was a Japanese business tycoon and pharmacist and cosmetician), who was the head of Apothecary Shiseidō (which in 1927 would be incorporated as
Shiseidō Company, Ltd.) and .
Arinobu Fukuhara, , is known internationally because of the Arinobu Fukuhara House at
Hakone
is a List of towns in Japan, town in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the town had a population of 11,293 and a population density of 122 persons per km². The total area of the town is . The town is a popular tourist destination due to its many o ...
, which
Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements o ...
designed in 1918 as a Prairie-style vacation villa for the extended Fukuhara family.
Born in Awa, Chiba-ken, he rose in due course to become Chief Pharmacist of the
Imperial Japanese Navy
The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrend ...
. In retirement, he embarked on a second career which would bring fame and fortune. He was also president of the
Aikoko Insurance Company.
Family patriarch
Arinobu was the father of photographers , and , who would gain fame as . 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—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. The two brothers were founding organizers of the in 1924; and Shinzō was its first president. 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.
His grandson, olympic alpine skier, continues this family tradition of fostering the development of Japanese photography. He has been director of the
Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography
The is an art museum concentrating on photography.
As the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, it was founded by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, and is in Meguro-ku, a short walk from Ebisu station in southwest Tokyo. The museum al ...
since his appointment by Tokyo Governor
Shintarō Ishihara
was a Japanese politician and writer who was Governor of Tokyo from 1999 to 2012. Being the former leader of the radical right Japan Restoration Party, he was one of the most prominent ultranationalists in modern Japanese politics. An ultra ...
in 2000.
Shiseido
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. 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 and CEO of Shiseido in 1987, then chairman of the board in 1997 and honorary chairman in 2001.
Three Fukuhara leaders in the Shiseido hierarchy were:
* 1st president: Fukuhara, Shinzo—son of company founder
* 2nd president: Fukuhara, Nobuyoshi—younger brother of company's 1st president
* 3rd president: Fukuhana, Yoshibaru—son of company's 2nd president
Japan Pharmaceutical Association
Arinobu served as the third president of the , 1907–1909. 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).
[Japan Pharmaceutical Assn.]
JPA history
/ref>
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
References
* Kramer, Eric Mark. (2003
''The Emerging Monoculture: Assimilation and the "Model Minority".''
Westport, Connecticut: Prager Publishers. (cloth)
* Storrer, William Allin. ''The Frank Lloyd Wright Companion''. University Of Chicago Press, 2006, (S.207)
External links
* Shisheido Net-TV
"Photo Exhibition of "Poets of Light" -Fukuhara Shinzo, Nobutatsu, Nobuyoshi" (3 mins.)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fukuhara, Arinobu
1848 births
1924 deaths
People from Chiba Prefecture
Frank Lloyd Wright buildings
Japanese businesspeople
Japanese pharmacists
Presidents of the Japan Pharmaceutical Association