Recently, as COVID-19 regulations have been eased a lot in Japan, demand for cosmetics and other products is increasing again, and demand for classes where makeup is received is also increasing. The beauty market has suffered a lot in the past three years. However, although it has recovered, the same things are not popular as before, but they are showing a different appearance than before.

In particular, the part where such a change appears to be significant is the men’s cosmetics line, whose sales have increased more than five times compared to before COVID-19.

In the past, more and more men are wearing makeup in terms of self-management, such as men who are not interested in makeup or are passive. There is an increasing interest and demand for cosmetics that can easily organize skin texture, not just color makeup.

Men also saw a surge in demand for basic cosmetics and base cosmetics, which often caused skin problems as the time to wear masks increased for a long time.

As COVID-19 causes various problems such as skin problems due to wearing masks indoors for a long time, men’s demand for various basic cosmetics has also increased. Previously, basic cosmetics containing only a simple moisturizing function were used, but recently, men have also begun to look for basic cosmetics containing additional functions such as calming effects and skin texture correction.

In the case of men in business, it is important to give a clean image to others because of the nature of their job, so the demand for simple skin makeup has increased, and in the case of office workers, more people want to see their faces on the screen through cameras. This is because men preparing for employment also want to increase the success rate of employment by making their skin look cleaner when interviewing.

In addition, various media outlets have recently recognized that men’s makeup is not feminine, but managing themselves, and broadcasts and videos share makeup tips that men can easily follow, making it easier to access. In order to meet these trend changes and demands, genderless cosmetics brands, cosmetics lines, and men-only cosmetics brands have been launched, including ” COPERNICA,” a skincare cosmetics that can be used by both men and women, and ” Prieclat U,” a skincare cosmetics for both men and women.

Large cosmetics stores have announced that they are hiring male employees for male customers who find it difficult to ask women about cosmetics in line with such trends, and they are currently about 10 people, but they will increase it further. In the case of women, the important part of makeup has changed significantly.

Previously, lip products were dominant, but now the demand for cosmetics related to skin base makeup that does not collapse more than lip products and cosmetics that apply makeup around the eyes such as various eye shadows has increased. No matter how good the coverage and adhesion of the mask is due to the wearing of the mask, Thai cosmetics are gaining popularity in Japan recently as they are often removed or makeup collapses due to the mask. Since Thailand is a humid area, its cosmetics are characterized by being resistant to water and moisture. Women are very interested in removing or smudging their makeup in this situation because it was a big stress as it is now, and for a while, people have not applied lip products or used them because they are inside the mask for the same reason as base cosmetics, so they are the most erased or buried inside the mask, which is not hygienic. However, Thai cosmetics are solving this problem a little.Like base cosmetics, lip products have very good coloration, but they do not smudge or stain easily, so many people are currently looking for them.

Also, more and more women are wanting beauty lessons recently.

Especially, the age of women who want is female college students who are about to graduate. The reason why female college students came to these beauty lessons was because they had few opportunities to wear makeup because they had to study makeup while preparing to graduate from college and preparing for the interview. It is not just beauty for beauty, but also makeup in a way that can further highlight its original strengths and cover up its shortcomings and increase confidence.

SOPHIA KIM

ASIA JOURNAL

Last November, eight Japanese companies decided to co-establish a Japanese national semiconductor company called “Rapidus” (which means “fast” in Latin) and develop next-generation semiconductors.

Toyota (No. 1 in the world in automobiles), Kioxia (No. 3 in NAND flash semiconductors), Sony (No. 1 in image sensor), NTT (Japan’s largest telecommunications company), Softbank (Chairman Masayoshi Son’s venture investment company), and NEC (industrial computer and server company). The world’s No. 1 semiconductor company in the 1990s), Denso (automobile parts company), and Mitsubishi UFJ (Japan’s leading financial group). Japanese companies with global competitiveness formed a dream team and united for “semiconductor.”

