Japan Flavor & Fragrance School: Courses and Admissions

Both food and cosmetics depend on the presence of scent.
Hajime Kakuta, 2012 (translated from Japanese)

You may begin learning composition because you want to make a perfume you love yourself. Soon, however, you discover that work with scent extends beyond the perfume bottle. Drinks, gum, candy, shampoo and creams: in each of these products, scent helps shape flavour or a sense of comfort.

Japan Flavor & Fragrance School teaches flavourings for food and fragrances for perfumes, cosmetics and other products in conjunction with product development. Students do more than smell and blend materials: they also make trial versions of the foods and cosmetics to which those materials will be added. Since its founding in 1999, the school’s distinctive approach has been to consider how a composition works in a finished product.

Key Information
Hajime Kakuta: Education Born of Product Development
1. Passing Confectionery Industry Experience to the Next Generation
2. Making Foods and Cosmetics as well as Composing Scents
Learning from Teachers with Manufacturing Experience
1. Food and Fragrance from Their Respective Workplaces
2. Turning Repeated Refinement into Professional Experience
Learning Materials, Adding Them to Products and Evaluating Them
Three Study Routes for Different Goals
Before Applying: Completion Awards and the Learning Environment
Key Milestones
References

Key Information

Name: Japan Flavor & Fragrance School
Established: 1999
Founder: Hajime Kakuta
Current operating company: Scent Academy Co., Ltd.
Current location: Rooms 3 and 7, second floor, TOC Building, 7-22-17 Nishi-Gotanda, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo
Main study options: A two-year daytime professional programme, a business programme with individually arranged lesson times, and a short introductory course
Official website: Japan Flavor & Fragrance School

Hajime Kakuta: Education Born of Product Development

Passing Confectionery Industry Experience to the Next Generation

Kakuta was born in Tokyo in 1940 and graduated from Tokyo Metropolitan Nakano Technical High School in 1959. After working for a confectionery company, he became a consultant in flavour and fragrance technology and founded the school in 1999. He expanded his work from creating scents to teaching others how to do so.

At Lotte’s Central Research Institute, he worked on confectionery flavours and spent many years developing stick gums such as Cool Mint Gum. A gum’s aroma is not determined solely by the smell rising from a bottle. The work involves considering how it is perceived in the mouth together with the gum base, sweetness and texture. The school, too, presents many years of chewing-gum research and practical formulation as the background to its combined teaching of composition and manufacture.

In 2004, Kakuta co-edited and co-authored Shokuhin to Kaori (Food and Aroma) with Sumio Shimizu and Masayoshi Makino. Alongside the processes of creating, evaluating and applying aromatic materials, the book includes a chapter on educating flavour and fragrance specialists. His effort to pass on knowledge connecting research with actual commercial development appears in both teaching and publishing.

Making Foods and Cosmetics as well as Composing Scents

In 2012, Kakuta, then chairman of the school, explained that teaching was led by people with industrial research-and-development experience and emphasised practical work, with the aim of training specialists in aromatic materials, cosmetics and confectionery foods. At that time, the educational approach connected five fields: flavour, confectionery foods, fragrance, perfumes and cosmetics, and analysis-based composition.

On 27 June of that year, certification body BSI Japan announced that it had awarded the school ISO 29990 certification. This concerned learning services and their management systems. The date 30 August 2010 refers to the publication of the standard, not the school’s certification. The certification belongs to the history of the school’s educational management; it is not a system awarding individual students university degrees or perfumer licences.

The current professional programme likewise combines five areas of expertise: food flavourings, fragrances for cosmetics and toiletries, confectionery and food bases, cosmetics, and scent analysis. Students learn about both the supplier of a composition and the manufacturer adding it to a product, so that they can examine how the scent changes and performs in its intended setting.

Learning from Teachers with Manufacturing Experience

Food and Fragrance from Their Respective Workplaces

Masayoshi Makino, who teaches aromatic-material studies, composition and confectionery-making practicals, moved from Lotte’s chewing-gum laboratory into candy research and became head of candy research at its Central Research Institute. His experience as an educator extends beyond aromatic materials in isolation to product ingredients, manufacture and the evaluation of flavour and texture.

Jujirou Kakegawa, who teaches composition practicals, English for flavour and fragrance, and aromatic-material chemistry, trained in the manufacture of compounded fragrances at T. Hasegawa before spending approximately 35 years in fragrance research. Alongside perfume research, he worked on the practical application, stability and safety of fragrances for cosmetics, shampoos, soaps and detergents. His teaching draws on experience of both finished perfumes and scents that function within everyday products.

