HE ALREADY enjoys getting his fingernails shaped and polished. He taps into his cabinet of skincare products when his skin feels too dry and does yoga once a week with a personal trainer to stay in shape.

Now, modern Tokyo man Fumiaki Ishimitsu is trying his first pedicure.

"My toenails changed drastically because I had never had a pedicure before. It's fun to see," said the 34-year-old office executive.

Japan has long been a premier market for beauty, with women spending top yen for the cosmetics and salons that can bring their appearance closer to perfection.

But the industry has begun to discover that the other half of the population is also ripe for conquest as men take a new interest in how they look.

Move over, staid, fashion-challenged Japanese corporate warriors. A new breed of self-pampering, appearance-conscious guys is driving a rapidly expanding male beauty business in Japan. And it's not just the Japanese pretty boys in their 20s and 30s anymore. Middle-aged Japanese men, once clueless about seaweed wraps, are now booking facials at elegant Tokyo salons.

Not that long ago, Hirofumi Nihonyanagi, 48, an English teacher at one of Japan's biggest preparatory schools called Kawaijuku, decided he was in desperate need of a makeover. He had gained 17 kilograms (38 pounds) of unwanted weight and had the habit of wearing the same clothes to work on successive days. He worried his appearance might work against him come contract renewal time at Kawaijuku.

Now he's a regular at Dandy House, a men-only esthetic boutique where he spends $880 a month on a twice-a-week, 90-minute body slimming and cleansing regime. He starts out with a 15-minute-sauna bath, then moves on to a "triple burn" weight loss treatment, a lymph node massage, and detox body-pack. He also carts home lotion and night cream ointments. "It took courage to go at first, and it's expensive, but I'm quite pleased with the outcome," he says....more...

Yoshitomo Sango treats his complexion to a face scrub, toner and face cream every morning before strolling to a nearby salon to get his hair done. By the time the 23-year-old is ready for breakfast, his skin is soft and shimmery, his hair trimmed, pomaded and bobby-pinned into an elaborate pompadour. The daily regimen takes an hour and costs more than 10,000 ($NZ110) yen, but Sango says it's essential to maintain his style. Sango may spend more cash on his looks than most, but he is far from unusual among Japanese men his age. In a society that in many ways remains sharply defined by traditional gender roles and expectations, fashion-conscious young men are one-upping their metrosexual counterparts in the West – it is not only acceptable for them to obsess over their hair, face and clothes, it's sexy too...But the changes are only skin deep, says Genaro Castro-Vazquez, a lecturer at Tokyo's Keio University specialising in gender studies. "It is misleading to think that because men are changing their physical appearance they are also changing their gender roles," he said, adding that attitudes towards contraception and child-rearing remain largely the same as a decade ago. "You can look as feminine as you want, but you must speak like a man. What is important to remember is that, in Japan, manly and pretty are not opposites"...more...