Rapidus plans to mass-produce high-tech semiconductors necessary for future technology fields such as supercomputers, smart cities, artificial intelligence (AI), and autonomous driving from 2027. In addition, Rapidus calls Japanese engineers working in Taiwan and the United States to their home countries to promote a strategy to produce semiconductors in the line width 2nm (1nm: 1 billionth of a meter). (2nm is a process that is expected to be used by world’s leading semiconductor companies such as Samsung Electronics, TSMC, and Intel from 2025.)

This is one of the government-level strategies for Japan to strengthen its semiconductor manufacturing capabilities in the mid- to long-term.

Japan, which dominated the top three semiconductors in the 1980s, including NEC, Toshiba, and Hitachi until the 1990s (at the time of 1988, Japan accounted for 50.3% of the global semiconductor market), felt that it needed its own semiconductor manufacturing capabilities after 30 years of decline. This started with Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry warning in a report last year that Japan’s share of the global semiconductor market will be close to “zero” by 2030.

In June 2021, Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry unveiled a strategy to strengthen foundry capabilities. The main point of this is to attract overseas foundries and combine them with the strengths of domestic semiconductor materials and equipment. As part of that, Japan attracted a Taiwanese foundry TSMC production line in its own country, and TSMC decided to produce factories in Kumamoto Prefecture through Japanese government subsidies and funds invested by companies such as Sony and Denso. The Japanese government has decided to invest up to 476 billion yen (about 4.5 trillion won) in TSMC, and it is moving to strengthen its semiconductor supply chain even by investing huge amounts of money.

In addition, the Japanese government announced plans to build a base for joint research and development with the United States in December. This means that Japan will learn know-how from the cooperation system with the U.S. and neighboring countries, revitalize the semiconductor industry, and prevent technology leakage, while expecting synergy between its own support policy and technology in neighboring countries.

However, there are many opinions that the biggest problem in the current Japanese semiconductor industry is a “lack of manpower.”

In an appeal to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry last month, Japan’s Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association (JEITA) said, “The key is to secure enough talent to operate innovative semiconductor factories.” In particular, Hideki Wakabayashi, a professor at Tokyo University of Science and Technology, who heads the JEITA Semiconductor Policy Proposal Task Force, said, “The massive layoffs of engineers since the 2008 global financial crisis have been the starting point of the semiconductor industry’s manpower shortage.” According to data released by Japan’s Statistics Bureau, the number of semiconductor-related workers, including electronic components, devices, and circuits, stood at 240,000 last year, down 37% from 380,000 in 2010 11 years ago. “Although the global semiconductor industry has doubled by mid-2010, Japan has been different from other countries in terms of investment and employment,” said Kazuma Inoue, a consultant at Recruit. “It is currently difficult to find semiconductor experts in Japan despite active investment support from large companies such as Toshiba and Sony.”

With major global competitors such as the U.S., South Korea, China, Taiwan, and Europe making massive investments to foster the semiconductor industry, it is worth noting whether Japan will be able to rebuild its former semiconductor kingdom.

MIKE CHOI

ASIA JOURNAL

Since 2010, Japan has been continuously conducting demonstration projects and demand survey projects for the review of medical business development in overseas countries led by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry for overseas expansion of medical institutions, medical devices, and medical services. Japan has established medical centers in foreign countries to promote and experience high technologies such as medical devices and medicines, and has dispatched Japanese medical staff to educate them. In addition, efforts have been made to identify medical regulations in foreign countries and create countermeasures. However, many things changed starting from the outbreak of COVID-19. Eventually, Japan has invested a lot of money and effort to provide medical care, but in the face of a shortage of overseas dispatched medical staff, it is transforming into a preventive management center with less resource input for patients’ healthcare rather than a treatment-oriented approach.

As such, let’s take a closer look at how the recent overseas expansion of the Japanese medical industry has flowed since 2010.

According to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry’s report (2017) submitted to the Prime Minister’s Office, After they commissioned the Nomura Institute, the Nomura Institute plans to recruit Japanese medical institutions, medical institutions, and other operators, and form their respective consortiums to carry out several overseas business projects. This is largely divided into two categories: demonstration projects and demand survey projects for the review of medical business development in overseas countries.

