Korean Hairdressers

I have great respect for Koreans. Wherever they go, they quickly form communities, organise and group themselves and help each other out. They are also very quick to start businesses where they see an opportunity.

Since the Korean community is so strong here in Chatswood (the suburb of Sydney I am residing in), opportunities to sell Korea-related products and services are numerous.

Hairdressers are perhaps a field where Koreans are not expected to become so active. However here in Chatswood, I saw only one non-Korean hairdresser shop and about eight Korean ones.

Shops selling products and services owned by immigrants often target a specific community, mostly the home country of the immigrants. There are Thai grocery shops mostly frequented by Thai people. There is a Filipino Sari-Sari (variety) shop here in Chatswood where the local community meets and exchanges the latest gossip.

Korean hairdressers however do not fit into this category. They are not only targeted at and frequented by the Korean community, but also by other people. They are relatively cheap, abundant and usually offer good and reliable cuts.

The workers in these shops however sometimes hardly speak English and probably just come to Australia to earn some money for a few months.

The fact that Korean shops are far more frequent than other Asian shops not just regarding to hairdressers but also in beauty, skin care and partly also in fashion might be reflecting wider trends in Asia.

Recently, Korea has been dominating in terms of pop-culture in nearly the whole of Asia. Teenagers in Jakarta, Bangkok and even in China aspire to Korean boy- and girl groups and watch Korean TV drama series. In wishing to look like their idols, boys and girls across Asia emanate their idol's styles and generally become very receptive towards everything from Korea.

The Korean government, wary of the positive side-effects of a domination in pop-culture smartly uses this situation as a way to increase its reputation and influence across the wider Asia-Pacific. Riding on this wave of popularity, Korea has also turned into an Asian powerhouse in fashion and beauty.

It might then actually be that this Korean dominance is also reaching Australian shores. Far from suggesting that the "average white Australian" might suddenly become infatuated with Korean pop-culture, it is however likely that Korea is also dominating the large Asian communities within Australia's urban centres in these industries precisely due to the "Korean wave" of pop-culture.

Korean hairdressers are therefore, I believe, a sign of the integration of urban Australia in Asia. Australian towns may often have Chinatowns, Korea- or Thai-towns but really, the urban centres of Australia are little Asia-towns in their entirety, where the adoption of Asia-wide phenomena can be observed almost immediately.

Chinese New Year 2

Even though Chinese New Year was last weekend, yesterday was the highlight of the CNY celebrations in Sydney - the parade.

The CNY parade must be one of the highlights in Sydney's annual calendar, judging by the thousands of people lining the streets and by the political figures taking part.

The parade features dozens of groups, mainly locally based Chinese organisations. More impressive than the groups' spectacularly colourful displays was the depth of Chinese community groups taking part.

There were geographically based groups (Sydney-Shanghai and Sydney-Guangzhou organisations), educational and youth groups (school talents, parents of disabled children, Chinese Youth Organisation), media groups (TV's, newspapers, radios), cultural groups (dance etc) and also business groups.

This breadth of organisations and social groups is indicative of a few interesting facts.

-Chinese groups seem to be very well organised among themselves and quite engaged in social activities.

-The Chinese population however doesnt just seem to be active among themselves, but there are also quite a number of Australia-Chinese societies and groups.

-It would be interesting to know whether the more active groups are linking Australia with Mainland China or other countries/regions such as Taiwan, Malaysia or Singapore.

- the sheer size of the parade was astonishing and is indicative of the societal, cultural and geographical ties of Australia and the wider Chinese communities.

This year, the parade enjoyed the presence of the guest city, Chongqing, the largest, and mostly unknown city in the centre of China. Their representatives presented colourful displays with lanterns and the much-loved dragon shows (above to the left).



For the first time, the Chinese communities were also joined by the Vietnamese and the Korean communities, who also celebrate (lunar) new year at the same time. This was a significant move, as it gives the parade a more pan-Asian flavour and includes other important Asian communities.

Not only did the festival show that the Asian communities in Sydney are active and show enthusiastic presence, but it also demonstrated the general curiousness of Sydneysiders towards this festival. They have somewhat adopted it as their own, judging from the amount of Caucasian Australian families, coming out to show their children the parade.

Perhaps one of the most striking symbols of the interconnectedness of Australia and Asia was the presence of the Chinese Australian war veteran organisation with a handful of elderly men, who fought in the many wars of the last century, proudly displaying their medals and waving Australian flags.

