"Male"icure Trendspotting?

I go to ask my 45-year old male student's opinion on shopping in Tokyo's famous Ginza tonight when I look down and find myself instead saying, "Did you get a manicure??"

"Wow, you noticed. What do you think?"

"Hmmm...," I hesitate, "It's nice, but it kind of looks like girly, doesn't it?"

He laughs and says to the class, "I think I'm the first man to ever have this done."

"Well at least in Sasebo you are," I said.

Apparently, though, he is not the first in one of Tokyo's hippest trend-setting areas, "The Ginza," where all male nail salons are popping up among this Rodeo drive of upscale shopping. For $25 one can get his nails filed and finished. This is a new luxury for man kind.

Could this be the birth of trend spotting from my unfashionable elbow of a city where I reside in western Japan? Is it cuticle repair, male nail appointments and glossy finishes from here on out?

Toss out the aforementioned girly comment. You go boy! Guys deserve flawless cuticles too.

So all you chicks out there grab your man's hand and file, trim, paint and polish. And all you dudes, don't be shy, raid your sister's bottom bathroom drawer and dig out the clear. Just don't go color... we're not ready for that yet.

(holla back...aka comment... once you do the deed... let me know how it goes!!)