Which Japanese cosmetics company began as a pharmacy in Tokyo’s Ginza district in 1872? The company was Shiseido.
Shiseido began in 1872 when Arinobu Fukuhara, a former chief pharmacist of the Imperial Japanese Navy, established the Shiseido Pharmacy in Ginza, Tokyo. It was notable for introducing Western-style pharmacy practices and products during Japan’s Meiji-era modernization.
The business moved into cosmetics gradually rather than beginning as a makeup company. It sold Japan’s first toothpaste in 1888 and entered the cosmetics field with Eudermine skin lotion in 1897. A soda fountain added after Fukuhara’s travels abroad eventually led to the Shiseido Parlour restaurant business.
Shiseido’s name comes from a passage in the Chinese classic I Ching and refers to the earth nurturing new life. The company was incorporated as a joint-stock company in 1927. Kose, Kanebo, and SK-II are Japanese beauty names, but none is the company founded as the Ginza pharmacy in 1872.