çanoma: Niche Fragrance Where Japanese Sensibility Meets French Technique

“I want to create universally good fragrances, the kind that will go down in history. That is the fundamental premise. I believe they emerge where the well-crafted structures of established major houses meet the newness of independent, so-called niche fragrances. Scents like these will still be around ten to thirty years from now.”

— Yuta Watanabe, creator and founder of çanoma

Basic Information
The Founder and the Brand’s Origins
The Brand’s Commitments
The Fragrance Lineup
By the Way…

Basic Information

Year founded: September 2020, with a launch in Paris
Founder and creator: Yuta Watanabe, Japanese
Perfumer: Jean-Michel Duriez, French
Official website: canoma-parfum.com

The Founder and the Brand’s Origins

Departing from the “Elite Career Path”

Yuta Watanabe was such an accomplished athlete that he competed in the 100-meter event at Japan’s national inter-high-school championships. Balancing sport with his studies, he completed the Technology Management for Innovation program, or TMI, at the University of Tokyo’s Graduate School of Engineering. He then joined the foreign investment bank Morgan Stanley Securities and also worked at Mizuho Securities Principal Investment. Involved in corporate mergers and acquisitions, or M&A, real estate investment trust, or REIT, listings, and private-equity transactions known as mezzanine investments, he was following a conventional elite career path.

Yet Watanabe reached a firm conclusion during his time in finance. “What I learned was that I was not suited to finance,” he later said candidly in an interview with Forbes Japan. Realizing that the social standing attached to his profession did not align with his own interests, he decided to move to France after three and a half years in the financial industry.

Early Experiences with Fragrance

Watanabe’s attraction to perfume goes back to his middle- and high-school years. The first fragrance he bought was reportedly Alain Delon’s Samourai. He continued collecting perfumes at university, but says that at the time, “I never imagined I would be on the side that makes them.”

Watanabe has also described another formative experience that helped turn him toward France. Visiting the TOMORROWLAND select shop in Shibuya around the age of 20, he realized that “you do not notice a scent unless you smell it.” Almost anyone can picture Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, but few people can reproduce the scent of Guerlain’s Mitsouko in their minds on the spot. Watanabe was deeply fascinated by this distinctive quality of the sense of smell.

Paris and the Encounter with Duriez

Moving to France in 2015, Watanabe earned an MBA at Panthéon-Sorbonne and Paris-Dauphine universities. He had originally hoped to enroll at École Supérieure du Parfum, sometimes described as offering an “MBA in fragrance,” but abandoned the plan because the timing did not work out. Instead, he took a detour through an MBA at conventional universities.

While studying for his MBA in French, he applied to 100 companies in search of a fragrance-company internship required for graduation, but received only ten replies. Only two led to interviews: Jean-Michel Duriez’s brand and the then much-discussed select shop Officine Universelle Buly. His friends recommended Buly, but Watanabe chose to learn under Duriez because he felt that Duriez’s perfumes were “simply good perfumes,” and that “his philosophy of fragrance seemed aligned with mine.”

During the internship, Watanabe mainly supported financial operations while engaging in extensive discussions with Duriez. He subsequently helped an acquaintance launch a jewelry brand. Having assembled the knowledge needed to establish a brand, he then approached Duriez about joining as the perfumer. Duriez readily agreed.

The Brand’s Birth: From Crowdfunding to TOMORROWLAND

In 2019, ahead of çanoma’s official launch, Watanabe ran a crowdfunding campaign for the brand. He had been regularly reporting on his activities through a blog, and word gradually spread among perfume enthusiasts.

In September 2020, çanoma officially launched in Paris, arriving in Japan that November. At one point after the launch, Watanabe secured a pop-up opportunity at Ginza Six. Fans who had discovered him through his blog gathered, forming a crowd around the small space. The story goes that a TOMORROWLAND buyer happened to see the scene, took an interest, and decided to stock the brand.

The Perfumer: Who Is Jean-Michel Duriez?

Watanabe’s chosen partner, Jean-Michel Duriez, is a French perfumer born in Amiens. He entered the Institut Supérieur International du Parfum, or ISIP, now ISIPCA, in 1983 and trained in Grasse the following year. In 1986, he began his career as a perfumer at E.D.O., Études et Diffusions Olfactives, in Paris.