Takeo Okumura, who teaches cosmetics-manufacturing practicals, developed skincare and haircare products at Kao and worked at a laboratory in Germany before joining the school’s teaching staff in 2011. Yu Okada, a lecturer since 2020, has experience in Okada Perfumery’s research department, management and development laboratory. The school’s lecturer profiles bring together people who have worked in composition and manufacture, research and commercialisation across different settings.

Turning Repeated Refinement into Professional Experience

Graduate M.T. originally enjoyed collecting perfumes and incense and entered the professional programme after learning about the work of a perfumer. While studying brought the pleasure of expanding a memory bank of smells, there were also times when repeated refinements failed to produce the desired result, prompting doubts about personal aptitude.

I think that experience of trial and error has become a real asset and is useful in my work.
M.T., professional-programme graduate (translated from Japanese)

The graduate profiles include people who have gone into food-flavour research as well as fragrance research. An interest in perfume can lead to work exploring what makes food taste good. By offering both fields, the school allows students to discover, during their studies, the range of scents and career paths available to them.

Learning Materials, Adding Them to Products and Evaluating Them

How Aromatic Materials Behave Differently in Perfume and Everyday Products

Fragrance practicals begin with combinations of two individual materials and progress to expressing floral scents and learning the characteristics of ingredients through imitation of existing perfumes. Imitation is not an exercise in memorising perfume names; it is a way to understand what each material does, both in a formula and in perception.

As their studies progress, students consider formulas suited not only to perfumes but also to shampoos, conditioners, soaps and air fresheners. A cosmetic base is the product’s foundation before fragrance is added. Evaluation extends to whether the materials remain stable in that base, how the product smells in use and how it feels. Practical work connects a pleasant smell on a blotter with the desired performance in a product.

In August 2026, a researcher from Daiko Co., Ltd. led training in air fresheners and diffusers. Students learned about solvent properties and fragrance evaporation tests, then developed diffusers using their own formulas. It was a concrete example of product development that considered not only the choice of scent but also how it diffuses through a space.

Studying Flavour in the Context of Food

Flavour studies move from basic profiles such as fruit and dairy to applications in beverages, candy and chewing gum. Gum practicals cover the properties of gum bases and sweeteners alongside flavourings, as well as the evaluation of regional differences in flavour and texture. In candy work, students assess flavour and texture in addition to blending ingredients and making trials.

Flavourists who design food flavourings and perfumers who design scents for perfumes, cosmetics and other products work with different product requirements and material constraints. Studying both does not mean directly transferring the same materials or formulas into food use. It means learning, from two fields, the sensibility needed to compose a scent and the techniques needed to evaluate it for its intended application.

Adding Chemistry and Analysis to Olfactory Learning

The professional programme includes basic chemistry, aromatic-material chemistry, aromatic-material studies and blending theory. Students can begin regardless of whether their background is in the humanities or sciences, while acquiring the chemistry needed for professional work with scent alongside practical training.

In the second year, students study gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. They use instruments that separate and examine the components of mixtures and provide information about substances, and also encounter methods of collecting aroma compounds from natural materials. The aim is to connect analytical data with characteristics perceived by smelling, and use that understanding to improve their own compositions.

Three Study Routes for Different Goals

The following information comes from official guidance checked on 12 October 2026. The professional programme’s application schedule is for entry in 2027. The business programme and introductory course are described according to currently published conditions not tied to a specific academic year.

The Two-Year Daytime Professional Programme

The Professional Programme in Flavor and Fragrance provides two years of systematic study combining the two fields of aromatic composition with product development. It has a capacity of six students, with classes from 9:00 a.m. to 3:10 p.m. The sample timetable on the course page runs from Monday to Friday, centred on practical work in composition, food and cosmetics.

The admissions guidance for entry in 2027 requires applicants to have the academic attainment of a high-school graduate or prospective graduate, or equivalent ability. General admission is based on a written general-knowledge test and interview; recommendation-based admission uses a recommendation letter and interview. Applications run from 1 September 2026 to 31 March 2027, closing once all places have been filled.

