What kind of company is EBM, and what philosophy do you value most?
EBM operates as a foundational skincare company that stays close to people. At the heart of everything we do is the commitment to stand beside our customers and support them in a deeply personal way.
Our company name, EBM, stands for Energy, Beauty, and Mind. It represents our mission to guide people toward a state in which these three elements are fulfilled through our products, technologies, and services, all of which support both physical and mental circulation and vitality.
As a skincare company, we place great importance on the skin—but not merely as a surface. When the mind and body are healthy, that state is reflected in the skin. As people become more comfortable in their own skin, they gain the energy to live more authentically. We value this positive cycle and strive to nurture it in everything we do.
Could you describe EBM’s business model?
Our core businesses center on the development of cosmetics and health-related products, as well as the operation of our beauty and wellness specialty salons, known as Skincare Studios. In addition, we operate through multiple channels, including direct marketing, online communication, wholesale distribution, and agency partnerships.
How does EBM approach product development?
We currently operate approximately 40 Skincare Studios in Japan and overseas, where we provide skincare treatments using our own products. By listening directly to customers, observing changes in their skin, and receiving real-time feedback in these studios, we are able to quickly reflect those insights in both our treatments and product development.
Today, we offer more than 200 proprietary skincare and beauty-related food products. This breadth is the result of continuously striving to respond to each individual customer’s unique concerns. In turn, this creates a virtuous cycle that allows us to make increasingly tailored and meaningful proposals.
Please tell us more about your Skincare Studios.
We currently operate four brands across approximately 40 locations in Japan and overseas.
At our Skincare Studios, we place great importance on hands-on skincare and body treatments, which we refer to as “teate,” or healing through touch. The warmth of human hands felt through the skin is transmitted to the brain and provides deep emotional healing. Gentle, mindful touch is also said to promote the release of oxytocin—the so-called “happiness hormone”—helping bring the mind and body into balance.
Beyond the scientific reasoning, we believe that placing sincere intention and prayer into one’s hands is what truly heals people. This spirit and sincerity are integral to our approach.
We have also consistently focused on two core beauty philosophies: “washing the pores” through our pore-cleansing techniques, and warming the body to promote healthy circulation. These ideas—removing impurities to awaken the skin’s natural strength, and encouraging full-body circulation—form the foundation of our proprietary beauty methods. They are deeply connected to Japan’s traditional hot spring and therapeutic bathing culture.
By combining these approaches according to each customer’s physical and emotional condition, our Skincare Studios serve as places where Energy, Beauty, and Mind are brought into balance through personalized care and heartfelt hospitality.
Could you introduce each of your Skincare Studio brands?
We currently operate four Skincare Studio brands: VS28 Skincare Studio BALI, e.b.c.c., e.b.c.c. Men’s Skincare Studio, and BLOOM AURA the Journey.
VS28 Skincare Studio BALI was born from the fusion of inspiration drawn from Bali as a retreat destination with Japanese hospitality, sincerity, and respect for nature. At its core is our founding treatment—pore cleansing—combined with healing derived from natural energy.
e.b.c.c. was created to address the deeper challenges of modern life. Based on the concept of “five-senses beauty”—experiencing abundant comfort through all five senses—it aims to guide individuals toward their optimal state through care that restores balance to both mind and body.
Since 2022, we have also operated e.b.c.c. Men’s Skincare Studio, a brand dedicated to men. By offering services optimized for male skin and providing a space where men feel comfortable, we bring nearly four decades of expertise into the growing men’s beauty market.
BLOOM AURA the Journey is EBM’s flagship brand, born from decades of experience working closely with customers’ physical and emotional wellbeing. Designed as a space for deep personal maintenance, it is chosen by business leaders and individuals seeking peak performance. The Japanese-inspired interior, private rooms, and soundscapes—such as temple bells and flowing water—allow guests to reconnect with themselves through breath and stillness.
Many of our customers move naturally between multiple brands as their life stages, physical conditions, and emotional needs evolve. This multi-brand approach allows us to build long-term relationships rather than one-time transactions, supporting customers throughout different phases of their lives.
