A change of heart from aspiring to be a journalist

"Chura-san" means a beautiful woman in the Okinawan language. Many Okinawan women are beautiful, with firm skin and large eyes. So an editor from a certain magazine asked me to write an article about "Chura-san's secrets." I thought it was a topic I would like to know more about personally, so I immediately asked a male acquaintance who is my go-to source for Okinawa-related information, "Please introduce me to a beautiful Okinawan woman living in the U.S. I want to interview her about the secret of her beauty." The first name he mentioned was Kazumi-san.

I headed to Kabuki Beauty Salon, a beauty salon located in a prime location in Beverly Hills, to meet Kazumi. The owner of the salon looked so young that it was hard to believe she was 76 years old, and she was as beautiful as the introduction said.

Kazumi never spoke about the "secret to beauty" that was the subject of the interview. She said that she doesn't do anything in particular. However, she certainly had a secret. It was her attitude towards life, which was full of curiosity.

At Kabuki Beauty Salon, which she manages

Kazumi left her hometown to study at the University of Kansas for graduate school in 1960. Her father was the founder of the newspaper, Okinawa Times, and Kazumi herself aspired to be a journalist. At the time, studying abroad in America from Okinawa was seen as a chance to receive the best education. However, soon after arriving in America, she was enthusiastically proposed to by Henry Kim from Korea, and she married him and moved to Los Angeles.

"My husband was business-minded and suggested I become an owner rather than work for someone else. So I went to beauty school, even though I had no interest in doing so. I started with a small salon in Inglewood (near Los Angeles), and in 1968 opened a large salon near LAX. Then, when I heard that a new property was opening in Beverly Hills, I decided to open one there as well."

Surviving the Los Angeles riots

Although she reluctantly started a beauty salon at Henry's suggestion, she was so busy that she was running two salons at once, one in Westchester (near the airport) and one in Beverly Hills. At the same time, Henry was working as an engineer and investing in real estate one after another, increasing his assets. His skills as a business leader in the Korean American community were highly regarded, and he was also appointed president of the Lions Club.

"The difficult time was during the Los Angeles riots. My husband had a supermarket in an area much south of Koreatown. However, the store was burned down and could no longer continue. In order to pay off the debts, we were forced to sell our real estate, including our apartment in Hollywood. The riots wiped out a lot of our retirement savings."

However, despite these difficulties, Henry resumed his real estate investments after the riots and continued to look after his family, one after another, by bringing them over from Korea. Meanwhile, Kazumi went to work at the beauty salon every day, leaving all the cooking and housework to her brother-in-law's wife. And so, Kabuki Beauty Salon has been in business for nearly 30 years in Beverly Hills, a fierce battleground for beauty salons where top-notch salons compete fiercely.

When asked about the secret to her business success, she replied, "I think it's because we're in Beverly Hills that we've been able to continue. Even if a stylists quit, new people just keep coming in without us having to advertise." The location is great, so it's easy to attract new customers. And more than anything, Kazumi says that interacting with people is what gives her a reason to live, and her regular customers keep coming back.

"When I came to America from Okinawa, and when I came to Los Angeles, I didn't have any friends. That's why my customers are my most important friends. I live for the people who come to my house or go to restaurants with my customers. I mix my work and leisure time so much that people say I'm mixing my work and leisure time (laughs)."

Kazumi now feels that being a hairdresser is her calling, but Henry, who almost forced her onto that path, passed away two years ago while on a trip. "My family came over from Okinawa and we went to Florida together. My husband wasn't feeling well, so I told him we should cancel the trip before we left, but he insisted, saying that everyone was looking forward to it. Although he was driving in Florida, he collapsed in the bathroom one morning. He had suffered a heart attack."

They were planning to celebrate their golden wedding anniversary in December of that year. They have no children. Kazumi still commutes to Beverly Hills four days a week, driving a car she's not very good at. When she gets there, she is greeted by the salon staff and regular customers, so she says she can't imagine retiring. And her nephew, whom Henry brought over from Korea, has grown up and is helping her out in various ways in her daily life.

© 2012 Keiko Fukuda