The neighbor (Vietnam)

The neighbor always greeted me with a “hello, teacher” and a smile. I was her ChatGPT as she always had questions for me—  about travel, and sometimes about Japanese and Korean politics.

The neighbor and her friends run the little bars in the Japanese town. They like to have interesting topics to discuss with their patrons who are mostly Japanese, Korean, or Taiwanese businessmen or factory experts. The more topics they had to discuss, the longer they could keep the guests.

I didn’t mind the quick chat. Often, I got useful intelligence from them— the stuff their guests let slip— like what tech giant is going to start mobile phone production in Vietnam. Perhaps I should switch careers to industrial espionage.

Notes:

December 2022: I was sketching the above impression of my neighbour at the brewery at the entrance of the Japanese town. The staff, a young woman, peered at my drawing. She said she recognised what I was drawing and said some disparaging remarks targeting the counter bar staff. She gave her own example, stating that there are decent jobs that one can do without resorting to sexualising oneself.

I suggested that she had grown up in a big city, spoke good English, and had confidence in navigating modern spaces. Many of the people who work in the counter bar scene come from out of town, poorer regions. They do not have the experience to navigate sophisticated spaces. I recounted a conversation with another neighbor about their fear of entering a posh cafe. I referred my debating friend to Dealing in Desire by Kimberly Hoang - Paper - University of California Press. This paper/book discusses many of the issues and factors we talked about.

I feel one notable (and unrecognised) factor that aids in the development of manufacturing industry in a country is the contribution of such “entertainment” areas and the labour of the people involved in this business. I saw this in China in the 2000s. Many of the “expat experts” who come to set up these factories and take up managerial roles were male, who were nominally single when they were here. Northern Girls by Sheng Keyi provides a snap shot of this period in China.

June 2025: There is a reference to similar entertainment venue, the Rio hotel in Gumi, Korea, in a recent book about Apple. This is where in the late 1990s, LG was making the colorful iMac for Apple. Some of the puritanical Apple staff visiting Gumi, stayed at the Rio hotel and they were surprised by the “Saloon” in the hotel that provided “entertainment” to the electronics industry workers based in the city. Apple in China: The Capture of the World’s Greatest Company: McGee, Patrick: 9781668053379: Amazon.com: Books