Overseas, we currently operate a directly managed studio in Bali and work with partners in Taiwan.
You place strong emphasis on staff training and spirituality. Why is this important?
Through our proprietary education system, the EBM Academy, we provide not only technical training in skin theory, cosmetic science, and counseling, but also focus on nurturing skincare advisors who can heal the heart.
To support this, we even conduct training at the temple where I was raised, helping staff cultivate inner balance. Our symbol is a wildflower—embodying our wish for staff who gently heal customers’ hearts and live with wildflower-like resilience and grace.
What is your philosophy regarding touch and energy?
Touching another person is a profound act. If the practitioner’s mind and body are not in balance, that state is transmitted to the customer. Touch infused with love, gratitude, and a sense of mission yields completely different outcomes than touch without intention.
We do not believe that using the same products will always produce the same results. Invisible intention is conveyed through the hands and changes the effect. This is why we teach our staff to maintain harmony within themselves. This is the foundation of our training, and I believe it connects with the spirituality that Japan has traditionally embodied.
How do you work to better understand your customers?
Understanding our customers is our highest priority. Beyond experience and communication, we utilize skin and body assessments using specialized diagnostic equipment, birthdate-based counseling, and even wellness diagnostics through voice analysis.
Our voice-based wellness analysis system, Coenal, analyzes individuality, fatigue types, and optimal beauty and health methods using vocal data. It is built on insights from over 20,000 analyses and 39 years of studio experience.
We also partner with specialized institutions to provide gut microbiome and skin analysis, and train advisors to clearly explain results. Customer understanding is the foundation of our product development and business expansion.
What exactly is the voice analysis tool?
By simply repeating one’s name for six seconds, the system instantly analyzes personal traits, physical condition, and aptitudes across 13 patterns. Just as fingerprints exist on our hands, voiceprints exist in our voices.
Voice carries vibrations from the entire body and reflects both physical condition and thought patterns. Coenal transforms 39 years of attentive listening and counseling expertise into technology. It can help foster the communication skills of reading emotions and truly listening, and from there, help create the hospitality that Japan is known for. It enables personalized beauty and health advice and can be utilized in HR, mental health, and more across industries.
Why are Taiwan and Indonesia central to your overseas expansion?
In Bali, Indonesia, we have operated our directly managed studio, BALI IN BALI, since 1994.
During my visit to Bali, I was deeply moved by the natural energy and culture of prayer. Inspired by the concept of “bathing in Bali” and elevating one’s vital energy, we established this skincare studio. With BALI IN BALI as our origin point, we then launched VS28 Skincare Studio BALI in Japan—salons where guests can experience Bali’s reverence for nature, the hospitality and spirituality created by its people, and profound healing.
In recent years, the experiential value of retreats has gained attention, and Bali has become popular as a destination for restoring mental and physical vitality. With the healing we learned from Bali as our foundation, we continue to refine and elevate our offerings. Beginning with BLOOM AURA the Journey Ginza, which opened in 2019, we are also planning new salon ventures that place even greater emphasis on the retreat experience.
For us, overseas expansion is not simply about opening locations abroad, but about translating our philosophy of healing, circulation, and human connection into cultures that resonate with those values.
In Taiwan, we began franchising in 1992. Since 2024, we have transitioned to an agency partnership model, continuing to support salon operations and e-commerce sales.Our pore-cleansing philosophy has been warmly embraced, and many customers continue to use our products long-term.
What are your future plans for global expansion?
We are actively exploring expansion into markets such as Thailand, Mexico, and Paris, encompassing cosmetics, salons, and Coenal deployment, supported by collaborative partner companies.
Coenal can be localized into multiple languages. Through its global expansion, we hope to bring the attentive and emotionally nuanced communication that characterizes Japanese culture to people worldwide, enabling them to enhance their own business development.
We also plan to expand warming space bathing facilities incorporating our Planetary Energy Beauty Mist, an innovative beauty and wellness technology.
Please explain the Planetary Energy Beauty Mist.
