Learning from the Korean Success Model

Yesterday afternoon, I headed to a nearby beauty salon to have my eyebrows trimmed. Usually, I get my eyebrows trimmed once a month or so. I happen to have thick eyebrows, and if I left them growing, they would start to look rather unsightly within just a few weeks, so regular trimming is necessary. Unfortunately, the Indian lady who normally trims my eyebrows was unavailable yesterday, so a Chinese lady took over in her absence. Luckily, she was also skillful, so I was happy with the final result.

After I was finished with the eyebrow trimming, I went to the hair salon to get a haircut. As it happened, my hairstylist, Yuya, was out of town on vacation, so I had another hairstylist by the name of Naru cut my hair. Naru had done my hair once before, so I already knew that I was in good hands. As expected, my new haircut came out just nice.

One outstanding thing about Naru is that, while he is a native of Fukuoka, Japan, he is fluent in Korean as well as Japanese. He’s learned to speak Korean over the past few years, by such means as watching YouTube videos on elementary Korean and attending a language school. It also helped that geographically, Fukuoka is closer to Seoul than Tokyo, allowing him to travel to Korea numerous times, sometimes as frequently as once a month.

He became such a fan of Korea that he decided to live there long-term. Eventually, he worked at a local hair salon in Seoul for a year, which gave him ample opportunity to learn about the latest hairstyling trends in a city that serves as a touchstone for fashion for the rest of Asia. Undoubtedly, an overseas working experience like this is an invaluable asset for an aspiring professional like him, and I’m convinced that he has a bright future ahead of him.

Speaking of Korea, over the past two decades, it has undeniably consolidated its status as an entertainment powerhouse of Asia, in a manner that cannot be matched by Japan or China. This is manifested by the prevalence of K-pop on the music charts, as well as the dominance of Korean series that are listed among the most widely watched shows on streaming platforms like Netflix.

While I’m not a big fan of Korean pop culture, I find this phenomenon quite fascinating. I think Japan can learn a great deal from the Korean success model in the arena of entertainment, so that it can strengthen its own soft power. Having such an influence can generate more favorable views toward Japan in the minds of people around the world, so Japan should really take this matter more seriously.