Japan boasts the world's second-largest recorded music market, worth $7 billion, yet J-pop has never achieved K-pop's cultural dominance. Over the past decade, Korean pop music has become a global engine for beauty, fashion, and consumer culture. Can J-pop follow in K-pop’s footsteps?
Takasago International thinks so, and it is using fragrance to lead the way.
As one of Japan's largest fragrance and flavor companies, Takasago has entered a long-term partnership with Handcraft Entertainment, a company building what it calls "Global” J-pop by developing and introducing Japanese artists through music, film, and live experiences.
Rather than building yet another celebrity fragrance line with the artists, the companies have announced they will create specific scents, flavors, products, and tailored experiences that connect to artists, music releases, and live events. One of the first collaborations will be a fragrance developed with Handcraft artist Mia Takarabe, whose recent single, "Heartless," featuring DJ Steve Aoki, marked one of the company's first major global releases.
For Takasago, the partnership reflects a broader vision of fragrance as a cultural language rooted in Japan.
"For decades, Japan has often been perceived as a country of extreme sensoriality and poetry," Joseph Lattarulo, Senior Vice President and General Manager at Takasago, told BeautyMatter. "I believe this perception is becoming incomplete. Because what the world increasingly seeks today is precisely what Japanese culture has cultivated for centuries—not louder fragrances, but more meaningful ones."
The company's ambition is to export a distinctly Japanese philosophy of beauty. Lattarulo says it's all about the right gestures, carefully chosen ingredients, and valuing "simplicity over excess," which shapes Takasago's approach to fragrance. Each collaboration will not be a stand-alone; Lattarulo envisions the scents and experiences becoming integrated into everyday life, much as scent has traditionally been seen in Japanese culture.
"We have always considered scent as an environment," he said. "Fragrance accompanies tea. It accompanies bathing. Architecture. Wood. Textiles. Hospitality. Meditation. Nature. It is one of our greatest competitive advantages for shaping the future of fragrance.”
Consumers are increasingly embracing fragrance across home, haircare, and beyond. Takasago believes the future of both the partnership and the fragrance industry as a whole will be built around connected sensory ecosystems.
The partnership reflects a growing trend of fragrance becoming part of cultural world-building. As entertainment companies seek to create more immersive, multisensory experiences beyond the screen and stage, scent is emerging alongside traditional licensed merchandise as another way for fans to connect with their favorite artists. For Handcraft, fragrance and flavor become tools for discovering the company’s emerging talents.
"This is about building something entirely new at the intersection of music, culture, and sensory innovation," said Michael Africk, CEO of Handcraft Entertainment, in a press release.
With the Japanese perfume and fragrance market projected to surpass $3 billion by 2030 and global interest, Handcraft and Takasago have positioned themselves to help globalize J-pop culture by translating the identity and atmosphere of each artist and song into scent.
