Ideas for businesses are born from the difficulties endured by ourselves and those close to us. KITANO Madoka, a 4th year student at the School of Business Administration and member of Kobe University’s Entrepreneurship Club, works on a development project for shirts dyed with green tea for use by individuals with atopic dermatitis, a condition that affects her as well. Under the name SkinNotes, she and her team have received a number of awards at student business plan contests and other competitions. These achievements culminated in April 2025, when she participated in a roundtable discussion with Prime Minister ISHIBA Shigeru for women and young people. We asked her about what motivates her and what she has gained through her experiences as an entrepreneur.
An interest in organizational theory and marketing
Even from before she enrolled at Kobe University, Kitano had an interest in organizational theory and marketing. During her junior high and high school years in Hiroshima Prefecture, she took on a leadership role in her school band, so oftentimes she had to think about how to get the group to act. In her informatics classes in high school, she became interested in people’s buying habits and sales strategies, which led her to discover the field of behavioral economics. These experiences served as the impetus for wanting to enter the School of Business Administration.
She learned of the Entrepreneurship Club at Kobe University from a flyer she received as part of her enrollment package. The club was still new at the time, but she felt that it could enrich her life at the university, so she decided to join on a whim. Kitano laughed, “Now that I think about it, I might have always had an ambition to do something big.”
Initially, she was part of a different team in the Entrepreneurship Club, but after about six months, she decided to join SkinNotes. This team’s objective was to build an online community where individuals with skin conditions can casually interact and consult with each other. In fact, the founder of SkinNotes, one of her seniors in the club, made the proposal for the team based on personal experience. An atopic dermatitis patient herself, this idea resonated with Kitano, who felt a strong need for such a community.
But from a profitability standpoint, developing the project would prove difficult. After her seniors graduated, the team was down to three members, all with atopic dermatitis. So, they took this opportunity to shift the project to focus specifically on individuals with the skin conditions they all share and began to work out their business plan from the spring of 2023.
“The three of us had treated our condition since we were kids, so we all felt the same thing: our daily lives were a hassle,” said Kitano. They endured regular hospital visits and had to apply lotion daily. Kitano herself often experienced symptoms on the lower half of her body when she was in elementary school, so even examinations by her doctor were a struggle.
To solve these issues, the team initially explored the idea of a service that regularly delivers medicine, but the existence of a similar service and some organizational hurdles led them to restructure the project. TAKEUCHI Yuto, a 2025 graduate of the Faculty of Agriculture and leader of the team, happened to love tea, and when he came upon research that demonstrated the antibacterial effects of the catechin found in green tea, he and the team began developing undershirts dyed with green tea in the hope of creating a type of skin care that uses the clothes they wear each day.
The SkinNotes team receives the Grand Prize at the 3rd Osaka Shinkin business plan competition for students (O-BUCs) held in 2024
(From left: KITANO Madoka, TAKEUCHI Yuto (leader), NAKANO Takumi) (photo provided by SkinNotes)
A society free of suffering from skin conditions
The philosophy of SkinNotes is to “create a society in which the lives of atopic dermatitis patients are optimistic and bright.” The team aims to allow wearers of these green tea-dyed undershirts to live fulfilling lives by easing the itchiness and urge to scratch that comes with the condition.
Since starting the business, Kitano has spoken with corporate representatives, medical personnel, researchers and many others, many of whom had their fair share of dissenting opinions. This led her to rethink and brush up the team’s plan. Kitano explains, “We’ve got no technology, personnel or money, and we’ve received all kinds of external opinions. All of that made the decision process quite tough.”
With the help of a company in Shizuoka Prefecture that performs tea dyeing, the team was able to complete a fully-functioning sample and began their crowdfunding campaign at the end of last year. Their project is also environmentally-friendly, making use of nonstandard tea leaves and parts that were discarded during the tea manufacturing process in their dye. Their efforts finally came to fruition when they began online sales of their shirts in August of this year.
Now a 4th year student, while many of her peers have already found jobs, Kitano tells us that she’s “not quite done” with the project, and has decided to take a leave of absence to focus on the business. Even now, she’s been showcasing the team’s activity at Kobe University’s booth at Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, which has made life exceptionally busy. Her plan is to focus on the business for another year or two and write her graduation thesis on activity in the Entrepreneurship Club.
Nothing will happen if you don’t make a move
This April, during a visit to Kobe from Prime Minister ISHIBA Shigeru, Kitano joined a round table session with other women and young people, where she was fortunate enough to be able to introduce SkinNotes and give her opinions on the workstyle of young people.
She told the prime minister that Gen Z has been stereotyped as putting a strong emphasis on time off and employee benefits, but “we’re not all like that.” Kitano told us that she personally wants to work hard, and, ideally, maintain a balance between her career and her private life.
Speaking from her experience starting a business, Kitano said, “If you continue to make yourself heard, things will work out. Nothing will happen if you don’t make a move.” By continuing to express your goals, someone is bound to introduce you to someone they know or lend you a hand. She still has a number of issues to solve when it comes to her activity, but she has no doubt built up the project by continuing to tell others and take action.
As for her future, Kitano dreams of finding a job or some other activity through which she can turn society into a place where anyone has a chance to succeed, despite the environment in which they were raised or other various handicaps. This dream is, of course, rooted in her own struggles with atopic dermatitis. The trials and tribulations she faced when starting her business have brought her one step closer to making her ultimate dream a reality.
Resume
In 2003, born in Higashihiroshima City, Hiroshima Prefecture. In 2022, entered the School of Business Administration, Kobe University. Studied under Associate Professor YOSHIDA Mari of the Graduate School of Business Administration, known for her research on “effectuation,” an approach to decision making and behavioral styles used by successful entrepreneurs. Kitano says the appeal of Kobe University is “being able to converse with science students (in addition to liberal arts students).” Serves as head of marketing for SkinNotes. Currently lives in Kobe.
Related link
- Kobe University Entrepreneurship Center (Japanese)
