I’m a Korean woman living in Seoul, and I read your essay with interest—and a small wince.
You’ve been to Korea five times, walked past us, eaten our food, enjoyed our LP bars. I’m genuinely glad. But much of what you describe reads like a diagnosis made in passing, and that’s where it gave me pause.
You say our serious culture “punches above its weight,” as if our realism floats above a base layer of fluff. But they’re not layers. We have highs because we have lows. We are deep because we are shallow. Because life is not only space. It’s time. It’s being there. And to be somewhere is not the same as walking through it.
I like your writing. I like your attention. But we’re not contradictions to be solved—we're lives you step into. I hope your curiosity continues—not just in observing, but in being here.
Long time Japan walker and cyclist here, although I probably haven't done as much as you. Quick thoughts on point 3: Japan wasn't nearly as devastated by war, and much of the physical remnants of the past are still lying around where they have always been. Not so much in city centers, as most major cities were bombed and rebuilt, but as soon as you are in the outskirts you are on land that has never been overrun by an army. I'm not sure that Korea has a square inch that wasn't trampled over in the last century. There is the syncretic nature of Shinto and Buddhism about which things could be said and has some effect on culture. The resistance to Christianity in Japan that is not as true of Korea seems to dovetail with interesting literature out there on the way Christianity dissolves kinship networks. The displacement of country people to Tokyo throughout the 20th century certainly severed a lot of traditional bonds, and although this displacement was lamented through enka songs, etc., usually one child out of several went to the city.
One of the things I love most about Japan is its mix of modernization with tradition. I’d be curious to experience Korea some day and compare. Several of my friends made the hop from Japan to Korea since it was such a short flight but it never worked out for me to do so.
One thing I love about Japan and appreciated about your comments about Korean is the respect for other people. My dad taught me common courtesy when I was young. It feels like those lessons aren’t as frequent these days.
Thank you for this piece, which astutely provided answers to questions I had about the infantalisation and obsession with cuteness I saw over the 15 years I lived in China. I agree that it is a vessel with holes phenomena. When talking to a parent who worked at Huawei at a parents evening in the international school I worked at, he shocked me by saying that since there was no God in China, children were everything. For him, children were filling this spiritual hole. For young people even into their late twenties, cuddly toys and visits to Disney land are still some of their foolish things. I know exactly what you mean too about liking the image of being hikers more than the thing itself. I found the same thing when I used to have a weekly knockabout at the ten is courts. We would wear ordinary pairs of shorts and T shirts whereas the locals had bespoke kit with fancy tennis bags, headbands, wristbands the works. Also, they played metronomically from the back of the court - no drop shots, smashes etc. It used to baffle my partner and I: it was indeed as if they were playing at being tennis players.
Thanks for this. I enjoy reading your pieces about Korea. I don't always agree with everything, but that's one of the reasons why I like your perspective.
Regarding the hyper-modernization you noted: My grandparents all lived in Korea before immigrating to Los Angeles, and I know I will never fully grasp how different post-war Korea was compared to today. One of my grandfathers was a professor, and at his house, they still pumped water from a well. My other grandfather only ate meat twice a year during the two major holidays growing up. Things improved a lot in Korea before they moved to America, and reflecting on your piece, I almost wonder if they immigrated because things were improving so quickly. Maybe they felt a sense of momentum that I want. "XYZ is getting better here, but it can be even better over there!"
I feel kind of sad now because I didn't expect to be thinking about my grandfathers so much this morning, especially the one who passed away. But, thank you again. Your piece helped me think, and next time I go to the store I'll fondly look out for the three things my late grandfather loved when he first got here: boxes of oranges, pork chops, and Olde English 800.
The latest talk of the town among K-dramas, When Life Gives You Tangerines (Netflix), is a bold and unusual attempt to reconnect with communal roots. Tracing the travails of a young Jeju couple from the 1950s to the present day, the brilliantly written and directed series has spoken to Korean (and many international) viewers in a way that run-of-the-mill mass-produced confections fail to do. The acting is excellent, and you may well become a fan of the female lead, IU, who dominates charts and concert stadiums as that rare female solo singer whose self-written lyrics take K-pop to an unaccustomed level of meaning, bordering on poetry.
The "hiking Everest" outfits are also seen in Japan. I see groups where they all have backpacks containing who knows what to do a two or three hour hike up a small mountain.
