At the end of 1996, rumors circulated among fashion, publishing, and advertising agencies that Vogue was finally coming to Japan. Despite the fact that GQ (a men's magazine) had been launched by Chuokoron-Shinsha (now Chuokoron-Shinsha) in 1993, rumors were rife that Vogue, Condé Nast's most prestigious magazine, did not have a Japanese edition because the contract fee was too high. This was all the more puzzling, considering that Korean and Taiwanese editions had already been launched in Asia in 1996.
On May 13, 1997, news was released that Condé Nast and the Nikkei Shimbun had established a joint venture, Nikkei Condé Nast. The partnership between the two companies was coordinated by Françoise Morechand, a Frenchman. One of Condé Nast's reasons for choosing Nikkei as its partner was its ability to secure a loyal readership through newspaper sales channels. The title was "Vogue Nippon." Instead of the usual "Vogue Japan," the deliberate use of "Nippon" set the magazine apart from previous licensed magazines and aimed to create a global impact. According to the press release, Vogue Nippon was scheduled to launch in February 1998. Its circulation was expected to be between 150,000 and 200,000 copies, priced at 780 yen. Its target audience was set at a high-quality, comprehensive women's magazine for women of all ages who wanted to look beautiful. The editor-in-chief was being selected from among Japanese people, and a memorandum also stated that an art director capable of creating beautiful visuals would be promoted to full-time employment. The editor-in-chief would be Japanese? I wondered why they bothered to mention something so obvious. For international editions of Vogue, editors-in-chief were often chosen from among internationally active editors. Furthermore, those who had made a name for themselves at ELLE or Harper's Bazaar were considered strong contenders. Anna Wintour, the current editor-in-chief of American Vogue, is British and has also served as an editor at Harper's Bazaar. The reason for the insistence on a Japanese person was that, given the undeniable cultural differences between the West and the East, the person needed to be someone who was well-versed in Japanese sensibilities, knowledgeable about publishing, and capable of delicately steering and balancing the magazine's style.
Also, in the West, ADs have equal say in creating the magazine's pages as the editor-in-chief. In contrast, in Japan, the editor-in-chief's opinion takes priority, and ADs often incorporate the editor-in-chief's input to create a more attractive design. Even though they are in-house designers, they are often seconded from design firms and form a design team with full-time ADs. This strongly emphasizes a Western-style editorial system that is different from the traditional one.
We have been eagerly awaiting the launch of Vogue Nippon, which will be published in less than a year. However, even when the planned launch of the magazine was announced in February 1998, there was still no sign of it happening, and all that was heard were rumors about Vogue, such as how they were doing multiple test shoots, that they were doing overseas shoots even though they were just test shoots, and that they had already spent hundreds of millions of yen before the launch, but the reality remained shrouded in mystery.
Continued on 2/12