In 1989, he joined the Japanese cosmetics company Kao Corporation, where he worked for eight years. In 1997, he joined the historic French house Jean Patou, succeeding Jean Kerléo as its perfumer. He remained after Procter & Gamble acquired Jean Patou in 2001, creating Enjoy in 2003 and Sira des Indes in 2006. In 2008, he also became perfumer for Rochas, creating eight fragrances. He has also made perfumes for Dolce & Gabbana, Escada, Lacoste, and Yohji Yamamoto.

In 2015, as Procter & Gamble moved to sell its fragrance business, the 54-year-old Duriez became independent in preparation for launching his own brand, Jean-Michel Duriez Paris. In 2016, he also presented a collection marking 30 years in the profession. He subsequently closed the brand and established Atelier JMD, starting afresh as a company offering fragrance creation for brands and bespoke perfumes for individuals, a path connected to his collaboration with çanoma.

The Brand’s Commitments

The Two Layers Within the Name

The coined name “çanoma” combines cha-no-ma, the Japanese living room, representing everyday life, with the tea ceremony, representing refinement. Spelling the Japanese sound “sa” with the French cedilla-bearing “ça” embeds the fusion of Japanese and French cultures directly in the name. Watanabe describes the intention as embodying “a fusion of Japanese sensibility and French technique.”

The theme is “quality in everyday life,” or élégance du quotidien. Refinement quietly breathing within the everyday is the worldview at çanoma’s core.

The Logo and Packaging: Depth Within Minimalism

The logo combines the hiragana character “さ,” pronounced “sa,” with the French “ç.” Neither excessively minimalist nor burdened with unnecessary ornament, it expresses refined quality and a hidden attention to detail. The labels and packaging follow the same philosophy, with superfluous decoration eliminated as far as possible.

Genji-kō Diagrams: A “Hidden Theme”

Each perfume bottle is assigned a genji-kō diagram. These diagrams come from one form of kumikō, an incense-appreciation game within kōdō, the Japanese way of incense. Each of the 52 diagrams bears the name of a chapter of The Tale of Genji. A diagram whose chapter name is close to the perfume’s inspiration is chosen as the label’s symbol, hinting at that fragrance’s story.

This device is not explained on the outside of the packaging. Only those interested enough to read the inside find the meaning of the genji-kō diagram, allowing it to function as a hidden theme.

Behind Watanabe’s dedication to this detail is a philosophy of not wanting names to create preconceptions. “It is surprisingly difficult to reduce the information conveyed by a product’s name or design so that people can enjoy the fragrance,” he says. Using prototype numbers directly as product names is an extension of the same thinking.

Why the Perfumes Are Named After Prototype Numbers

çanoma’s perfumes use prototype numbers, such as 1-24 and 3-17, unchanged as their product names. “1-24” means the twenty-fourth prototype in fragrance category “1.”

There are two reasons for this naming system. One is to avoid creating preconceptions before the fragrance is smelled. The other is to notify users that a formula has changed by changing its number when a reformulation becomes necessary, for example because of regulatory changes.

The Aesthetics of Open Space

In an interview with Forbes Japan, Watanabe described the open space within çanoma’s fragrances as follows.

“When I thought about beauty in Paris, I sometimes sensed a beauty with no open space. Japan, on the other hand, has a beauty of open space. I believe the open space in çanoma’s fragrances should be meaningful. It says nothing, but it has meaning. In other words, perhaps it is close to refinement.”

— Yuta Watanabe

A Philosophy of Fragrance: Combining Newness and Structure

Watanabe sees the current perfume market as divided between major houses and niche brands. He feels that the majors offer high technical accomplishment but few new proposals, while niche brands excel in novelty but often produce things closer to “scents” or “smells” than perfumes.

çanoma aims for the space between them: “a good structure, meaning the architecture of the whole scent, with a new idea within it.” Watanabe cites Calvin Klein’s ck one as an example. Just as that citrus-led, genderless fragrance, introduced in the 1990s, was loved across ages and genders, he says çanoma seeks universal fragrances that will still be around ten to thirty years from now.

Watanabe’s role is strictly creative direction, with the technical work of perfumery entrusted to Duriez. His job is to handle “everything other than composition: what kind of perfume to make, sharing the inspiration, deciding whether it should become a product, and so on.”

The Fragrance Lineup

The following are çanoma’s principal perfume offerings. The range centers on 30 ml bottles, with some products priced at ¥9,350 including tax and others priced differently.

