So many household products today are based more on marketing and image than on what they are really made of. Tohoku Sekken Sato Kojo is a tiny soap company based in Sendai which runs on old-fashioned ideas about using simple, natural ingredients to make the best product possible. Their product is a plain white bar of soap in a clear wrapper. Despite having no marketing department to speak of, they’ve managed to gain fans nationwide.
Interviewed by Takafumi Suzuki
Translation by Claire Tanaka
This company has quite a long history, doesn’t it?
That’s right. My father founded the company in the Taisho Period (1912 – 1926) and we’ve been in business for eighty-five years now. Even though we’re a tiny company, we take our work seriously, and that’s how we’ve lasted so long. We owe our business to our customers. But, we don’t have any marketing people on our staff. (laughs)
How do people find out about your soap?
I imagine some people find it in shops or on the internet, but the biggest way is through personal recommendations. “I found out about your soap from an acquaintance, and once I started using it I didn’t want to give it up.” We get a lot of orders from people saying things like that. We take small orders directly, in addition to selling through a distributor. We’ve got customers from Hokkaido to Okinawa. (laughs)
What kind of response do you get from your customers?
When I look back on the letters we’ve gotten, they often say things like “It makes my skin smooth” and “I like the high quality”. I’m just telling you what they said. I don’t like to toot my own horn. (laughs)
But it certainly is wonderful soap. I tried it myself, and this is going to sound like a marketing cliché, but it really did seem to make my skin feel younger… (laughs) Is there something special you do to make it this way?
We’ve been making it for decades, that’s why. We don’t add anything special, like colours or perfumes, we don’t mix in things like salt or honey, no weird stuff like that. Ever since my father’s generation, we’ve made it with the resources we have on hand, with the facilities we have on hand, and with our own strength. We take all that and try to make the best product we can. And we sell it as cheaply as we can. That’s all.
How much do you charge per bar?
We were selling it directly to customers for 240 yen per bar. But now the price of fuel oil has gone up so we’ve had to raise the price to 270 yen.
Even so, considering the quality and the time and effort you put into making the product, that’s quite reasonable, isn’t it?
Yes, I suppose so. We want to spread our soap as widely as possible, so we try to keep the price down as much as we can. That’s our way of thinking. We take time to improve the quality of the materials that go into our soap. Ever since the 1950s we’ve been making it with completely natural ingredients, with no additives. If you don’t cut corners when you’re making it, you don’t have to add extra additives like preservatives and anti-oxidants. If you compare it to iron, tin plate is made with iron, and so is a steel sword. It’s the same iron, but depending on how you forge it, you can make it into a fine sword. We mill the fat we use to make our soap as if we were forging the steel for a sword. A-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha
It makes a plop-plop sound as it is poured
The kettle is encrusted with fat
Tell me, what inspired your father to make a soap factory?
My father was the second son to the president of a konnyaku manufacturing company. But for some reason, he wanted to make something other than food products, so he went and apprenticed at a soap-maker in Tokyo. And it just happened that the soap-maker he trained at was a factory making high-quality soap for washing silk. So they were very exacting about how they made their soap. Most soap doesn’t have to be refined that much, but my father was a stubborn and meticulous man, and he wanted to make the best product with the best materials, using his own strength and skills, and on top of that, to sell it for a low price. You could say he was naïve, in a way. That’s why we don’t make much money, a-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha. My father always used to say, “Tissue paper, matches, flour, oil for frying, those household staples should be cheap but high quality. There’s no way we’re going to say “use it once and you’ll become a beauty queen” and put a high price tag on it.” Ooh-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo
Did you learn to make soap from your father?
I studied mechanical science at an industrial high school and went to work for my father right after I graduated. I’m the oldest son, so I knew I’d be the one to take over the business. Even as his son, I looked at my father and knew he had a good business going on. But I did have a period where I felt that I’d surpassed my father, and I told him so. (laughs)
What made you feel that way?
