Cosmetics Science
The science behind cosmetic formulation — ingredients, concentration, stability, and how to read a label.
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BIOT Research·
Stem Cell Serum: The Science Behind Culture Supernatants
A "stem cell serum" almost never contains stem cells. It contains culture supernatant — the liquid left after cells have been cultured and removed — which carries growth factors, cytokines and extracellular vesicles. Quality depends on cell origin, culture conditions, purification and stability in the finished formulation. This page is educational and makes no medical claim about any BIOT product.
ReadExplainers·
What are exosomes? A plain-language explainer
Exosomes are small extracellular vesicles — membrane-bound particles roughly 30–150 nanometres across — that cells release to carry proteins, lipids and nucleic acids to other cells. Researchers study them as a mechanism of cell-to-cell signalling and as a possible delivery vehicle. The international standard for reporting such research is MISEV, published by the International Society for Extracellular Vesicles. In the United States, exosome products are not approved by the FDA for treating any condition, and the FDA has issued consumer warnings on unapproved exosome and stem cell products.
ReadCEO Essays·
From a Perfume-Loving Teenager to a Cosmetics Chairman
I loved perfume as a high schooler — just a simple "like," with no career calculation. Yet when I job-hunted after Canada, I chose a perfume maker from six offers, because I wanted to work near what I loved. The product development I learned there opened the door to a TSE-listed company, then to my own cosmetics business, and now forms the foundation of BIOT.
ReadCEO Essays·
2017: We Started from Materials Science
Our current path began in 2017, with materials science. Countless cosmetics companies are, in essence, planning-and-marketing companies — factories and trading houses supply the rest. We entered from the opposite end: the deepest layer, raw materials, because that is where quality originates.
ReadCEO Essays·
The Day We Built Our Factory in Kakegawa
In 2019 we built our own factory in Kakegawa, Shizuoka. Outsourcing keeps you light — no capital investment, no maintenance, no hiring. We built anyway, because I refused to entrust the heart of our manufacturing to others.
ReadCEO Essays·
The Math Behind Delighting Ten Billion People
We chase one number — not revenue, not profit, but the number of people we have delighted. Ten thousand, a million, a hundred million — and ten billion. Count person × occasion — delighted by our cosmetics, by their health, ten and twenty years on — and ten billion is almost modest.
ReadCEO Essays·
Learning Is Fun — A Restart at 25
It is never too late to learn — our youngest executive is the proof. A teenager who never studied joined us at twenty-five and discovered, for the first time, that "learning is fun." A man who knew nothing of cosmetics absorbed formulation, raw materials, law, cost, and how to raise people. In his own words: "I wanted to answer his earnestness; I wanted to follow this person — that single wish." People begin to learn not when told to, but when someone appears whom they want to answer.
ReadCEO Essays·
We Are Not a Cosmetics Company
A sentence from our Senior Managing Director's essay deserves to stand as our company's definition: "Cosmetics may be our foundation today, but neither the chairman nor I have ever thought of this as a cosmetics company. What we operate is a company that increases the total amount of smiles in the world — unchanged since the day we met." Define a company by what it sells, and its meaning gets lost the moment the product changes. Define it by why it exists, and no change of product can shake it.
ReadCEO Essays·
Health is the Starting Point of Life
The second article of our manifesto binds our whole business into one idea: "Health is the starting point of life. It is the strength to hold dreams, take on challenges, and live each day smiling. That is why we encompass beauty, wellness, food, education, work, and community — all exist to enrich life and deliver smiles." Why does a cosmetics company make health foods and look toward food, agriculture, education?
ReadCEO Essays·
From Materials to Smiles – The Chain Story
Asked to explain our business in one phrase, I say: "From materials to smiles." Source trusted raw materials from around the world; research them; formulate; manufacture in our own factory; deliver as brands; and at the end stands the smile of the person who uses them. We hold this entire chain within our group — vertical integration, our shape. Because a chain breaks at its weakest link.
ReadCEO Essays·
From 100 Units to Mass Production
Among our factory's mottos, my favorite: "From 100 units to mass production." In cosmetics manufacturing, small lots are unwelcome — factories profit from volume, and "minimum tens of thousands" towers as industry common sense. But behind that common sense, how many challenges die? Small brands with fine formulation ideas; companies testing new markets; individuals taking a first step.
ReadCEO Essays·
Make the Invisible Visible With Data
Within our group is a company for sourcing and analysis, whose motto is: "Make the invisible visible through data." Cosmetics and wellness have long been worlds of feeling — "it seems moisturizing," "it seems to work," "the ingredient sounds good." Much of the industry stands atop accumulated "seems." We bring data there: analyze what is inside raw materials, verify quality in numbers, and allow only the proven onto Japanese manufacturing lines — converting "it seems" into "we confirmed." Why go so far? Because these things touch skin and enter mouths, where quality is hard to see. The less visible a product's goodness, the more honest a company must be in the invisible places.
ReadCEO Essays·
Our Dream for Food and Agriculture
Among our dreams is the field of food and agriculture. Why does a cosmetics company speak of farmland? Trace how our daily meals, foods, and drinks come to be, and you always arrive at the same place: soil.
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Someday, Build a Town
Let me speak of our farthest dream: someday, we want to build a town. People gather from around the world; employment is born; people are paid, work together, and enjoy the town-building itself; the world's cultures arrive, mingle, and new culture is born. Because our purpose, pursued to its end, arrives there.
ReadCEO Essays·
When the Face in the Mirror Changes, the Heart Changes — The Psychology of Beauty
We are a beauty company, so we owe an answer to this question: what do cosmetics actually change? The skin's condition, of course — but psychology suggests something beyond. Research known as enclothed cognition reported that what we wear influences attention and behavior; likewise, many people repeatedly report feeling more confident and sociable on days they wear makeup.
ReadCEO Essays·
Connection Is Health — The Science of Companions Who Rejoice Together
This half of Season 1.5 closes by grounding our philosophy — "cherish the companions who rejoice together" — in the science of health. A famous research synthesis integrating data on hundreds of thousands of people compared predictors of long-term health and longevity and reported that the richness of social connection was among the strongest, with loneliness argued to rival widely known lifestyle risks. The director of a celebrated decades-long study of adult life concluded that what most determines happiness and health is neither wealth nor fame, but good relationships.
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