Founded in 1893, Morishita Jintan has evolved into a multifaceted healthcare company renowned for its pioneering products and technologies. Celebrating its 130th anniversary, the company continues to expand its global footprint, focusing on innovative solutions like seamless capsules, gut health, and oral care.
Let's start with a quick introduction. What is Morishita Jintan’s core business, and what unique aspects of your company allow you to stand out from your competition?
We were founded way back in 1893, so last year marked our 130th anniversary, and currently, we have about 330 employees with us. The company has a capital of JPY 3.5 billion, and in 2023, we achieved JPY 12.4 billion in net sales. Our headquarters is located in the center of Osaka city, just near the Osaka Castle. Not far from it, we have a research laboratory and production capabilities for the “Jintan silver pills,” our signature product since 1929, containing sixteen herbal ingredients. At our plant in Shiga prefecture, we produce our seamless capsules. In December 2023, we acquired another plant in proximity to further enhance our production capabilities. Last but not least, we also have a sales office in Tokyo.
Our business is based on five different segments, which cover Morishita Jintan’s lineup. First, there is the Consumer Product Division that offers Morishita Jintan’s own products to consumers mainly in the domestic Japanese market. Our Seamless Capsule OEM Division provides contract manufacturing services in the field of encapsulation. Then, we have a Functional Ingredients Division, researching and developing new natural ingredients and a Pharmaceutical Division. Finally, the last division is our International Business Division, which markets Morishita Jintan's products and services to a global audience.
The Japanese medical and healthcare sector has received plenty of criticism over the past few years, and at the heart of that criticism is that it has slow regulatory processes compared to Western nations. Another key criticism is that while Japanese companies have successfully developed products domestically, they haven’t been able to export those products to global markets. Do you agree with these assessments of the Japanese market, and what do you believe to be the strengths of Japan’s healthcare and medical sectors today?
We understand that the regulatory process in Japan is not easy. In addition, the domestic healthcare industry is facing many challenges, including in the pharmaceutical sector. We believe that these challenges cannot all be solved by one player and that the Japanese healthcare industry can only succeed globally by partnering with various companies, both domestically and internationally, bringing their expertise together to create innovation.
Thinking about the strengths of Japan's healthcare sector, people here always prioritize safety when it comes to healthcare and medical products, which leads Japanese manufacturers to establish high safety standards. On the other hand, we are also good at flexibly adopting cultures and ideas we like, such as combining the knowledge of Oriental medicine (e.g., Chinese herbal medicine) with that of Western medicine.
Today, Japan has the world’s oldest population with a decreasing demographic line. Of course, this presents challenges such as a labor crisis and a shrinking domestic market; however, for pharmaceutical and health-related companies, this is a great ecosystem to develop innovative solutions. Preventative medicine is being touted as one of the best options to cater to the demands of an aging population. Let’s not forget that while Japan is at the forefront, many countries are following suit, such as Italy, China, and Korea. From your point of view, what are the challenges and opportunities you see as a company operating within the Japanese market, and how do you see the development of preventative medicine as a solution to cater to an aging population playing out?
Japan’s aging trend continues, and the population shrinks. Morishita Jintan is now trying to provide solutions to the nursing care industry as well, not only to the healthcare industry. In terms of the pharmaceutical industry, European and US manufacturers are leading the global market. However, in terms of preventive medicine, Asian countries such as Japan and China are more advanced. We believe that there are great business opportunities, especially for products based on traditional Chinese medicine. On the other hand, we feel that differences in culture and regulatory systems in each country are major obstacles to our company's international expansion in the field of preventive medicine.
Recently, we have decided to focus on gut health and oral care. These are two areas in which people of all ages are facing issues. We will continue investing in R&D and hope that we can provide useful products and solutions to society.
Left: Original "Jintan pills" case when first releases in 1905. Right: "Jintan silver pills" are Morishita Jintan's longest-selling product; a mouth freshener made of 16 kinds of herbal medicines.
The Jintan formula was developed by Mr. Morishita Hiroshi, one of your ancestors, who became famous as a pioneer in the advertising industry. Throughout the years, Jintan has developed into many different products, including candies, oral care products, and more. What exactly is Jintan, and what has made it effective over such a long period of time?
The original “Jintan pills” were developed in 1905. At that time, sanitation was poor, and it was not uncommon for people to die from diseases caused by dirty water or bad food. Therefore, after years of research work with different experts, “Jintan” was launched as a comprehensive healthcare medicine to protect gastrointestinal health based on the idea of disease prevention. The product's good portability, which made it easy to eat at any time, was a major feature appreciated by the consumers. Roughly 60 years ago, people began using it as a mouth freshener, and as such “Jintan” remains popular today despite stiff competition from counterfeit products and regional rivals.
Fifteen years after the foundation of our company, we already had a branch in China and India. We even used to supply our products to Africa at that time.
Our company logo is a Bismarckian diplomat with a twirled-up mustache and a Napoleon hat. We created this logo to expand our reach within the global healthcare market. As you can see, we have always been focused on international expansion with our healthcare solutions. Although there are many other options these days, our company keeps being recognized by people in and outside of Japan.
Morishita Jintan, alongside its Jintan products, also offers quasi-drugs, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, health foods, and supplements. However, you provide capsule production capabilities on the other side of your business. Looking at the future, which business divisions are you prioritizing, and which do you think has the most growth potential?
