The basis of beauty is health, and the background to this is a rich natural environment. For many years, Kenji Kajiwara, president of two British organic cosmetics brands, has carried this clear vision into his work and lifestyle. He says that now that a ``new normal'' is dawning, health and beauty are even more inseparably linked, and that resilience - supple toughness is important for both the environment and life.

Story by Kenji Kajiwara

I grew up in the magnificent land at the foot of Mt. Fuji, surrounded by mountains. When I was a child, I always looked at the mountains from the drying rack at home, and I was sure that there was a wonderful world far beyond the mountains that I didn't know about. I always wanted to get on a plane and fly over the mountains, expand my horizons, and accomplish something.

I have always been interested in all things, and I have a natural tendency to want to know how things come to be. I would repeatedly disassemble toys and other things, put them back together, but never be able to put them back together. Even now, as an adult, his daughter still calls him "Blackfinger." I have always believed that nothing is impossible. So I'll try anything. You won't know if you can do it or not until you try it until you realize it can't be done. You are the one who draws the line. This is how I have lived my whole life. I am now convinced that I was right.

I chose to study abroad in the UK because I thought it was important to learn English, which is the common language in the center of the world. At the same time, I realized that I knew nothing about Japan. What I felt in England was the beauty of life. Both the city and the countryside are beautiful. I realized that ``beautiful things enrich our lives,'' and decided that if I were going to do business, I would sell beautiful things. So, with a loan of 200 million yen from the National Finance Corporation, I started an import company and collected only beautiful, functional, and innovative items from overseas. Among them was Neal's Yard Remedies (hereinafter referred to as NYR).

This year marks 35 years since I started handling NYR. Although we have no capital ties with the UK, we have gained the trust of our home country and are developing our own unique business in Japan, such as holding special courses at schools and opening a restaurant. Rather than increasing the size of our store by opening more stores, we believe it is important to increase the number of people who understand NYR's worldview by holding lectures, providing food, and creating a variety of other opportunities.

In 2014, we also started selling organic plant-based skin and body care products from the UK, called Bamford. A truly luxurious brand created by Carole Bamford, the wife of a top corporate executive and the title of Lady. In his home country, he also runs an auberge, owns a farm and a ranch, and is developing the ideal organic business that everyone wants.

In the UK, the mark of business success is ultimately having an organic farm. A perfectly circular farm has been realized there. Dutchie in Gloucestershire, owned by Prince Charles, Sheepdrope Farm in Dorset, owned by the owners of Neal's Yard, and Daylesford and Bamford Farm in the Cotswolds, run by the Bamford family, are three of the largest organic farms in the UK. . Like them, we will return all our experiences and profits to the soil. This is a truly rich and elegant lifestyle in the UK.

In my recent personal activities, I attended a seminar for the Climate Reality Project, which was launched by Nobel Peace Prize winner and former US Vice President Al Gore, received training, and became the project leader. Based on this seminar, I have incorporated a lot of data and slides based on my own experience, and have been holding free seminars nationwide since last year. Many people, from company managers to yoga instructors, participated, and even those who had previously felt that environmental issues were too difficult to understand realized that everything in their lives is connected to the environment, and asked what they could do starting today. , has received feedback that it has become a guideline.

The SDGs are an issue that cannot be advanced without environmental issues, and are goals that all people around the world can participate in, working within their own circumstances. We must not treat SDGs initiatives as an excuse for companies, and must raise our voice from the top and not put them into practice. The idea that tackling environmental issues becomes a barrier to economic activity is a thing of the past.

The fragility of our current social system was exposed during this spring's coronavirus crisis. From now on, we are living in an era where resilience and supple strength are required in the face of nature. It's time for our way of life and values ​​to change. In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, more and more people are finding it pointless to live in Tokyo, making it essential to revitalize local regions. Now is the time before dawn, when new buds of change are emerging. The younger generation will change society. What will become important in the future is the ability to survive, connections with people, and an environment where people and nature can coexist.

Beauty and health are one of the biggest themes for humans. People cannot suddenly become beautiful, and beauty has no meaning unless you are healthy. It's time to realize the importance of the environment. Miho Matsuura of TWIGGY met NYR in London and studied natural therapy, and she was moved by the realization that beauty lies in the foundation of health. I think that was a big trigger for me to get to where I am today. The basis of Ms. Matsuura's work is to "make people healthy and beautiful," and she achieves this in the ideal way. She doesn't aim to scale up or make a profit, but instead operates in a healthy way, and sees "the business and myself as one and the same." I feel that I am very similar to myself in that respect.

It has been more than 30 years since I worked with NYR in the UK, which is an advanced organic country, and I feel that it was a truly happy and blessed encounter. There are many choices when it comes to work, but I have always felt that I made the right choice in choosing a job where I can contribute to the common desire of humankind to be beautiful and healthy, and I am now deeply satisfied with my life. . I hope to continue doing this blessed job and give back to society with my experience and knowledge.

→Next is Yoko Miyashita (Representative of Mahoroba Natural Farm Co., Ltd.).

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