Actually that's not totally true. I know what some of them carry - a camping stove, water and food to cook at the top and make noodles to eat and coffee to drink and sometimes little camp stools to sit on while they eat/drink
Thank you for your Korean insights. I lived in Korea from 1975 to 1980 as an army soldier. I made friends with Korean college students who exposed me to a lot of Korea that I otherwise would not have seen. My Korea-born wife tells me that the Korea of my memories no longer exists. She immigrated to the U.S. with her family in the 1970s. If you had asked me for a one word description of Koreans back in the 70s, I would have said, “Tough.” I still think of my wife of over 40 years as tough.
I'm a long-time reader and first-time commenter. You've helped to re-calibrate my approach to travel in many ways, and I was happy to finally put some of your methods to work in Finland last month. (Helsinki in winter was thoroughly enjoyable!)
Anyways, I had two thoughts:
1) What is the rest of Korea like? I know you've been to Busan, but would rural and small-town Korea have the same shallowness and image-obsession? Is Korean really so culturally homogeneous, even outside the capital?
2) Korea has become heavily Christianized in the past half century or so. Have you visited any churches there? I know you go to Mass, but what about one of the Protestant or Pentecostal churches? Would these sub-cultures be as image-obsessed, child-adverse, and inundated with cute? I find attending church services is one of my favorite things to do when traveling.
I've toyed with visiting Korea at some point, since my dad was stationed at Osan in the 80s and I love kimchi. Thanks for writing!
It's interesting to think of these points in relation to Korea's very low birthrate. Is the cuteness to make up for the lack of kids? Or does the cuteness make babies superfluous? Does the intense focus on image have a negative effect on the birthrate? (Having kids famously doesn't do wonders to your body!) Is there hope for the future due to group-think, so that a change towards accepting/desiring more kids in society would be quickly adopted by everyone and the birthrate decline turned around? Things to ponder..
Really interesting thanks Chris. It got me thinking about Italy and bella figura. I think Italy maybe still has links to a deep past, family, place etc but I see more and more superficiality. But never been to Asia so your work gives a great perspective
China has the Bella figura too! I lived in Italy and China. I had a British Hong Kong friend who told me that his Italian girlfriend didn't want to stay in China because it reminded her too much of the Bella figura mindset she wanted to escape.
That's exactly how I view it — especially the ending. The tourists can be overly catty as well, but without the underlying warmness so I've taken to avoiding them. It took me a few months to warm up to Korea, but you find your way. The only thing that throws me off about Korea compared to their neighbors is dirty streets. It's not really bad and it's definitely not the inhabitants fault (I met people who wash (or rinse) their trash before they send it out), but it is disgusting. That and the water pressure can be an issue as can mold, but then you have extremely healthy food at corner stores, a rather friendly, Christian disposition in many people. There's definitely an outward vapidness, but there's something underlying that.
Fascinating account of Seoul. My husband described South Korea as Spicy Japan after our visit.
I highly recommend the TV series Mr Sunshine. A wonderful historical drama with a lot of humor, great characters and scenery set at the beginning of the 20th century with tension between Japan and Korea and USA.
Regarding footnote 3. I wonder if one difference is that Japan was not colonized or conquered by anyone. Yes they lost WW2, but they didn't see conquerors trying to impose their culture on them and destroying most of the Japanese one. Sure they stopped the "Emperor is God" thing and state shinto, but the Emperor survived as did shinto. Plus by 1940 Japan had already industrialized and gone from samurai mercantilism to something closer to Western industrial democracy.
Now why the Americans and Europeans didn't try colonizing Japan in the mid 1800s is a whole different question. I'm not sure what the answer is, but it seems like it is a good question to ask. It wasn't that the "great powers" didn't project force and dare to slap down rogue daimyos who shot at their ships, but they never went beyond that.
Korea on the other hand made the strategic error of cozying up to the decaying Chinese Empire which couldn't defend itself, let alone Korea. Indeed part of the Sino-Japanese ware of 1895 was Japan trying to stop Russia from taking a chunk of Korea as well as Northern China. You can argue (many do) that Japan had no business fretting about Korea or China and what Russia and co were doing, but the result was that Korea ended up being fought over in 1895, 1904 and then again in the 1940s/50s after 4 decades of attempted Japanification.
I’m a Korean woman living in Seoul, and I read your essay with interest—and a small wince.
