People often ask me how I started in the beauty business. Well, TOO many years ago, I visited a friend in California and one day she took me to her favorite nail salon. They specialized in sculpting long nails and I was impressed by their work. At that time–TOO MANY YEARS AGO—very few people were doing this in Tokyo—and I thought I should do it.
So I studied nail technique in California, waxing in Australia and also learned a lot from many people in the beauty business.

 

In 2000, I opened Shou Salon.
In the beginning, I made many booking mistakes because I couldn’t understand English or French or any language that wasn’t Japanese. Now, after 15 years, I still make many mistakes but my customers are more understanding!
Also in the beginning, we didn’t have a website—everything was by phone and fax. Eventually, this drove one of my good customers crazy so she created a website for me.　
She is now a mother of 4 living in Seattle. She could not be here tonite but thanks to her I can send a video of this party to her over the internet.

As you can see, Shou Salon has grown into what it is today because of the help and support of all my customers.

In life, as you know, many things can happen.

In 2008 it was the Lehman shock. In the same year I enjoyed the birth of my daughter. The joy of my life—most of the time!

 

And as I mentioned earlier due to the after effect of the March 11 2011 earthquake and tunami disaster, I actually thought I’d have to close my salon. Fortunately, Erica and my customers were there to support me. Or I would not be celebrating this 15 year landmark.

I also wanted to thank my parents here tonite but unfortunately my father is not well and they could not be here.. They have supported me wholeheartedly in all my endeavors.
And I will always deeply appreciate their love and support.

Shou Salon was founded on the basis of overseas experience, and its success today is thanks to a very diverse customer base. I look forward to welcoming more and more customers from Japan and around the world and to growing the salon further.

Please mark this date on your calendars for 2024, and lets meet again for Shou Salon’s 25th anniversary celebration.

Thank you all very much for coming to the 15th anniversary party of Shou Salon today.