In working day-to-day on Polyplastics’ internal publications and P-Mates, as well as preparing the Palette newsletter for the Daicel Group, I have many chances to see the faces of my colleagues in photographs. Even if I have never met and directly talked to the person before, when I receive an e-mail from someone whose face I recognize, I feel that I can open up to that person more because it is as if I know them. When we meet and talk with others in person, I think we naturally try to read the other person’s feelings from their expressions. In that respect, faces might be one of the best tools we have for knowing what other people are like.

Nowadays in Japan, there is a noticeable emphasis on television and magazine features that place the spotlight on a specific individual. This seems to reflect a shift in interest, from an unspecified number of other people to individuals with a unique face. Modern society has accelerated the trend toward personalization, and conversely or as a consequence, it has increased our interest in other people, which is very interesting.

For the Daicel Group’s Palette newsletter, we are currently running a Smile Project featuring the smiling faces of our colleagues on the front cover. We hope you will look forward to learning about the people who work at Polyplastics Group companies, and seeing the smiling faces of people you regularly exchange e-mails with. We also hope you will join in. You can reach me any time at erina.endoh@polyplastics.com.

Editor of P-Mates
Erina Endoh