Description: grand opening of the Shiseido Chain Store Haku Botan located in the Wakabayashi district of Setagaya Ward, Tokyo.

Inscription on the reverse reads: Showa '28 nen, juichigatsu, jiichi nichi, kaiten, Shiseido Chiyenu Stoa, Haku Botan Keshohinten, Kana or Kin.... (partial). Translation: Showa year '28 (1953) November 11, grand opening of the Shiseido Chain Store Haku Botan (White Peony) cosmetic store, with an illegible credit or notation in parenthesis reading Kana... or Kin.

Condition: small crease in lower left margin that does not affect the image. Other than that, overall print is in very good condition.

Attribution:

This photograph is thought to have been taken by the photographic department (shashin-bu) of Shiseido for the grand opening of this store. The Shiseido Chain Stores were franchises that had to conform to Shiseido guidelines and were set up by the company. It is very likely the company provided photographs of completed stores as part of the franchise package as well being a visual record of the completed store. Even the logo of this store matches the exact Chinese kanji font used for the Shiseido logo, created in 1927 by the Shiseido Design Department. This illustrates Shiseido's attention to detail and amount of control they exerted with their franchises. Additionally, this photograph is technically done, taken by a professional artist and representative of the skilled photographic talent Shiseido is always known for.