Arinobu Fukuhara

Arinobu Fukuhara (福原 有信, Fukuhara Arinobu, May 10, 1848 – March 30, 1924) was the head of Apothecary Shiseidō (which in 1927 would be incorporated as Shiseidō) and Toku Fukuhara (福原 とく, Fukuhara Toku). In addition, this businessman's name is known internationally because of the Arinobu Fukuhara House at Hakone, which Frank Lloyd Wright designed in 1918 as a Prairie-style vacation villa for the extended Fukuhara family.[1]

Born 1848 in Awa, Chiba-ken, he rose in due course to become Chief Pharmacist of the Japanese Imperial Navy. In retirement, he embarked on a second career which would bring fame and fortune. He was also president of the Aikoko Insurance Company.[2]

Family patriarch

Arinobu was the father of photographers Rosō Fukuhara (福原 路草, Fukuhara Rosō, 1892–1946), Shinzō Fukuhara (福原 信三, Fukuhara Shinzō, 1883–1948) and Nobuyushi Fukuhara (福原 信義, Fukuhara Nobuyushi, 1897–1958), who would gain fame as Tōru Namiki (並木 透, Namiki Tōru).[3] His sons became quintessential mobo, or "modern boys" —- the sobriquet coined to describe the young, sophisticated, up-to-date young men who frequented the fashionable Ginza district in the late 1920s[4] -— and they shared a fascination and persistent attraction to photography as an art form. The Fukuharas helped to bring photography into the mainstream of Japanese modernism.[5] The two brothers were founding organizers of the Japan Photographic Society (日本写真会[6], Nihon Shashinkai) in 1924; and Shinzō was its first president.[7] The organization was a major pre-war influence on Japanese photography and still exists today despite a temporary dissolution during the years of the Pacific War.[8]

Grandson Yoshiharu Fukuhara (福原義春, Fukuhara Yoshiharu, 1931–) continues this family tradition of fostering the development of Japanese photography. He has been Director of the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography since his appointment by Tokyo Governor Shintarō Ishihara in 2000.[9]

Shiseido

Beauty is universal, thus the products which serve beauty should also be universal.
— Yushin Fukuhara, company founder

As Shiseido has grown to become an international cosmetics giant, the company has managed to avoid some of the pitfalls and problems which have attended generational transitions in other successful family businesses.[10] For example, Arinobu's grandson, Yoshiharu Fukuhara, joined Shiseido immediately after receiving his B.A. in economics from Keio University, Tokyo, in 1953. He was appointed President & CEO of Shiseido in 1987, then Chairman of the Board in 1997 and Honorary Chairman in 2001.[11]

Three Fukuhara leaders in the Shiseido hierarchy were:

Japan Pharmaceutical Association

Arinobu served as the third president of the Japan Pharmaceutical Association (日本薬剤師会, Nippon Yakuzaishi Kai), 1907–1909.[12] During his administration, JPA applied for and obtained approval from the Japanese government to become what was known as a "corporate juridical person" (public corporation).[13]

Arinobu Fukuhara House

Full view of the Arinobu Fukuhara House

The commissioned house was designed and built in 1920, but the site near a hot spring left the building vulnerable to the cataclysmic 1923 Great Kantō earthquake which collapsed it.

Notes

  1. ↑ Wright in Japan: Arinobu Fukuhara House
  2. ↑ Takenobu Yoshitarō and Yoshitaro Takenobu. (1905). The Japan Year Book, p. 59. Tokyo: Japan Yearbook Office.
  3. ↑ Tokyo Art Beat: "Masters of Light – Photographic Works of Shinzo, Nobutatsu and Nobuyoshi Fukuhara"
  4. ↑ Kramer, Eric Mark. (2003). The Emerging Monoculture: Assimilation and the "Model Minority, p. 60.
  5. ↑ mobo (modern boys) sobriquet
  6. ↑ Alternate kanji, in the orthography of the time of its foundation: 日本寫眞會.
  7. ↑ Colberg blog: Rosō & Shinzō Fukuhara
  8. ↑ PhotoGuide Japan: Fukuhara Shinzo Archived October 1, 2006, at the Wayback Machine.
  9. ↑ PhotoGuide Japan: Fukuhara Yoshiharu Archived October 1, 2006, at the Wayback Machine.
  10. ↑ Kenyon -Rouvinez, Denise. (2002). "Sharing Wisdom, Building Values: Letters from Family Business Owners to their Successors, p. 89.
  11. ↑ Keio alumni essay
  12. ↑ Japan Pharmaceutical Assn.: JPA presidents
  13. ↑ Japan Pharmaceutical Assn.: JPA history

References


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