J-Beauty at a Crossroads: Can Heritage Survive the Headwinds?

In a week that sent tremors through Tokyo’s financial markets, Japan’s top beauty conglomerates were handed a sobering reality check: their deep-rooted reliance on the Chinese consumer is no longer a safety net—it’s a liability.

On November 17, shares of Japan’s big four beauty groups dropped across the board: Shiseido plunged over 11%, Kose fell 3.12%, Pola Orbis declined 1.35%, and Kao slid 1.28%. On November 18, only Kao, whose business is more diversified, saw its stock stabilize. By the close on the 19th, although the other three companies had shown some signs of recovery, Shiseido’s stock still failed to pick up.

This latest market reaction is not entirely unwarranted—Japanese beauty companies have long been heavily reliant on both Chinese tourists and the Chinese domestic market.

Official Japanese data shows that nearly 20% of all inbound tourists last year came from China. According to Japan’s Tourism Agency, nearly 7.5 million mainland Chinese tourists visited Japan in the first nine months of this year alone.

Therefore, the cooling enthusiasm of Chinese consumers towards J-Beauty is casting a shadow over the Japanese beauty groups’ Q4 outlook.

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