You’ve been to Korea five times, walked past us, eaten our food, enjoyed our LP bars. I’m genuinely glad. But much of what you describe reads like a diagnosis made in passing, and that’s where it gave me pause.
You say our serious culture “punches above its weight,” as if our realism floats above a base layer of fluff. But they’re not layers. We have highs because we have lows. We are deep because we are shallow. Because life is not only space. It’s time. It’s being there. And to be somewhere is not the same as walking through it.
I like your writing. I like your attention. But we’re not contradictions to be solved—we're lives you step into. I hope your curiosity continues—not just in observing, but in being here.
Long time Japan walker and cyclist here, although I probably haven't done as much as you. Quick thoughts on point 3: Japan wasn't nearly as devastated by war, and much of the physical remnants of the past are still lying around where they have always been. Not so much in city centers, as most major cities were bombed and rebuilt, but as soon as you are in the outskirts you are on land that has never been overrun by an army. I'm not sure that Korea has a square inch that wasn't trampled over in the last century. There is the syncretic nature of Shinto and Buddhism about which things could be said and has some effect on culture. The resistance to Christianity in Japan that is not as true of Korea seems to dovetail with interesting literature out there on the way Christianity dissolves kinship networks. The displacement of country people to Tokyo throughout the 20th century certainly severed a lot of traditional bonds, and although this displacement was lamented through enka songs, etc., usually one child out of several went to the city.
One of the things I love most about Japan is its mix of modernization with tradition. I’d be curious to experience Korea some day and compare. Several of my friends made the hop from Japan to Korea since it was such a short flight but it never worked out for me to do so.
One thing I love about Japan and appreciated about your comments about Korean is the respect for other people. My dad taught me common courtesy when I was young. It feels like those lessons aren’t as frequent these days.
Thank you for this piece, which astutely provided answers to questions I had about the infantalisation and obsession with cuteness I saw over the 15 years I lived in China. I agree that it is a vessel with holes phenomena. When talking to a parent who worked at Huawei at a parents evening in the international school I worked at, he shocked me by saying that since there was no God in China, children were everything. For him, children were filling this spiritual hole. For young people even into their late twenties, cuddly toys and visits to Disney land are still some of their foolish things. I know exactly what you mean too about liking the image of being hikers more than the thing itself. I found the same thing when I used to have a weekly knockabout at the ten is courts. We would wear ordinary pairs of shorts and T shirts whereas the locals had bespoke kit with fancy tennis bags, headbands, wristbands the works. Also, they played metronomically from the back of the court - no drop shots, smashes etc. It used to baffle my partner and I: it was indeed as if they were playing at being tennis players.
Thanks for this. I enjoy reading your pieces about Korea. I don't always agree with everything, but that's one of the reasons why I like your perspective.
Regarding the hyper-modernization you noted: My grandparents all lived in Korea before immigrating to Los Angeles, and I know I will never fully grasp how different post-war Korea was compared to today. One of my grandfathers was a professor, and at his house, they still pumped water from a well. My other grandfather only ate meat twice a year during the two major holidays growing up. Things improved a lot in Korea before they moved to America, and reflecting on your piece, I almost wonder if they immigrated because things were improving so quickly. Maybe they felt a sense of momentum that I want. "XYZ is getting better here, but it can be even better over there!"
I feel kind of sad now because I didn't expect to be thinking about my grandfathers so much this morning, especially the one who passed away. But, thank you again. Your piece helped me think, and next time I go to the store I'll fondly look out for the three things my late grandfather loved when he first got here: boxes of oranges, pork chops, and Olde English 800.
P.S. I also don't like Han Kang's writing.
The latest talk of the town among K-dramas, When Life Gives You Tangerines (Netflix), is a bold and unusual attempt to reconnect with communal roots. Tracing the travails of a young Jeju couple from the 1950s to the present day, the brilliantly written and directed series has spoken to Korean (and many international) viewers in a way that run-of-the-mill mass-produced confections fail to do. The acting is excellent, and you may well become a fan of the female lead, IU, who dominates charts and concert stadiums as that rare female solo singer whose self-written lyrics take K-pop to an unaccustomed level of meaning, bordering on poetry.
fantastic. As I wrote, Korea does have a very impressive high-brow cultural scene! Glad it's spilled over into K-drama
The "hiking Everest" outfits are also seen in Japan. I see groups where they all have backpacks containing who knows what to do a two or three hour hike up a small mountain.
