The Japanese cosmetics industry faces huge competition not only from established players such as L’Oreal and Estee Lauder but increasingly also from the “K-beauty” craze coming from South Korea.

Nevertheless, Japan is more than holding its own, with exports nearly quadrupling since 2013 to 546 billion yen ($5 billion), according to finance ministry figures, nearly two-thirds of that going to China and Hong Kong.

The domestic industry is also benefitting from an explosion of inbound tourism in recent years ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics — in particular a relaxing of visa requirements for Chinese tourists who lap up the latest Japanese cosmetic fads.

Shiseido chief executive Masahiko Uotani told AFP that a focus on the high end of the market and time-honoured attention to detail set them apart from the foreign brands seeking to dominate globally.

“We are focusing on prestige, premium brands. Consumers in those categories see the value of Japanese culture,” said Uotani.

“So strategically, we are telling consumers: those brands are from Japan, it’s Japanese R&D. And that is becoming a very important competitive value.”

In addition to the new plant in Otawara, Shiseido plans to open two more in Japan before 2022 — a total investment of 120 billion yen — the fastest pace of expansion in the firm’s 150-year history.

Otawara’s mayor said the plot for the new factory had been barren since the 1990 tech bubble burst. “We used to use it to hold exercises to prepare for natural disasters,” Tomio Tsukui explained.

The 1,000 jobs it creates will make Shiseido the biggest private employer in the town, Tsukui said, putting it down to a drop in value of the yen that has made relocalising production more profitable.