After completing an undergrad Commerce degree in his home country Japan, Yasushi Arakawa headed over to Vancouver in 1998 to study English at first. And this is the very beginning of his unexpected journey to becoming a multi-award winning nail artist. Having studied English and then Hospitality Management, Yasushi then returned home to work in a hotel for a couple of years. But having seen that people can choose various career paths when he studied overseas, he decided to come back to Canada on a working holiday visa in 2001.

By 2003, he graduated from London School of Hairdressing & Aesthetics in Vancouver and soon became a nail technology instructor there, and in 2004 opened KAEN Beauty Design Studio on Robson. This was followed by a string of awards (1st place, Nailpro Competition at IBS Las Vegas 2008 - Hand Painted Nail Art, 3rd place, Nailpro Competition at ISSE Long Beach 2008 - Hand Painted Nail Art, and 5th place, Nailpro Competition at IBS Las Vegas 2007 – Hand Painted Nail Art, 5th place) and a second store, Nail de KAEN produced by yasushi on Thurlow that opened last year. Even with his busy schedule, Yasushi still finds time to continue teaching and to chat with SAX... 		"Why did I choose nail art? Since I was a kid, I have always been really good at art, such as painting and etc, but I never thought about working in sort of artistic fields. It was because I thought that work and something I liked had to be different things. But coming to Vancouver changed my way of thinking - I should do something I can enjoy. Why nails... I considered so many things at the time, but one of my friends just told me "you should do nails" and as long as I can remember, that was it.

In regards to nails, the biggest difference between the Japanese market and that of Vancouver is what people want to do. In Japan, more people are interested in nail art, which is having paint, 3D motives, and crystals on their nails. Here in Vancouver, simple French manicures are more often preferred. But little by little, it has been changing.
 The latest nail trends in Japan are: Soak Off Gel (soft gel coating), which includes BioSculpture and Cal Gel nail treatments; pointier shaped nails; and the usage of bigger crystals.

For me, beauty is to express ourselves, entertain others, satisfied ourselves and to attract others.

And five words used to describe KAEN would be: sincerity, cleanness, politeness, positivity, and high quality.

What do I love about my work? If I can simply enjoy creating art, then my customers would also be happy.

As for my goals, I don't really know yet, but right now, I am just doing what I can do. I always try to give myself something to achieve in the near future, just like a competition. May be I will be a fine art artist, not a nail artist later on".

Link  www.kaenvancouver.com

Hand Model  Susana Kam
Photo  Simon Chu
Date  May 2009