South Korea – Thang Nguyen 555

Noodle cultures

Imagine you can slurp a spicy, mouth-watering noodle bowl on a rainy night.

Even when it is instant, thanks to the King of Noodles (they even have a noodle museum in Yokohama).

Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Thailand and Vietnamese; all love this staple.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/marketing/259168/tf-eyes-vietnam-for-noodles

Take the Korean and Vietnamese samples.

Both are known for North and South.

Both seem to have become what they fought against (Korean industrial might resembles Japan’s rising sun in the 80’s, while post-war Vietnam is defining its multi-polar identity i.e. Chinese, Franco-Russian, or APEC).

These emerging blocks interact and influence one another: young Vietnamese love Korean soaps and stars (Rain), while the Korean invest heavily in Vietnam’s young workforce (who might not endorse the 55-hr work ethic, due to the lingering French laissez-faire 35-hr work week, with coffee and cigarette breaks).

When these cultures export themselves, they stake out block by block, with the Korean districts in Wilshire District (LA) and Garden Grove (OC); similar pattern emerges as the Vietnamese found work in Silicon Valley or Camp Pendleton near Little Saigon enclave.

Korean cinema, meanwhile, has drifted in the direction of its former enemy ( Japanese) by exploring the grotesque and domestic brutality ( the dark side of an industrial culture coming of age.)

The threat that ties all these disparage cultures (island-apart, literally) is the string noodle, originated in pre-Marco Polo China.

Even Samsung started out as a noodle company.

The Asian retail gal might be in suit, in compliance with industrial codes, but at lunch time, reverts back to her larger cultural codes (segregated, slurping and spicy).

Those culture groups now come face to face with modernity, under the disguise of free trade. Samsung or Sony? Toyota or Tata? Coke or Pepsi (wherever there is Pepsi, there is music, but not “the real thing”).

I used to work on the same team with my dear Korean colleague, and our markets were literally side-by-side (geographically, but culturally apart, just like Tijuana and San Diego).

Companies which try to expand to Asian markets need to understand these deep divides, the same as found in Europe or Latin America.

At least, shrewd observers can count on a set of common denominators i.e. food, fun and festivities.

Cultures are moving targets. But underneath, there are forces at work . The average person on the street just know they have changed, slowly, to becoming what their parents and grandparents had once detested (leaving the local village for a global one).

The collective self is giving way to the individual self (see Last Train Home, where inter-generational conflict was played out on their annual journey back to the village).

Consequently, you can take any of the above folks out of the noodle shop, but you can’t take the noodle away from them. Not on a cold day, or rainy day.

That’s what triggered the invention of instant ramen. Our noodle King saw a need (why all these people have to stand in the rain, waiting their turn to order noodle). That solution has been the key to unlock a kingdom, where modernity (speed, efficiency and technology – food processing) was married to tradition (childhood memory, communal activity and uncompromising taste). It’s all in the spices. At least, it was one of the triggers for Columbus to set sail and discover a rounded Earth. The end of all journeys it seems, is to come home and learn to know the place for the first time. That place, for a lot of people, has noodle waiting albeit in instant packages.

Automation and creativity

What if you had a third eye in the back of your head? (one of the Creativity Test questions). Or how would it turn out if Earth goes without 0xygen for 5 seconds? If you were a car, what would that be?

Gone are the days of “you can have the model T’s in any color you want, as long as it’s black”.

In fact, S Korea not only won the bid to the Winter Olympics, Kia and Hyundai are surpassing Ford to position against Nissan and others.

Apple was quite daring when it tried to personalize the PC’s (emphasizing the P in PC). The result was the Mac series (when Jobs was still “hungry”, he took a calligraphy course, which helped shape Apple’s product differentiation).

Once we reached full-automation, the only thing that makes us stand out is creativity and differentiation.

In the 70’s music was commoditized with unbundled single albums and in 2000’s for 99 cents (free Facebook Video chat and Google Plus ‘ hangouts).

Even Facebook IT admin jobs are not safe: they dispense hardware accessories via in-company vending machines (automation that cut through the red tape).

We cherish vintage cars (the Mini’s, the VW‘s) because they strike a chord: nostalgia.

Manufacturers will have to consider women in the work force, translating into purchasing power and buying decision. Pretty in pink.

