Japan's Nail Queen 2009 Awards Pageant

by Laura Kenney (Subscribe to Laura Kenney's posts)
Posted Nov 30th 2009 at 6:00PM

Japanese model Tsubasa Masuwaka at the Nail Queen 2009 Awards Ceremony in Tokyo, Japan. Photo: Getty Images

Japanese women take the most pride in their nails, hands down.

Their attention to the perfect tips is so detailed, it's not uncommon for women to match their manicures to their cell phone embellishments (really - we witnessed this ourselves!)

In fact, the nail industry has grown to a nearly 200 million Japanese yen market in 2008. And in Japan, acrylics are de rigeur -- and the crazier, the better.

So it follows that Japan hosts the only (to our knowledge) nail pageant.

Today's Nail Queen Awards Ceremony took place during the Tokyo Nail Expo 2009 at Tokyo Big Sight, Tokyo's international exhibition center. The annual event attracts 50,000 visitors, and The Huffington Post has some more great images, here.

Would you ever wear crazy nails like these? Leave a comment and let us know!

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