Chinese New Year

Happy New Year. I wish you all a successful, peaceful and fulfilled year of the TIGER.

I live in Chatswood, a suburb in the inner north of Sydney, about 20 minutes away from the city by train. Chatswood is dominated by two large malls and some shopping streets in between these malls. Outside of the shopping area, apartments and houses are home to a very large community of inhabitants of Asian origins.

Whereas ethnic Chinese from the Mainland, Malaysia and Singapore dominate, there is also an impressive presence of Koreans and a growing number of Indian residents.

This weekend, Chinese New Year celebrations were held in Chatswood. There were a few stalls in the main shopping street advertising Chinese property businesses, Chinese culture clubs and theatres, Australian quarantine rules (Chinese travellers do have a reputation of not complying with the strict quarantine rules) and other businesses.

In the middle of it all, a stage was set up and Chinese music from different parts of China was played.

A group of boys in costumes, some with dragon masks and were also going about the streets and entering most shops amid loud metallic noise coming from their cymbals. It was astonishing to see that the group didn't discriminate between Chinese and non-Chinese shops to enter and wish the shopkeepers a successful new year.

Although most of the public watching the spectacle was of Chinese origin, a large minority was either from other Asian origins or Caucasian Australians. The interest was considerable and most people, regardless of their origin stopped for some time.

Perhaps it would be going too far to claim that such cultural festivals have an integrative effect on the wider community. However, it seems apparent that since people from such a variety of backgrounds attended the Chinese New Year festivities, cultural events not only broaden the mind of the community but also demonstrate the cultural openness of the population in general.

A Short Introduction: Asia in Europe and Australia

I grew up in the middle of Europe, a place where people are generally not very knowledgeable about Asia. There are exceptions. The French and British have some knowledge about their former colonies and usually at least can point out some Asian countries on a map. They are also somewhat familiar with Asian cuisine (think curries in Britain), share rivalries in sport (England and its former colonies in cricket) and perhaps even know someone from Asia personally. Such direct personal connections however do remain rarities and the general knowledge about Asia but also the interest in Asia is limited.

More recently however, Europeans have increasingly started to notice Asia. Whereas countries like Japan and China have become somewhat fashionable to a broader middle and upper class, many Europeans at the same time also fear the surging economies of Asia.

Attitudes towards Asia however have not changed greatly changed since the very beginnings of European relations with Asia. Asia has always been, and still is “the other” and the exotic in the distant East. This is very much the view from a continent, which has dominated the world economically and also culturally for many centuries; or at least would like to think that it has.

It is out of this perception of dominance and superiority that an attitude of ignorance, nonchalance and exoticisation has managed to take a hold and persist until today.

Whereas most Europeans have largely managed to remain distant to an “exotic” Asia, I have become increasingly interested in Asia the last few years. Living in New Zealand gave me a first taste of Asia, as I made numerous of friends and acquaintances from various Asian countries during these years. I have also been living with Korean people for the best part of the last five years. I have travelled extensively across Asia and in the last two years, I have lived in Bangkok, the bustling capital of Thailand and perhaps one of the most exciting urban places on earth.

It is from this background, and also from reading countless articles, blog entries and from talking to friends and acquaintances where I take my perhaps still limited but growing knowledge and fascination for Asia.

Recently, I have decided to start my professional career in Australia, probably the closest one can live to Asia without actually being in Asia. As far as I can tell so far, Australia offers a totally different experience to Europe in terms of the presence and influence of Asia. Most Australians roughly know about Asia’s geography, they are far more acquainted with Asian food, which is found on every street corner. Many Australians have travelled to – or at least through Asia and a high number of Australians interact regularly with Asian people.

Factors, which have contributed strongly to an “Asianisation” of Australia, are the geographic proximity, political, economic and societal pressures in the different Asian countries, the prevalence of the English language (thus attracting a large number of foreign students and their families) and the relative openness of the Australian society to new arrivals from Asia (this being a more recent phenomenon).

The reality of a strong Asian physical presence in Australia, especially in the large cities, coupled with strong economic and political ties has led to not only a general realisation of the importance of Asia for Australians but also to increased interactions and the integration of a certain “Asian Lifestyle” into the everyday life of many Australians.

The content of this blog will involve my personal observations of “Asia in Australia”. It will discuss everyday experiences, which in a way involve Asia in Australia. As with every blog however, planning the content at the beginning of a blog is not easy. Experienced bloggers know that frequently, blogs can take surprising turns and evolve into something surprising and unintended.

Therefore, let us now get started and find out about Asia in Australia.