You’ve got to cook the fat in a big soap kettle continuously for five hours. Sometimes the fat bubbles up and threatens to boil over the side of the kettle. You’ve got to stand by that dangerous kettle and monitor it, pouring cold water in. You’ve got to concentrate fully, putting all your attention into that kettle. My father has a habit of getting a bit flustered when he does that task, but I’ve got a knack for it. My father saw the soap I made and he said, “You’ve beat me.” A-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha
Even so, what’s your secret? How are you able to continue doing it the old-fashioned way even today?
The company was founded near the end of the Taisho Era, so we’ve watched the times change. Soap was a controlled commodity until 1950 when it became part of the free competitive market and soap-makers began to make their own brand-name goods. Then, when washing machines came out, chemical detergents came out too, and the little soap shops started to reduce in numbers. While all this was happening, we thought to ourselves, “How long can we continue to survive in the soap business?” but we just kept on persevering. Now the times have changed again and people have begun to say things like “We should be using soap made from natural ingredients, like the good old days! We mustn’t use chemical detergents!” and we’ve had a real increase in business. I think the fundamentals are the same for any industry. Our only secret to staying in business is that we take our work very seriously.
I’m sure you take after your father.
A-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha. Yes, that’s true. I’m a soap-maker to the bone, or maybe just naïve. (laughs) I wouldn’t want to do anything else for work. But, I don’t get rich doing this. “Take an executive out for a game of golf and talk about what kind of route to distribute the soap so it’ll sell” – I just can’t wrap my head around that kind of stuff. What I like to think about, is “What kind of machines, what kind of facilities, what kind of tricks can I use to make the best soap.” That’s what I enjoy. A-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha. That’s why my wife is always hassling me, “Give me a break once in a while!” she says. A-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha.
Tohoku Sekken Sato Kojo
Sanbyakunin-machi 45, Wakabayashi-ku, Sendai, Miyagi
Yoshinori Sato
Born in Sendai, Miyagi. Second generation president of Tohoku Sekken Sato Kojo. Soap-maker.
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PingMag MAKE is the sister site to PingMag. We use an interview format to put the spotlight on a wide range of people active in rural areas. We document the voices of these unknown heroes and broadcast them to the world. It’s the Japan-based magazine about people and making things, coming out once a week. We’re passing on the passion, ideas, skills, and life stories of people who are building today and exploring tomorrow: craftsmen, engineers, entrepreneurs, and inventors. Stay tuned!
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It’s a Very Great Job keep saving the nature.
Posted by: AGOP SARKIS on July 23rd, 2008 at 9:33 am
One of my favorite ‘make’ pieces thus far… The soap has such an inherent tactile quality to it…
Cheers,
Tom
Posted by: Tom on July 23rd, 2008 at 10:28 pm
[…] Tohoku Sekken Sato Kojo is a tiny soap company based in Sendai which runs on old-fashioned ideas about using simple, natural ingredients to make the best product possible. Their product is a plain white bar of soap in a clear wrapper… more >> […]
Posted by: 85 Years in Soap « Soundrawing on July 27th, 2008 at 3:25 am
I wish I could buy some. It sounds wonderful. Great interview.
Thank you.
Jil
Posted by: Jil Nelson on July 28th, 2008 at 1:42 am
I love PingMag Make. It’s one of the best web sites I have on my bookmark. And I have thousands of sites in my bookmark.
Posted by: Jung on July 28th, 2008 at 11:12 pm
I have to say I’m also a big fan of PingMag. I find the coolest stories here that completely inspire me. I’d like to try this soap. I like the simplicity of the product and that it’s mostly spread by personal recommendations. Wonderful. –Cheryl Janis, writer of Planet Pink n’ Green - http://www.planetpinkngreen.com
Posted by: Planet Pink n' Green on July 29th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
this story made my day, Thanks PING!!
Posted by: Jasper on August 28th, 2008 at 10:25 am
[…] mer i PingMag MAKE. Et fantastisk magasin om denne typen […]
Posted by: Jeg Liker Tradisjonsrike Produkter « Much Ado About Everything on October 31st, 2008 at 11:49 pm