Shopping Spree Before; Aesthetic Now

Here's a list of keywords that are now driving foreign tourists crazy: nail art, hair salon, face-lifting, aesthetic, skin care, etc. What do you make out of them?

For a time, Japan was flooded with "foreign tourists" rushing to discount shops to buy up everything in sight - in a phenomenon called Chinese shopping spree.  

Right - those foreign tourists were predominantly Chinese and are still around but not for electric rice-cookers anymore. 

In 2015, 19 million foreign tourists visited Japan and more are expected this year for Japan's Omotenashi (hospitality) in the form of such keywords as just listed in the outset. Japan's Hair Salon culture is in vogue right now the world over topping France and South Korea. A 25-year-old Chinese woman from Guangzhou came to Japan just to have her hair done. Aoyama's popular hair salon is staffed with English-speaking hair-doers. She was pleased with a head spa when shampooing and quite satisfied with the outcome.

A mother and her daughter from Hong Kong visited a nail salon in Shibuya, Tokyo, they had heard so much about back home. "Japan's nail art is super", said the mother, watching her nail artist working on her nails in sheer admiration. The salon's manager comments:

"Our customers say they have never been treated this far and this extent. It's great to see them so pleased and satisfied with Japanese nail art."

A 41-year-old wealthy Chinese housewife from Beijing is a fan of Japanese cosmetic art. She is visiting Japan for the tenth time. She headed for Tokyo's Shirono Clinic Ginza to have chloasma and wrinkles removed. A Chinese interpreter accompanied throughout her operation. A one-hour cosmetic treatment cost her 650 thousand, which she said she "wouldn't mind at all".

Clinic's Chief Mari Tokunaga says her clinic treats 10 or so foreign tourists a month - about ten times over the past year.

So, Japan now has yet another point of attraction.

News Source: J-cast News