News

Thanks to a cooperative effort between four parties—actress Kumiko Akiyoshi, JALUX Inc., Hosono Co., Ltd. (Calzeria Hosono) and Kuraray Co., Ltd.—the new comfortable and stylish Kumiko Akiyoshi model of Bikyaku Pumps has been released. The JAL World Shopping Club, a direct marketing catalog published by JALUX, was created as a 25th anniversary project, and its first issue (summer) was published on April 9, 2008. The JAL Group’s in-flight direct marketing catalog JAL SHOP began publication with the May/June 2008 issue and JAL Shopping (http://www.shop.jal.co.jp/ -Japanese language only-), a shopping website where JAL Mileage Bank members can earn frequent flyer miles, started up on April 10, 2008.

Developed by Calzeria Hosono, Japan's best-known maker of comfort-conscious shoes, Bikyaku Pumps are made of PARCASSIO, Kuraray's highest quality man-made leather, to which a natural leather finish has been applied, and have been a best-selling product of JAL SHOP since 2004. The shoe design is very fashionable while being stable and comfortable to the feet thanks to 1) a design that does not compress the toes and allows the big toe to stretch fully out, 2) a shape that is graceful and perfectly highlights the instep and 3) greater cushioning of the arch of the foot.

Kumiko Akiyoshi's winning of the grand prize in the "40 and over category" at the Fifth Annual PARCASSIO Beautiful Legs Grand Prix (held in September 2007) hosted by the PARCASSIO Club was what brought about her collaboration with us on this project. By partnering with Mrs. Akiyoshi—a discerning shoe aficionado who never fails to visit shoe stores when traveling abroad—we thought that we could come up with a new twist for Bikyaku Pumps and we therefore developed this model. Mrs. Akiyoshi, who believes that "If legs are important, then shoes are important," tried on various models numerous times, providing suggestions for their improvement, thereby resulting in the launch of the new model.