The rise of Food Network and Interior Decor shows our inclination to differentiate and personalize (hence, the rise of my Facebook page or WordPress theme).

Yes, we often choose default template out of convenienc (organ donation default choice in European countries), but we also want to embrace individuality (a taboo in Asian culture).

Yet on this side of Taylorism, that’s what makes us stand out. Personal branding (I could hardly find my little silver Civic outside the Mall).

The age of automation asks: which do you prefer, a black car or a black car?

I applaud S Korean’s dare-devil (as opposed to highly conforming Japanese culture) choice for pink car. It must have been an eye-sore to older generations. After all, it’s the same over here when Mrs Robinson song was in full blast with Dustin Hoffman, the Graduate, zooming down the coast in a red convertible. You can cutaway to modern Korea, and visualize how the Presbyterian congregation there react to their version of “Dustin Hoffman” in a pink car. “Heaven holds a place for those who pray” hey, hey, hey.

VINA MOUSE

Last week, an op-ed in the NYT lamented the death of Disney dream in America.

This week, they signed a multi-million dollar deal to build HappyLand in Long An, Vietnam. The dream doesn’t die. It simply moved offshore. Imagine you can tour both Cu Chi Tunnel and HappyLand in one full sweep.

The new Vietnam seeks to learn not only from neighboring Asian Tigers (Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan) but also from America and European Union. Many signed on with Fulbright scholarship for a year at Ivy League Schools (Yale, Harvard, Standford) to “reverse engineer” America’s secret sauce.

Vietnamese young population will have their Sputnik moment at HappyLand.

Build-and-they-will-come model. Modern cities and mindset. Planned economy. No legacy.

America on the other hand is weighed down with pension plan, health plan, and deficit reduction plan.

Every day, a bunch of people turn 65 in America. And not all of them move on to live in country clubs. Some already got condos in Mexico (warmer than Florida). Others to Canada to buy subsidized medicine.

The brave ones traveled as far as India, hence spurring up medical tourism.

I noticed an interesting trend lately: more American are getting work-permits in Australia, perhaps in construction related business. New Frontier.

To think that the Disney dream is fading out is to limit the scope of the argument.

It simply found new disciples elsewhere, in the land far away, whose name was known more for past conflict than future potential.

The change will happen so fast that by the time we emerge from our tour of Cu Chi Tunnel that we see the bright lights of HappyLand with Vina Mouse souvenirs and logo.

What happened in Vietnam stays in Vietnam. And a lot has lately. I hear the fade out music of “It’s a small world after all” somewhere in the background. Time to dream on.

Boiling point

I was often jolted by the two popping pieces of toast, or when my coffee started to boil.

That last degree in Celsius makes a difference. Conversely, a frog in slow warming water loses its reflex.

The consequences of an over-industrialized world are over-production, and surplus labor/consumers who can’t afford or absorb excess production. “Boiling” factories, but “slow-burned” workers.

When work is moved off-shored, or, as in current wars, gets outsourced to private contractors, we start seeing reverse migration into America‘s heartland like OK and TX, where unemployment rates are more manageable.

Our attention is on the Korean miracle. Rise from the rubles.

Lean and mean machine.

I have yet met a fat Korean in all my years.

And I have met many of them, starting from my early age at kung fu classes, onto Wilshire Boulevard in LA, and most recently, in Vietnam and stop-over at a Korean airport.

The people work hard. Young people start playing hard too.

Now, the problem is keeping up without driving themselves to suicide.

(This is in line with a BBC report on G-20 background piece).

So, we have seen volcano erupted. Economy that heats up. And we have seen decline in North America, even in traditionally hot states like CA , NV and FL. In fact, studies show Utah is now a rising star (under the banner of heaven!).

With longer life expectancy, and retirement age raised, we expect a larger chunk of Western elders aboard cruise ships.

Talking of cruise ships. They are “camping” out on the upper decks of the stranded Carnival, eating SPAM.

Rough guide to the Mexican seas.

Keep struggling. Keep boiling (and not to give up) until it is boiled. Just make sure you don’t lose the frog-reflex if you happen to be inside the pot. Boiling is a slow death process. Someone said aptly that insanity is doing what you have done repeatedly, hoping for a different result.

