"101-Year-Old Active Cosmetics Saleswoman Sets Guinness Record: Japanese Grandmother"

A Japanese woman who continues to sell cosmetics at the age of 101 and has been recognized by Guinness as the 'world's oldest female beauty advisor' is attracting attention.

Tomoko Horino (101), who entered the Guinness World Records as the world's oldest female beauty advisor [Photo by Nikkei Newspaper]

On the 28th, local Japanese media including the Nikkei newspaper reported that Japanese cosmetics company POLA held a Guinness record renewal ceremony on the 27th in Fukushima for their sales representative Tomoko Horino (101). Ms. Horino started working as a beauty advisor at POLA in 1962 at the age of 39 and has been working as a door-to-door sales representative for about 62 years. She celebrated her 101st birthday on April 9th.

Ms. Horino was listed in the Guinness records last August as the oldest female beauty advisor, and she renewed her own record on her 101st birthday last month. She still commutes by bus to the POLA sales office 7 km away from her home, participates in new product training without fail, and meets customers in person.

Over her 62 years of service, Ms. Horino's cumulative sales reached 126.7 million yen (approximately 1.1 billion KRW) as of the end of April. She has achieved a monthly sales target of over 100,000 yen (867,000 KRW) for 20 years, and notably, her average sales from August 2023 to April 2024 increased by 25% compared to the same period last year.

Ms. Horino attributes her sales success to building trust through a friendly attitude. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she also faced difficulties with customer visits and face-to-face consultations but maintained constant contact with customers by phone, thereby building trust.

At the ceremony, Ms. Horino said, "I didn’t think about my age; I just lived each day diligently, and before I knew it, I came this far. I want to continue doing what I love."

At POLA, as of December 2023, about 9% of sales representatives are aged 80 or older, showing that elderly salespeople are active besides Ms. Horino.

Meanwhile, according to the Japanese population statistics announced by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications last September on 'Respect for the Aged Day,' the number of people aged 100 or older reached 92,139, marking the highest number for 53 consecutive years. The population aged 80 or older reached 12.59 million (10.1%), exceeding 10% of the total population for the first time.