Well, I got confirmation that the chances are that non-Asians don't know how to cut Asian hair. I went to Supercuts, and I was a bit surprised that in Fort Lee, New Jersey, not a single person working there was Asian. I should have turned around and walked out the door. It's a little weird to think that for the past 11 years, I always went to Chinatown for haircuts. That doesn't guarantee a good haircut, mind you, but at least they know how to cut it. And for me, not having a "look" and unable to give any direction or idea of what I wanted, getting a haircut was always hit or miss. The poor, quiet woman at Supercuts with an eastern European accent had no idea what to do with my hair, so she went ultra-conservative and just wet it, combed it down, and clipped a little off the edges through gritted teeth. She basically trimmed it, when I had asked for two inches cut.

I don't blame her. And better to cut too little than too much when you have no idea what you're doing. On the other hand, what's so hard about cutting perfectly straight hair, you dumbass? Shouldn't you know how to cut Asian hair in an area with such a high Asian population? Shouldn't you have been trained? But now I know. Next time I'll go to Palisades Park, where I'm sure there's a Korean place that cuts hair. They won't understand English, but at least they'll know what they're doing. And Koreans - better sense of style than Chinese, so that may be a plus.

The Asian population around here has become predominantly Korean. The Chinese have always been around in smatterings, kind of invisible in the background, running Chinese restaurants, or professionals like my parents. There was never a huge sudden influx of Chinese. When I was growing up, the Japanese were the first group to come in, with Japanese corporations sending workers to New York and housing them in New Jersey. Japanese patients were my parents' bread and butter in the early days since they preferred going to doctors who spoke Japanese, and when presented with a bill, they'll just pay it. Not like the Chinese who'll try to haggle down a damn doctor's bill.

Now it's Koreans, and I can't figure out what's driving the influx, but I was riding down Broad Street through Leonia into Palisades Park, and suddenly it was block upon block of Korean businesses. Koreans everywhere, and my brother tells me they even hired a Korean policeman! That's a pretty big thing in these white suburbs, because it's infiltrating the power structure. If you want to threaten and scare the bejeebus out of the rich white majority, start hiring minority policeman. I'm sure they screened him well.

And all over the area in general are signs in Korean. Bike Masters, the bike shop we went to when we were kids is now Korean run. Now I know what it feels like to have a completely foreign group move into the neighborhood, and it's cool. I don't know what the hell is wrong with Americans, or any established group, and xenophobia. When the Japanese moved in, it didn't feel like a completely foreign group since my parents spoke Japanese to us when we were kids and we watched period dramas and anime on NHK TV on Saturday nights.

I really should be taking advantage of getting to know Korean food.