It set up the studio adjacent to its boutique, which specializes in shirts and blouses, in the hope of drawing customers to the boutique. The sideline business proved amazingly popular, so the company decided to open more studios in several other downtown areas. Photography Services, Too There are also photography studios for people who want to record their post-makeover selves for eternity. At Konica Make-up Photo Studio Folia, a studio inside the popular shopping mall Venus Fort , a beautician first touches up a customer's makeup and hairstyle. A photographer specializing in commercial photography then takes professional pictures of the customer.
Processing is quick, as a digital camera is used.
For an additional fee, customers can have wrinkles and blemishes erased on-screen. Here, too, the customers are not all young women. Sometimes couples come to have photos taken together, and the shop occasionally receives older customers in their fifties or sixties. About 30 people use the studio on weekends. According to the studio, many of the customers use this service to take portraits for resumes, apparently reflecting the rise in Japan's jobless rate in recent years.