Actually that's not totally true. I know what some of them carry - a camping stove, water and food to cook at the top and make noodles to eat and coffee to drink and sometimes little camp stools to sit on while they eat/drink
Thank you for your Korean insights. I lived in Korea from 1975 to 1980 as an army soldier. I made friends with Korean college students who exposed me to a lot of Korea that I otherwise would not have seen. My Korea-born wife tells me that the Korea of my memories no longer exists. She immigrated to the U.S. with her family in the 1970s. If you had asked me for a one word description of Koreans back in the 70s, I would have said, “Tough.” I still think of my wife of over 40 years as tough.
Hi, Chris.
I'm a long-time reader and first-time commenter. You've helped to re-calibrate my approach to travel in many ways, and I was happy to finally put some of your methods to work in Finland last month. (Helsinki in winter was thoroughly enjoyable!)
Anyways, I had two thoughts:
1) What is the rest of Korea like? I know you've been to Busan, but would rural and small-town Korea have the same shallowness and image-obsession? Is Korean really so culturally homogeneous, even outside the capital?
2) Korea has become heavily Christianized in the past half century or so. Have you visited any churches there? I know you go to Mass, but what about one of the Protestant or Pentecostal churches? Would these sub-cultures be as image-obsessed, child-adverse, and inundated with cute? I find attending church services is one of my favorite things to do when traveling.
I've toyed with visiting Korea at some point, since my dad was stationed at Osan in the 80s and I love kimchi. Thanks for writing!
- TSF
It's interesting to think of these points in relation to Korea's very low birthrate. Is the cuteness to make up for the lack of kids? Or does the cuteness make babies superfluous? Does the intense focus on image have a negative effect on the birthrate? (Having kids famously doesn't do wonders to your body!) Is there hope for the future due to group-think, so that a change towards accepting/desiring more kids in society would be quickly adopted by everyone and the birthrate decline turned around? Things to ponder..
Really interesting thanks Chris. It got me thinking about Italy and bella figura. I think Italy maybe still has links to a deep past, family, place etc but I see more and more superficiality. But never been to Asia so your work gives a great perspective
China has the Bella figura too! I lived in Italy and China. I had a British Hong Kong friend who told me that his Italian girlfriend didn't want to stay in China because it reminded her too much of the Bella figura mindset she wanted to escape.
My favorite musical artist is Yeong Die. She is from Seoul and is not a conformist.
That's exactly how I view it — especially the ending. The tourists can be overly catty as well, but without the underlying warmness so I've taken to avoiding them. It took me a few months to warm up to Korea, but you find your way. The only thing that throws me off about Korea compared to their neighbors is dirty streets. It's not really bad and it's definitely not the inhabitants fault (I met people who wash (or rinse) their trash before they send it out), but it is disgusting. That and the water pressure can be an issue as can mold, but then you have extremely healthy food at corner stores, a rather friendly, Christian disposition in many people. There's definitely an outward vapidness, but there's something underlying that.
Fascinating account of Seoul. My husband described South Korea as Spicy Japan after our visit.
I highly recommend the TV series Mr Sunshine. A wonderful historical drama with a lot of humor, great characters and scenery set at the beginning of the 20th century with tension between Japan and Korea and USA.
Regarding footnote 3. I wonder if one difference is that Japan was not colonized or conquered by anyone. Yes they lost WW2, but they didn't see conquerors trying to impose their culture on them and destroying most of the Japanese one. Sure they stopped the "Emperor is God" thing and state shinto, but the Emperor survived as did shinto. Plus by 1940 Japan had already industrialized and gone from samurai mercantilism to something closer to Western industrial democracy.
Now why the Americans and Europeans didn't try colonizing Japan in the mid 1800s is a whole different question. I'm not sure what the answer is, but it seems like it is a good question to ask. It wasn't that the "great powers" didn't project force and dare to slap down rogue daimyos who shot at their ships, but they never went beyond that.
Korea on the other hand made the strategic error of cozying up to the decaying Chinese Empire which couldn't defend itself, let alone Korea. Indeed part of the Sino-Japanese ware of 1895 was Japan trying to stop Russia from taking a chunk of Korea as well as Northern China. You can argue (many do) that Japan had no business fretting about Korea or China and what Russia and co were doing, but the result was that Korea ended up being fought over in 1895, 1904 and then again in the 1940s/50s after 4 decades of attempted Japanification.
What a great primer on a city, country, and culture. Cheers.