged marriage, and so, as an only child, I wanted to become independent for my parents' sake. After graduating from junior college, I spent two years at Bunka Gakuin and the Central Training Course, where I received my flower arrangement license and then studied abroad at the University of California for six months. On the plane before finally returning to Japan, I resolved to "end my student life. From now on, I will work hard and repay my parents and my country."

■Deciding to start a salon based on theory, he decided to start his own business

I wanted to find a job, but I had no idea what kind of work was available for me since I had returned to Japan in October, so an acquaintance introduced me to a cosmetics company. The company's business model was to use shampoo stations in beauty salons to teach hairdressers how to beautify their faces, increase the number of services they could offer to customers, and increase the unit price per customer through cosmetics sales, etc. I rode in a car belonging to a beauty supply store, visiting beauty salons and providing directions to seminars, and when seminars started, I would visit beauty salons and provide training after hours.
When I was 23 years old, a teacher at a beauty salon asked me to provide beauty counseling to customers, so I started holding beauty consultation sessions at the salon and providing advice and solutions to customers' beauty-related concerns. As a result, the salon's cosmetics sales increased, and I received many words of gratitude from customers. At that time, I thought that esthetic salons might offer more specialized instruction, so I decided to visit the salon myself as a customer. However, at the salon, people who hadn't even studied the structure of the body or skin were sweating while performing their techniques.

At that time, I realized that customers wanted the right knowledge to address their concerns. In order to inform customers about how the products and techniques would affect their bodies and skin, I felt it was important for technicians to properly study the body, skin, and products, and then pass that knowledge on to customers. I felt that the esthetics industry at the time lacked that kind of knowledge, so I thought, "So I'll open a salon where I can provide techniques based on theory!" So I opened a salon with my savings of 600 million yen.

■Don't forget not only skills and knowledge, but also etiquette and manners

Our company has long been known as the "Miss Paris of Education" in the beauty industry. In fact, our new employees undergo 850 hours of training upon joining the company. This is because we had a desire to "train educated and qualified estheticians," which was a goal we had decided upon when we first launched our beauty salon. During my time as a cosmetics distributor, I strongly felt that customers wanted estheticians with solid knowledge of basic medicine, products, and beauty techniques. Furthermore, in order to provide higher quality service, we need to constantly update our knowledge and skills to exceed customer expectations.
To that end, we put effort into training our in-house estheticians, and currently 90% of our salon staff are certified estheticians. However, we value not only skills and knowledge, but also etiquette and manners.
Recently, a friend of mine told me that a review analysis report of 114 salons from three men's beauty salon brands had been published online. Dandy House had an average review rating of 4.53 stars, the highest rating in the industry.
Although the prices are higher than other brands, the quality of the service exceeds expectations for the price, resulting in high customer satisfaction.
One of the features of Dandy House and Miss Paris is that we have a great clientele, but we cherish the customers who enjoy our service and create customers who will continue to come to us for 20 or 30 years.

■ Miss Paris Academy: Learn about the cutting edge of esthetics

"I wanted to create a salon staffed by educated and qualified professionals" was a constant desire from the moment I decided to open a salon. So, in 1990, I built a five-story building with one basement floor on a small plot of land (approximately 75m²) in Osaka and opened an esthetics school. Currently, Miss Paris Esthetic Colleges are located in Osaka and Nagoya, and Miss Paris Beauty Colleges in Ikebukuro and Omiya. Each year, we produce over 500 graduates for the beauty industry. We have a 100% employment rate after graduation, and approximately 25% join the Miss Paris Group. While the vocational school trains work-ready personnel, the university offers seminars, practical training, and research, while also providing courses in basic medicine, aesthetics, general education, and business administration. We also train salon managers, product and technology developers, educators, instructors, and consultants.

■Message to university students

I think you need to think carefully about what you want to do in the future. In recent years, an increasing number of companies in the United States are refusing to hire new graduates who have only graduated from college. These companies apparently ask applicants about "what they can do" during interviews, rather than about their academic background or what they have studied. In other words, new graduates who can't do anything and have no experience are not a valuable asset.
In the past, lifetime employment was the norm in Japan, so even if new graduates without skills joined the company, they would receive in-house training over a long period of time with a view to developing their talent. Even when it came to university entrance exams, people tended to apply to universities that they could get into based on their current academic ability, and they tended to enroll in the department with the highest possible score without giving much thought to the choice of department.
However, in modern Japan, it has become common for employees to change jobs after four or five years of employment, and training employees after joining is becoming a burden for companies. In other words, I think Japan is also shifting to a hiring style that focuses on "what you can do now," similar to the United States in recent years. In such a society, it is important to think carefully about the kind of life you want to live and the kind of work you want to do, and to acquire the skills and experience to match that. I would encourage all students to start thinking carefully about "what you want to do" now.

Student Newspaper Online September 27, 2022 Interview by Rikkyo University 12th year student, Sudo Kakuto