Changing Beauty Business

Oita, Japan and Ulan Bator, Mongolia

By Yas Mamemachi

Bulgaa teaching at the school in Mongolia (Photo provided by Takahashi)

tarting in 2006 an industrial arts school in Ulan Bator, Mongolia introduced a new two-year training program for people who want to become professional aestheticians. The first 20 students graduated from the program in 2008.

Most professional aestheticians in Mongolia learned “European” methods, most of which were introduced from Russia. However, these 20 alumni have learned “Japanese” beauty skills and professional manners.

This new and exclusive training program on Japanese beauty skills and related services is taught by a female Mongolian, E. Bulgantuul, who is often called “Bulgaa.”

In 2001, with more than ten years experience as a professional aesthetician, she was an instructor in facials at the school. In April of that year she met a young Japanese aesthetician, Yoko Takahashi, who was dispatched to the school the previous year by a Japanese government volunteer program, like the Peace Corps in the United States. This changed Bulgaa’s professional life.

Takahashi came to Mongolia with her professional skills and spirit as part of a two-year volunteer program, and was disappointed the first year.

Most senior Mongolian instructors at the school ignored the young Japanese woman’s advice. They were proud of the “European” style and felt they didn’t need the method of the young woman from a small island country located at the east end of the world.

In 2001, her second and final year in Mongolia, Takahashi set up a weekend extra-curricular program on standard Japanese beauty methods for students who were interested.

“I was so desperate to get something good done at the school before leaving the country,” says the Japanese aesthetician.

Among the few students, Bulgaa asked to join the weekend program. No other instructors showed up at the Japanese volunteer worker’s program.

“Back then, I was interested in knowing about aesthetic technical skills in Asia because they might be more suitable for Mongolians, who are Asians, than European methods,” says Bulgaa.

In Takahashi’s session, all the students including Bulgaa were required to make efforts on an each process of aesthetic work, as if they were professionals already working with customers.

The session started with the technical basics, such as how to hold and use scissors, and went on through almost every single detail, including how to cut, how to shampoo, and how to get a perm. It was extended to cover mental preparation and attitude in the service sector.

When compared to the skills required in Japan, both technical skills and professional manners in Mongolia were “never satisfied,” Takahashi says. In fact, there was no national licensing exam for aestheticians in Mongolia at the time.

“Each lesson surprised me, and made me realize that Japanese aestheticians are disciplined,” says Bulgaa.

“Bulgaa, who transcended her pride, was working so hard to learn any new thing,” says Takahashi. “I thought she might be an ideal candidate for a future instructor in the school.”

Not through yet

Takahashi completed her two-year volunteer assignment and returned home to Beppu (a hot spring city), Oita, Japan, in March 2002. In 2005 she opened her own beauty shop in her hometown, and hired Bulgaa as an intern for five months starting in September of that year.

Takahashi moved by Bulgaa’s passion (Photo provided by Takahashi)

“My volunteer assignment was terminated when I left Mongolia. So was my relationship with Bulgaa. But, I felt something was not right. Once I thought she might have been the best candidate for a future instructor at the Mongolian aesthetic school, and then I was saying that my two-year assignment was over and I had nothing to do professionally with her anymore. That made me feel so irresponsible,” says Takahashi.

Once again, Bulgaa had been taught what to do and how to do it on the job. She never gave up. She was a patient woman and respected Takahashi. Moreover, she loved Japan.

In 2008, Bulgaa published her first 50-page textbook on Japanese aesthetic methods and skills, most of which had been learned during her working experience with Takahashi but arranged suitably for the realities of Mongolia.

“There are still too many things to study,” says Bulgaa with a smile. In fact, she has reread many of the books she bought in Japan, with far deeper understanding of the Japanese methods and skills. Sometimes, she asked Takahashi questions about some technical skills mentioned in the books.

Her passion moved Takahashi. The Japanese has voluntarily visited Mongolia three times since 2006 and stayed for about a week to teach Bulgaa each time.

“I will be happy if I can covey not only Japanese technical methods but also what working in the service sector should be and what the profession of aesthetician means, as well as punctuality and discipline, the basic requirements in business, all of which I learned in Japan, to my students,” says the Mongolian.