A guide to getting your nails done in Japan

One thing that Japan does really well is attention to detail, and I feel like that extends to so many areas of life. Something I love doing from time to time is getting a nice manicure or pedicure here because of this, and there are a few things I've learned along the way.

If you want to get your nails done here in Japan, these are some of my tips!

Finding a Nail Salon

My first recommendation would be using the wonders of the internet to see what salon options are available near you. Directly inputting "ネイルサロン" (nail salon) on Google Maps or using beauty-specific sites/apps like Hot Pepper Beauty are good options – the latter even allows you to book appointments then and there.

I've also found salons via word of mouth from friends – especially when I first moved to Japan and was living in Tokyo. Publications like Metropolis and Tokyo Weekender also sometimes have ads for English-speaking salons if that's something that is a consideration for you.

If you're only visiting Japan and not living here permanently (or maybe you're a resident but you're on vacation or traveling for work), hotel concierges are also hugely helpful with this sort of thing. They are also often happy to make the call to reserve a spot for you if your Japanese is not the best.

Making a reservation

As I mentioned above, if you use Hot Pepper Beauty, you can make reservations directly though the app. If you have to call, obviously you will need to know enough Japanese to get through the booking process or have a friend/co-worker/family member do that for you.

What I wouldn't recommend is going somewhere and assuming they do walk-ins. Back in my home country I feel like this was 100% acceptable (I can't ever remember calling to make a reservation to get my nails done), but here I feel like a lot of salons are run by one person, or maybe a couple if you're lucky. They're not often the multi-chair setups that you have in places like Australia and the States.

Picking your nail colors/art

Most nail salons that I've visited here have a range of nail art options to choose from, and they are typically laid out on a board to view before your nail tech gets started. You can also opt for single colors, or bring your own picture of nail art that you'd like them to replicate (I'd recommend double checking that the salon allows this before you assume they will!)

One thing I find with nail art here is it's often very seasonally-focused – like a lot of other things in Japan are! On my recent visit to a local salon they were already prepping for autumn, with some orangey/mustard yellow toned nails and Halloween-inspired ones to choose from.

You can get these done on your regular nails, or on acrylic/full set nails (extra costs apply there). Hopefully it doesn't need to be said, but the nail art types are obviously more costly than a single color mani/pedi because it takes a lot more work for the nail tech to do all those fine details. I also find that most places charge for nail art per finger –so for instance, in the example photo I took below, you can see some of their mani options have art on every finger, others have a couple of solid colors and then art on only a couple of fingers. Expect that if you pick a type with art on every finger that it'll be more expensive.

Along with the autumny/Halloween ones, I loved the Sailor Moon inspired nails!

Rough pricing guide

As I mentioned above, prices can differ a bit depending on the amount of art you get, whether you have them paint on your natural nails or get acrylics/extensions, etc. Sometimes it can even depend where you get your nails done – for instance, boujee suburbs like Tokyo's Omotesando or Ginza are more pricey than ones out here in Niigata. 

A rough pricing guide though, from what I tend to find:

Basic Manicure: anywhere from 3000 to 5000 yen

Gel Manicure: anywhere from 5000 to 10000 yen

Nail Art (per finger): around 500 to 1000 yen depending on the level of detail/difficulty

Pedicure: around 5000 to 8000 yen.

I hope this helps for anyone planning to get their nails done in Japan!