The Four Debut Fragrances (2020)

1-24 Suzumushi (Oriental × Spicy)
The fragrance Watanabe had wanted to make first, even before establishing the brand, and the one to which he feels the strongest attachment. Its motif is the moment at the end of summer when a hint of autumn crosses the still-humid air. Cedarwood and amber create an oriental atmosphere, accented by cardamom, saffron, and basil.

2-23 Kochō (Woody × Spicy)
A rose perfume combining patchouli-centered woods with spices. Watanabe chose Sichuan pepper for the spice element because of his childhood experience raising swallowtail butterflies from eggs. Its rose is restrained in sweetness and stripped of animalic character; it is the weightiest and longest-lasting of the four. At the time of a 2021 interview, it was the second most popular of the original quartet.

3-17 Sawarabi (Musk × Aromatic)
A fragrance depicting warm light entering through a window on a cold winter morning, with woody pine notes and green apple surrounding an aromatic heart of lavender and sage. Watanabe says he “sought a balance that would be comfortable to wear, rather than emphasizing individuality by strengthening one particular material.” At the time of a 2021 interview, it had the highest sales among the original four.

4-10 Otome (Green × Floral)
Inspired by a scene of unfulfilled love in Gabriel García Márquez’s novel One Hundred Years of Solitude. It combines tropical-feeling florals with refreshing aquatic, green, and woody notes, deliberately avoiding a defined olfactory center to create an elusive atmosphere.

Creations from the Second Phase Onward

7-18 Ukifune (Marine × Floral) and 8-17 Matsukaze (Animalic × Woody × Aquatic × Floral) received an advance launch at Salon de Parfum 2023 at Isetan Shinjuku in October 2023. The starting scene for 7-18 Ukifune is “Lake Chūzenji in Nikkō in late summer,” while 8-17 Matsukaze begins with “a morning at Itsukushima Shrine.” Limited-edition bottles finished in the traditional Sendai craft of tamamushi-nuri were released alongside these two fragrances. This lacquer technique from Miyagi Prefecture produces colors that shift subtly with the light.

10-20 Kagerō (Gourmand × Floral) takes hōjicha, roasted green tea, as its motif, layering the floral character of green tea, a shoreline nuance, and gourmand sweetness. Its notes include seaweed, nutmeg, a hōjicha accord, and coffee.

12-11 Yūgiri (Marine × Woody × Gourmand) and 21-12 Maboroshi (Citrus × Spicy × Woody) are the latest two creations, first unveiled at Salon de Parfum 2025 at Isetan Shinjuku in autumn 2025. 12-11 Yūgiri evokes a sudden rain shower on an autumn evening, with the smells of wet asphalt and coffee beans meeting as gourmand sweetness envelops an accord of coffee and aquatic notes. 21-12 Maboroshi is described as a fragrance Duriez “drew freely”: aromatic bergamot and basil combine with refreshing aquatic notes and modern woods. At ¥11,000 including tax, it is priced above the regular range.

The Body-Care Line

Alongside the perfumes, the brand offers hand creams scented with 3-17 Sawarabi and 2-23 Kochō, as well as a 3-17 Sawarabi hair and body oil, fragrance shampoo, conditioner, and body wash. In an interview, Watanabe said that although “room fragrances sell better in terms of Japanese preferences,” he was developing body care as “a step before perfume, with the aim of bringing fragrance and the body closer together.”

By the Way…

Number Five Is Permanently Retired

In çanoma’s numbering system, the number five has been permanently retired. Watanabe himself explained in a Fashionsnap interview that this was “out of respect for Chanel N°5 and its immense contribution to perfume history.” This is why the numbers following the four debut fragrances begin with six.

A Founder Who Competed at the National Inter-High-School Championships

As a student, Watanabe competed in the 100 meters at Japan’s national inter-high-school athletics championships. Going beyond the combination of academic and sporting achievement, his shift from finance to perfume has often led him to be described as a person spanning opposite extremes. His words in a Forbes Japan interview, “Walk away from what does not suit you,” neatly express his philosophy of life.

A Book Co-authored by Duriez and Pierre Hermé

Perfumer Jean-Michel Duriez is also known for his friendship with pastry chef Pierre Hermé. In 2012, they co-authored Au Cœur du Goût, or At the Heart of Taste, published by Agnès Viénot, containing 70 recipes inspired by correspondences between perfume and pastry.

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