Want to know about survival and striving, look at South Korea. I don’t say they are perfect (same with Utah). Just that we can take a page or two from their playbook. And maybe, take out kim chi for starter. Beats the SPAM on board the Carnival cruise ship.

transitory stage

I once got a 12-hour lay over in S Korea. The airport boasts itself as ” a world best airport hub”, w/ picture of a janitor-on-duty in men’s bathroom. Every hour, there were a procession of some sort, complete with traditional gowns and ceremonial hats. Passengers-turn-shoppers (the airport was designed as a Mall) paused and expressed curiosity, but only to resume window shopping.

A flight to Istanbul was full, not with Turks going home from S Korea, but with Koreans vacationing or visiting Turkey, their launching pad to Europe.

The Financial TImes ran a piece on how for the first time, a new release was sold more in e-version than hard cover. Paper or I-Pad?

And social networking turned intranet, turned outsourcing product for other companies to adopt social networking as an official backroom function.

Steven Hawking argues that gravity and other natural forces alone created the Universe (via Big Bang).

Babson (later Babson College) wrote a book entitled “Gravity is our greatest enemy”.

When we buy a pair of Jordan Air, we conspire that “I believe I can fly..touch the sky”.

Anti-gravity urge. Immortality urge. Anti-inertia urge.

I know one thing: I heard so much about Korean ubiquitous broadband connection. So, here I am, with Samsung notebook access for free.

Blog-in-the-air. On the ground, and everywhere.

The new Korean airport appeals more upscale than Korean American Mall in Los Angeles. Perhaps their success lies in grand design, homogeneous work units and morale -average work week of 50 hours, as compared to the French 35.

It rained slightly at noon here in S Korea and made the place seems surreal.

I read about the bomb scare in Miami airport. And hurricanes in N Carolina.

Hope my plane can land in Atlanta as planned.

There will still be another short hop before I get to sleep in my bed at home.

Unemployment figures are still bad. Made the Federal Reserves frown.

They should send us money, hence turning jobless folks into active shoppers

(by sending vouchers good only for shopping, similar to cash-4-clunkler). The Korean airport certainly did this by having it built into their architectural design. People were crowding at the tobacco and malt counters. I remember that Korean’s GDP growth, the last time I looked, was somewhere positively .01 percent. At least, in this part of the world, one can find some positive signs, besides the janitorial logo which boasts “a world best airport hub”. I concurred, since I took a nap undisturbed (unlike chairs that were designed to deter such activity in Miami airport or others). In marketing, it’s called differentiation and late mover’s advantage. You can change marketing practices, but you cannot change the man and his habits. Much less 7 habits of ineffective people.

Our dichotomy

Abundance or shortage? Keynes or Milton Friedman? The quants rule? Human beings are selfish or empathic? what is the optimal point for happiness?

Louisiana, one of the poorest states in the Union, yet ranked the Happiest. New York City crime rates are at the lowest in decades.

South Korea, always at war, yet always connected.

And forget what you think you know about China i.e. traditional, passive-aggressive (all these may still be true with interior China). At least, their nouveaux riche haven’t behaved as counterparts in the US (Vegas limo and strip club): they bought Lenovo and Hummers.

Since the New Year, we heard that celebrities have been arrested almost every other week (Denver, West Virginia).

Fear of success.

And then, the real 17+% unemployed in the US, fear of failure? Sedated and in need of Shock treatments.

The age of adjusted expectations. Self-correcting amidst progress and plenty.

Fast toaster (Subway). Bullet train. Slow bureaucracy.

One advertising slogan “I hate to wait” came to mind.

Cultures and companies proceed at different speeds.

Search and rescue teams are now leaving Haiti. Their time and mission has come to an end.

Mid-term relief organizations now take ober. Then long-term sustained development NGOs will stay the course

piling on top of the 10,000 counterparts who had already been there before the quake.

News organizations such as CNN and CBS have stepped up to the plate, proving themselves worthy of our attention.

But then, where were they during the Iranian post-election showdown? Twitter ruled back then and there.

So we go back to our dichotomy of Command/control vs consumer/citizenry movement, Keynesian vs Milton, and

whether human nature are empathic or dog-eat-dog ? The Net is neutral. It blinks and waits for our clicks.

No wonder teens are into Vampires, a state of not living, yet not vanishing. Perfect commentary about our current state of ambivalence.

Poor surviving but wounded Haitians! I could not finish the evening news yesterday. Maybe we are empathic creatures after all.

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