This beauty mist focuses on the balance of oxidation and reduction in the body. It can be applied to the skin and body, as well as used throughout an entire space. While incorporating advanced technology, it is rooted in our long-held belief in restoring the body’s natural circulation and metabolism.
What do you mean by “space bathing”?
Space bathing refers to cultivating beauty simply by being within a space infused with Planetary Energy Beauty Mist. This gentle, warming mist enhances circulation, and cleanses the body without strain, naturally balancing the body and drawing out beauty —making it suitable even for seniors or those with fragile health. We see it as a next-generation beauty experience.
What guides your R&D strategy?
At our Skincare Studios, skincare advisors listen deeply to customers who come to us with concerns, carefully examine their skin, and work to uncover the true causes of their concerns. The customers’ concerns, their voices, and the experience of supporting them closely are all reflected in our product development.
Daily reports are quickly shared and analyzed, allowing rapid evolution. This speed is one of our strengths. While valuing encounters with specialists and developers, we continue to evolve constantly.
What are the strengths of Japanese beauty?
Japan’s strengths in cosmetics lie in technology, quality control, and ingredient trust. Additionally, Japan’s long-established cultures of fermentation, traditional herbal medicine (Wakan), and bathing are distinctive strengths of Japanese beauty.
It is said that as early as the 700s CE, during Japan’s Nara period, temples had steam baths called “karafuro.” At Hokkeji Temple in Nara Prefecture, a karafuro created by Empress Kōmyō still remains. The culture of cleansing the body for health has deep historical roots.
EBM’s philosophy aligns with this heritage. Since our founding, we have believed that mastering pore cleansing and drawing out the skin’s innate strength through gentle water-based technology and high-quality cosmetics is the most direct path to beauty. This resonates strongly with international audiences seeking simplicity and authenticity.
Furthermore, Japanese beauty is not standardized—it encompasses the invisible, such as the culture of omotenashi that reads people’s subtle nuances and their “ki” (vital energy).
We also place great importance on each customer’s “ki” each day. Customers never arrive in the same physical or emotional state, and we believe true beauty care requires the ability to read subtle changes in a person’s condition and energy each day. This sensitivity has become one of our core strengths and reflects an essential element of Japanese beauty culture.
How do you address an aging society?
For seniors, having a place where someone truly listens is vital. Our Skincare Studios are not merely spaces for treatments, but also places where we listen to customers and embrace their hearts. We believe this is particularly essential for senior care, and we are also committed to developing gentle, body-friendly products for elderly customers.
We aim to create a future where beauty and caregiving unite. The principles we value—warming the body and promoting circulation—are fundamental to beauty and health across all generations.
What is the MIRAIWA+ brand and planetary health philosophy?
Human beauty and happiness cannot exist without nature, the Earth, and the universe. We develop products and pursue various activities based on the principles of “Planetary Health”—the understanding that both people and the planet must be healthy.
MIRAIWA+ is a product brand featuring gut microbiome analysis kits and a femcare line. We focus on microorganisms that support the body’s circulatory systems—gut, skin, oral, and vaginal environments—and develop products in collaboration with specialized institutions.
Rooted in the philosophy of Planetary Health, we believe that human beauty, environmental health, and the circulation of life are inseparable. MIRAIWA+ represents our commitment to designing beauty solutions that respect both the human body and the ecosystems that sustain it.
What environmental initiatives do you pursue?
Through our Planetary Health Project, we collaborate with companies and schools to distribute fulvic acid to soil, cultivating beneficial microbes.
Fulvic acid is a concentrated essence of mountain ecosystems and has positive effects on both people and soil. We believe it is essential that both people and the planet remain healthy, and beyond product development, we engage in environmentally conscious initiatives.
Finally, how would you describe EBM in one sentence?
EBM is a company that delivers energy to people and the planet, creating happiness through beauty. By helping people become beautiful, we help them find happiness and live fulfilling lives.
As a company that delivers happiness to people, we are committed to ensuring our employees’ happiness, so they can extend that happiness to our customers and society as a whole. We will continue to strive toward this vision.
For more information, visit their website at: www.ebm-co.jp