We started researching encapsulation techniques, starting from the idea that the absorption rate of fluid ingredients in the body should be higher than that of solid forms such as powder extracts. As a result of these efforts, Morishita Jintan managed to pioneer the so-called seamless capsule technology, which eventually led to the development of encapsulation techniques for probiotics and the birth of our probiotic supplement “Bifina” 30 years ago.
While we kept manufacturing our own products, we also started offering contract manufacturing services around 20 years ago. Our Shiga factory was built specifically for this business model. As a contract manufacturer, Morishita Jintan has been catering to food, supplement, and pharmaceutical companies, but recently we even received orders from the cosmetic industry.
Our patents represent the evolution of the capsule technology, which has enabled us to produce new solutions for many different industries. For the future, we would like to continue developing our business both with our own branded products and through our contract manufacturing services. I believe we can offer something useful to the world in both areas.
In our research, we saw that you create capsules for edible use, pharmaceuticals, and probiotics. Interestingly, we saw that your capsules can also be used as a termite insecticide. From a technology and development standpoint, what makes your capsules so versatile?
If we had pursued the development of our capsule technology only by ourselves, we would not have been able to go beyond solutions for the food and pharmaceutical industry. About 12 years ago, we announced that we invented a capsule technology in a joint venture with a university that would allow the recovery of rare metals. When this was aired on TV, we received massive feedback from companies in different industries who were inspired by the capability of our technology. These companies would call my predecessor, saying they saw the TV broadcast and were surprised to learn that Morishita Jintan’s technology could do such things. Since then, we have been receiving many new inquiries about our capsule technology.
I believe that true innovation is born from combining technologies that originally stem from different industries. The resulting product is something new and innovative. Cherishing this approach has allowed Morishita Jintan to create many innovative products.
We understand that you are currently working with international companies to further the development of your capsule business. Could you tell us more about the collaborations you are engaged in? Are you still looking for more collaborative projects or partners? If so, what does a partner of choice look like for your firm?
Whether we partner with another company depends on whether that partnership offers an incentive for new business ideas. Once a potential partner demands our manufacturing services, if the project is within our abilities and provides a good opportunity, we will do anything to make it happen. But it is important to us that all parties involved in such a new project are on an equal footing.
Since we have conducted extensive research into so many different areas, Morishita Jintan has accumulated considerable expertise over time allowing us to support new projects in multiple application areas. At times, some projects might not even be profitable in terms of business, but if it allows us to further enhance our technology level, we might still go for it.
Your company collaborates with a series of distributors focusing on the Asian market. What regions would you like to expand into in the future, and what markets have you identified as having the highest growth potential for your firm’s activities?
Southeast Asia is an extremely important market for us to expand our product offerings. One reason for this is the region's rapidly growing young population. In addition, their eating habits, culture, physiques, and lifestyles are somewhat similar to those of Japan. At the same time, we identify aging as a global issue that will further drive the demand for health-related products.
Thus, we are also looking at ways to supply our healthcare solutions to other regions of the world such as the United States, Europe, South America, and Africa. Morishita Jintan is very well known in Japan, but relatively unknown to people in Europe and the United States. We need to make sure that our promotion strategies are on point.
"Bifina", a probiotic supplement
We are very interested in learning about the intersection of old and new medicine. Kampo is a well-known traditional Chinese medicine product that has been reinterpreted in a Japanese way and developed over many decades. When comparing these Chinese medicine balls with Western medicine, it is very apparent that Kampo is quite different. Western medicine is very targeted, often developed with specific solutions in mind, and often carries side effects. Can you explain the Japanese interpretation of Kampo and how it differs from Western medicine?
Kampo combines multiple natural ingredients in one single product. On the other hand, in Western medicine, you have to take one medicine for each symptom. This means that often people must take multiple different medicines together at once. With Kampo, you need fewer medicines but typically would have to continue taking them for 30-40 days. That is because it changes your body’s constitution over time. Kampo is also less likely to produce adverse side effects. There are, however, two main challenges I see with Kampo. The first is that Kampo utilizes natural herbs and climate change is drastically affecting what can be harvested, which has implications for the availability of certain ingredients. If a natural ingredient's supplier and the country of origin change, the efficacy changes as well.
Another challenge for the domestic market is the mindset of young people in Japan. Nowadays, they are not so much interested in natural herbs and Kampo anymore. They tend to think that Western medicine works better. At Morishita Jintan, we consider both the Oriental and Western medical approach as essentially two sides of the same coin and equally important. We would like to promote this thinking and hope that Kampo will regain some of its popularity with the younger generations.
The latest financial report for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2024, shows a 9% increase in sales and over a 26% increase in operating income compared to the previous year. Can you comment on these positive results, and what do you believe are the main reasons for this positive performance?
One reason comes down to tourism bouncing back. During the COVID-19 pandemic, there were lockdown restrictions in place, and therefore almost no international visitors were coming to Japan; however, nowadays, we are seeing a recovery of inbound tourists. This has increased the demand for our products and positively contributed to almost all aspects of our business, even boosting sales overseas. I believe that this effect will help our business grow even further over the next fiscal year. Additionally, we are planning to launch new products, including a novel probiotic supplement.
Imagine that we return on the very last day of your presidency and have this interview again. What goals or dreams do you hope to achieve when you are ready to pass the baton onto the next generation of Morishita Jintan executives?
I am just one of the presidents in the long history of this company. Ideally, I will be able to pass on the baton to the next generation with even more passion than when I received it. Thank you very much.
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