When I first moved to New York, I was stunned to discover that manicures and pedicures are de rigeur for young working women. I got into the habit, however, and showed up to work on Mondays with nicely polished nails.

Then I went to Tokyo one year and found that manicures had become popular there too — but Japanese style. My friend Isao told me that Ayumi Hamasaki was in many ways responsible for the boom.

What’s so different about a Japanese manicure? This picture should say it all. I had this done (yes, that’s my thumb) in the Fall, and the artist painted a lovely scene of maple leaves, carefully blending red, yellow and green. She inlaid little pieces of shell, and gold beads. To top it all off, she dusted the edge of my nail with glitter.

I was really impressed. And of course, had to do one again when this one faded.

When I raved about the manicure to the artist, she looked surprised and said, “But I thought manicures were popular in America.”

I told her this was true, but that we certainly don’t have anything like the above in the States, and she looked surprised.

The photo on the right is an ad we found on the street displaying numerous styling options. It was breathtaking and the girl in me was salivating.

If anyone knows a place in NYC that offers such a lovely manicure, I’d love to know. I’d go in a heartbeat.

This article was originally posted at Marie Mutsuki Mockett.