Zooto Equatorial may not be what you’d call a mom-and-pop shop but it still is a family affair. Opened three years ago by husband and wife Nobuo and Yuka Shimane, Zooto is a place where you can still have a nice chat with your stylist as he or she trims your golden locks. It’s a place where a personal touch is the rule rather than the exception. But the shop and its friendly atmosphere were a long time in the making. "When I was 21, I went to Australia by myself for about a year. After I returned to Japan, I started thinking about going back and opening my own shop. In the meantime, I got married and when I was 26 we went back to Australia. I worked for a hairdressing salon called Sloan’s in Paddington and started my own business two years later. We lived there around 12 years and came back to Japan about three years ago."
Since both the Shimanes spent a lot of time abroad they speak English fairly fluently. Perhaps more importantly, considering around 60% of their clients are non-Japanese, they know foreign hair. Their shop mainly caters to foreigners and they pride themselves on the fact that they have the experience and know-how to serve Zooto clients well. Like their shop in Roppongi, the Australian version had roughly half Japanese customers and half Australians. Few other Japanese stylists can flaunt that kind of hands-on experience with foreign hair. At Zooto, they can provide all the services that you would expect from your salon at home and you can rest assured that they know what they’re doing.
In Japan, foreigners sometimes have trouble getting the right style and the right color because some hairdressers don’t understand the difference between Japanese hair and foreign hair. And in case you weren’t sure, according to Nobuo there definitely is a difference. "Japanese hair and foreign hair are very different. It’s hard to point to just one thing because foreign people all have different hair. Some people have very wavy hair. Some people have very thick, straight hair but overall their hair is thinner than Japanese hair." Although Nobuo says that this thinness makes foreign hair easier to style and care for, it nevertheless causes a problem for people who live abroad. A stylist who doesn’t have any experience cutting foreign hair may make the mistake of assuming a particular cut will look the same on you as it does on his or her other customers and then you end up with a cut that isn’t what you wanted or expected. Another big problem that many foreigners have is highlighting. Some stylists do what’s called cap highlights — a fairly uncomfortable technique in which sections of hair are pulled through holes in a plastic cap and then colored. The result is a kind of streaky clump of color which is fine if you are a Shibuya girl but may not be what the average person is looking for.
At Zooto, instead of using the cap technique they use foil (the method most salons in the West use) which allows them to do fine highlights down to the roots giving a much more natural look. While giving the customer what they want may just seem like good business to you, the recent trend in Japan is for the more famous salons to get people in and out as quickly as possible. As Nobuo says, "A hairdresser is like a star now for young people." If this fast-food approach to hair doesn’t appeal to you, you’ll be happy to know that they feel the same at Zooto. "If you go to a famous hairdressing salon sometimes that shop takes only five to ten minutes for a hair cut and charges more than ¥6,000 or ¥7,000. Can you believe that? I don’t want to do that. I set aside an hour for each appointment because I want to talk with the customer."
If you miss being able to chat with your stylist back home, Zooto is the place for you. Nobuo and Yuka are trying to create a more intimate kind of salon, a place that harks back to the times when the best thing about changing your coiffure was the gossip. About the only difference between Zooto and your own salon back home may be the products. For the time being, Australian hair care products aren’t available at Zooto. But if a customer wants to use their own products brought from home,
the Shimanes will happily oblige. As for the future, they are working on getting a supplier for Australian products and hope to offer them soon.
Another difference might be the slightly unusual name. If you speak Japanese, you might recognize the name as a play on the word "zutto" which means "all the way through" or "all the time." Nobuo explained it as having the feeling of something continuing and the name has gone through a number of transformations and journeys. The original idea came from a Japanese restaurant that Nobuo’s sister used to work at in New York city (they are a pretty international family). Down in Australia, Nobuo and Yuka called their shop Zooto with the subheading "from Tokyo" in order to let people know their origins. Now, back in Tokyo, they changed their subheading to "equatorial" in order to indicate their time spent south of the equator.
Nobuo and Yuka spent a lot of time abroad and they are proud of their international experience. They brought a few pieces of aboriginal art back with them and display them in the salon to remind people that they plied their trade abroad. And if Tokyo leaves you a little homesick for the great outdoors Nobuo can relate. "My best memory of Australia is nature. I didn’t really do much outdoor sports, just running, going to the beach or camping. But in Australia if you go just one hour out of the city you are surrounded by nature. It’s not like that in Japan."
Nobuo Shimane became a hairdresser because he decided early on that he didn’t want to be a businessman. That fact, along with his long wavy hair and his extended time abroad, may set him apart from the average Japanese man his age but in at least one way he is typical. Nobuo and Yuka returned to Japan after ten years running a successful salon in Australia in order to prepare to take care of her parents in their old age (Nobuo’s older brother will bear the responsibility of caring for his parents). While that may seem to some like the proper actions of a caring daughter and son-in-law, it’s also what sets Zooto apart from other salons. The caring, relaxed attitude make Zooto a place where the customer feels like they still matter. When high-speed and high-tech seem to rule, the personal touch can be a refreshing change of pace.
- Zooto Equatorial
6-16-50 Roppongi
Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-0032
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- tel & fax 3470-2248.
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