Recently, Manhattan’s Koreatown – the area around 32nd Street, west of Fifth Avenue, has seen a great increase in Asian customers – including Chinese and Japanese. This has meant a lot for Korean businesses, which have been suffering from the long-term economic depression, and the Iraq War. According to a recent business report, almost 60 percent of the customers of Korean restaurants, music stores, video shops – especially music and video stores – and coffee shops, are Chinese.

Restaurants such as the Kammiok, which specializes in a Korean beef soup with rice, already have many Japanese customers, but now, the number of their Chinese customers is also increasing.

Kammiok’s owner said, “Chinese customers love Korean meat pancakes and meats, as well as our Korean beef soup. Many Japanese customers – students – have heard of us through word of mouth, and come here with great frequency. The same thing is now happening with the Chinese.”

Another nearby restaurant, Wonjo, is experiencing the same thing, “Chinese customers usually order some boiled foods, including a lot of tofu dishes. They love our Korean side dishes (a Korean meal consists of many side dishes – the more, the better),” said one restaurant employee.

Across the street is a fancy goods store – Opane – that sells such as items as toys and goods – school supplies, etc., with typical character logos. Opane also has a constant stream of Asian customers, – largely students, who come to purchase items with images of famous Korean cartoon characters.

Mr. Yun, store owner, said that Chinese customers are lining up to purchase such items. They love Mashimaro, Hamster, and Puca, for instance. Mr. Yun thinks that Korean characters are spreading throughout the world – items such as the World Cup mascot – causing a tremendous increase in sales of such items, especially among Asians.

Other shops in the area, such as AM Music, which sells Korean CD’s, videos, records, etc., also reports that 60 percent of their Asian customers are Chinese and Japanese.

AM President Jason Kim, says, “In the case of Chinese customers, we sell a lot of special order famous Korean CD’s. Customers even order really popular new releases in advance. It’s a common sight now — Chinese people buying popular Korean music, eating Korean ribs, in this area.

On April 4th, Jerome, a Filipino customer at AM Music, said, “I have a lot of Korean friends, so it’s easy for me to connect with Korean culture. I’ve even become a fan of Korean pop singers. I like Baby Box and Shinwa.”