The demonstration projects for the review of medical business development in overseas countries continued to be carried out “2010 Medical Service Internationalization Project” and “2012 Medical Device and Service Internationalization Project”,  8 projects in 5 countries in 2011, 23 projects in 10 countries in 2012, and 29 projects in 15 countries in 2013, and more than 70 projects from 2010 to 2017.

Japan conducted an empirical verification project in Russia to review the establishment of an endoscopic surgical training center, a breast cancer screening system improvement project, and a diagnostic center establishment project in Turkmenistan. In addition, they carried out dialysis medical provision projects, regional comprehensive care system construction projects, rehabilitation hub promotion projects in China, cranial neurosurgery treatment and projects, Japanese simple examination services and simple examination devices in India, and next-generation cancer diagnosis center in Brazil. In addition, among many Asian countries, Bangladesh conducted a Japanese clinical training base, a Japanese Bio Medical Engineer training project, and a video treatment technology promotion project, and a Japanese examination/inspection center establishment project in Cambodia. In addition, they carried out a dental technology training center project in Indonesia, a project to establish a Japanese medical connection center using ICT, and a project to support endoscopic advanced surgery, and a project to establish a Japanese medical technology training base in Myanmar. In addition, they carried out the International Advanced Digestive Endoscopy Center in the Philippines, the PACS Base in Japan, the Blood Purification Therapy Promotion Project in Thailand, a Japanese medical ICT promotion project, a Japanese contact lens diagnosis and distribution project, an empirical survey project on the opening of a health examination center, and a support project for the distribution of digestive system cancer diagnosis system were carried out in Vietnam.

As an empirical survey, Japan designated a business that is expected to become a business entity in the future in the consortium as a representative organization. From all over the world, Japanese medical institutions, doctors, and nurses provided Japanese medical services or medical device training services using Japanese medical devices and information systems, and conducted an empirical survey to review business models in a continuous form. In addition, it investigated the organization and countermeasures of the country’s medical system (whether it is licensed, the distribution/import system of devices or drugs, procedures for establishing a local corporation, labor problems when hiring local medical workers, etc.).

In addition, Japan conducted a demand survey in Asia and other emerging countries. Emerging countries predicted a rapid increase in demand for medical care, and due to the lack of local medical provision environment or medical information, Japan analyzed the local medical environment, identified trends of medical providers in the U.S. and Europe, and reviewed institutional tasks and countermeasures through literature and on-site surveys.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has been conducting research projects for the practical use of medical technology in developing and emerging countries in line with the movement of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. This is to establish the effectiveness by developing medical technology, medicine, and medical devices in accordance with the needs of the relevant country, and to establish the advantage by establishing evidence that helps overseas expansion. In addition, they have made efforts to adapt to the international medical regulation system so that Japanese medical devices and drugs can be easily certified / approved from medical regulations in overseas countries. In addition, they have provided support to develop human resources to dispatch Japanese medical staff (doctors, nurses, etc.) to ASEAN, Brazil, and India, and to transfer knowledge or experience about the public health insurance system.

In order to raise the low profile of Japanese medical institutions/medical enterprises, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has formed a joint support group with Japanese companies to dispatch them to the Middle East (Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar: 400), India (September 2013, 130), Kazakhstan (November 2013, 120), Turkey (February, 100), Russia, 160). They will hold lectures and seminars on Japanese doctors or participate in symposiums for government officials, medical workers, and medical providers in the country. It was intended to participate in a project to build and operate medical facilities in the country, which is impossible with private capital alone, and to create a medical base in Japan. Of course, it was also used as a diplomatic strategy in line with the tour schedule of Japanese government factors.

In addition, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has outsourced medical technology books that describe Japanese medical devices, medical services, and medical systems, and distributed them to government officials, embassies, medical institutions, and doctors from overseas.

MIKE CHOI

Asia Journal