Press & Awards
Our CEO Ken Kobayashi in SNIPSTYLE's December issue: 'OMOTENASHI, and beyond'
SNIPSTYLE, the Japanese monthly magazine for hairdressers, gives its December 2026 issue to Japanese hairdressing on the world stage. Our CEO Ken Kobayashi is one of three hairdressers interviewed in its 'KEYWORD 02: OMOTENASHI, and beyond'.
The December issue
SNIPSTYLE's December 2026 issue (No. 493) came out on 1 November. Its theme is 'Don't stop at omotenashi — take the world stage', from a Japanese local to a global standard. The editors look at what makes Japanese hairdressing strong — care for the finest detail, and hospitality — and at what it takes for the rest of the world to see it.
What Ken told the magazine
In 'KEYWORD 02: OMOTENASHI, and beyond', from page 38, Ken answered the editors' five questions in writing: how Assort went abroad, what makes it strong, the walls it met, what it changed and what it kept, and what he would tell Japanese salons that aim at the world.
Assort's first salon outside Japan opened in New York in 2013. Ken chose New York over Los Angeles for five reasons — among them that staff can get around without a car, and that a Japanese hairdresser's licence can be carried over to a New York licence. Hong Kong followed in 2015, Amsterdam in 2017, Melbourne in 2024 and London in 2025. Vancouver is next.
'We think of ourselves as selling an experience, not technique,' he wrote. Assort aims to be a hybrid of Japan and the rest of the world: Japanese hospitality and technique, together with the software and digital tools where other countries lead. Its training is built on recreating the style in the photo a guest brings. And the consultation videos Ken has posted every day for more than three years brought Assort's accounts more than 1.4 million followers, and guests from more than 77 countries (his figures, October 2026).
What never changes, in any country, is Japanese hospitality — omotenashi. What does change: Assort starts small in each new country and grows once it has earned local trust, and it fits its styles to the local water and climate. In humid Hong Kong, for example, guests wanted digital perms rather than the air wave perm that was in fashion in Japan.
His message to Japanese salons aiming at the world: 'Take on the challenge. Don't be afraid. Whatever your age or gender, give your own life a chance.' Be clear about what you are going there to do, he added — learn the country's culture, and respect the people who live there.
About SNIPSTYLE
SNIPSTYLE is a monthly creative magazine for hairdressers, published in Tokyo. The whole article is in the December issue, on sale from the publisher's online shop and from salon dealers in Japan.
Written by Assort