The fees currently shown on the same page are ¥1,500,000 for the first year and ¥1,460,000 for the second, both including tax. The first-year total includes a ¥100,000 admission fee, together with tuition, practical-training and facilities fees. The published two-year total is ¥2,960,000, with a separate ¥20,000 application screening fee. Instalment arrangements for each year are also described. These are the amounts published on 12 October 2026; no unpublished fees for a subsequent year have been supplied.

The Business Programme: Fitting Study around Work or Other Education

The Business Programme offers a choice of flavour or fragrance specialisation, progressing through 48 foundation sessions, 48 applied sessions and 96 specialist sessions. Students may also choose both specialisations. It serves people studying for a career change or employment, those improving skills for their current work, and those pursuing a hobby or lifelong learning.

Teaching slots are available on weekdays from 3:30 to 7:00 p.m. and Saturdays from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.; attendance dates and times are arranged with the lecturer. Any number of hours attended within the same slot counts as one session. Rather than translating this into a fixed number of years, students should plan their studies by matching the required sessions to how often they can attend.

Applicants must have completed high school or higher education. Applications are accepted throughout the year, normally with selection based on documents; applicants who have not attended an on-site consultation may be interviewed. The fees published on 12 October 2026, common to both specialisations, are ¥575,400 for the foundation level, ¥541,800 for the applied level and ¥1,083,600 for the specialist level. These tax-inclusive amounts cover materials and tuition; a separate ¥10,500 admission fee is payable on enrolment.

A Ten-Hour Introductory Experience

The Introductory Course is a ten-hour course for beginners wishing to experience the subject over a short period. It is divided into two to four sessions, with dates arranged with the lecturer starting at least ten days after application. The fee published on 12 October 2026 is ¥50,000 including tax, with no additional charges stated.

Students learn the basics of natural and synthetic aromatic materials, ways of describing smells, and the blending of floral and fruit aromas. For practical work, they may choose to focus solely on either flavour or fragrance, with assignments adapted to their progress and wishes. An experience that lets participants take home the compositions they have made differs in scope from extended professional education.

Before Applying: Completion Awards and the Learning Environment

The school’s introduction for companies explains that students completing the two-year programme receive the title of “Associate Researcher.” This is presented as a title within the school’s educational framework, not as equivalent to a university degree or national qualification. The “aromatic-composition technician” credential mentioned in the 2012 statement likewise describes a proprietary certification at that time; it cannot be assumed that every current course awards the same recognition.

The admissions requirements for 2027 set out fees and selection procedures but do not specify in detail the formal names or award conditions of completion certificates and certifications. Prospective applicants should confirm the certificates or titles for their chosen course, together with attendance and assessment requirements, during a pre-application consultation. The professional programme, business programme and introductory course should not be treated as simply longer and shorter routes to the same qualification.

The language of instruction is not explicitly stated in the current admissions requirements either. “English for Flavour and Fragrance” is the name of a specialist subject, not an indication that the entire programme is taught in English. Anyone needing language support should consult the school about their intended studies. The principal published course materials also do not specify the duration of a compulsory company internship; on-campus practicals and workplace training should therefore be checked separately.

The school describes individual support with choosing occupations and employers, preparing résumés and seeking career advice after graduation. This does not guarantee recruitment by a particular company. It is support for considering one’s goals and aptitude and deciding which skills to develop further.

Open Campus and Individual Consultations include explanations of the school and its courses, flavour practicals in which participants blend fruit aromas and taste the result, and fragrance-blending experiences. Some listed dates are already closed for registration, so applicants should follow the latest official guidance. These sessions provide a first opportunity to compare the scents one hopes to study with the realities of the classes.

Key Milestones

1999: Hajime Kakuta establishes Japan Flavor & Fragrance School.
2004: Shokuhin to Kaori (Food and Aroma), co-edited and co-authored by Hajime Kakuta, Sumio Shimizu and Masayoshi Makino, is published. It covers aroma development, evaluation, applications and specialist education.
2011: Takeo Okumura begins teaching cosmetics-manufacturing practicals.
June 2012: BSI Japan announces the award of ISO 29990 certification.
2020: Yu Okada joins the teaching staff.
August 2026: A Daiko researcher leads training in air-freshener and diffuser development.
Information as of October 2026: The school is based in the Gotanda TOC Building and operated by Scent Academy Co., Ltd. Admissions conditions are published for the two-year professional programme beginning in 2027.

Japan Flavor & Fragrance School: Its Founder, Product Development Education and Admissions