Korea: a land of discovery

We are amidst strange beings, in a strange land.

I'm spending this vacation break working, travelling, and generally rocking it out in the Republic of Korea. As I'm nearing the end of my internship period and the majority of my trip, I've decided to take some time out to write about this amazing country.

Out of the cities I’ve been so far (note that I’ve still a couple of weeks to go in Seoul following the post of this entry), Busan has definitely been the city that left the deepest impression on me. The wide walkways to the beach, the numerous beachfront chillax spots, downtown clubs, and the laid-back atmosphere coupled with beautiful people has made it my favourite city in Asia so far, sorry Shanghai! This isn’t to say that Seoul has been boring at all however. Although a bit more strung-up, areas such as Hongdae possess a permanent alternative and fresh vibe that permeates from the classiest galleries to the most seedy-looking clubs. Speaking of clubs, many offer free entrance to foreigners, though the quality of the club and clientele vary.

Speaking of strung up,Koreans work way too hard. They get up relatively early and end work in the late-evening hours. This doesn’t mean that the whole process is all work though, a lot of it is idling or “busywork”, where an employee simply sits and does random small tasks with generous breaks to pass the time. Asia is all about appearances, and it’s no exception here: you have to show your seniors an appearance of “busyness”. As a result, you’ll often see working-age couples out and about way after dark, as well as early burnout and relatively high self-harm rates. I keep saying to my friends here “You’ve an amazing country but no time to enjoy it”. I’ve yet to receive a protest.

I believe in travelling to see the people rather than the sights, as it is the people that are the molded products of the local culture, making them infinitely more interesting and beautiful than static sights. I would describe the Korean people as hospitable, hard-working, and friendly.  Korean people tend to be a bit more reserved than the Chinese, but once you break the ice (usually with alcohol), you’ll find them full of surprises and of course full of local knowledge of the best party spots like no guide would ever share with you. As with all of Asia you encounter a bit of xenophobia, but this is generally more restricted in Korea to certain groups, and even this is relatively minute. However, don’t expect English to be widely-spoken (I still don’t understand why American tourists I’ve met seem surprised at this). I’m trying to learn Korean and they’ve taken my attempts at the tongue in good stride. So in short, get to know as many as you can!

With your group of friends it’s important to find the right time to go! There are certain periods in Korea that are more packed with festivals than others, which are often fun and a nice break from the standard tourism packages. So grab some buddies and come check out this awesome country, accommodation isn’t expensive, with great places such as the LZone in Busan as well as SBC and Kimchee Guesthouse in Seoul .(http://www.kimcheeguesthouse.com/).

Follow-up reviews by the end of the trip!

Conformity

Is it right to travel the harder, less travelled road in order to fulfill your dreams? If it causes suffering to yourself and those around you, Is it still the right thing to do? I know that so far in my life, I’ve relented to taking the easier path, I’m studying a subject I don’t feel passionate about, and seem to be following thousands of others into the meat grinder of work life. Perhaps such is the tragedy of middle class life.

If regrets and hard choices apply to one’s career, do they apply to your personal life as well? The popular drama, “Reply 1997”, summarized it well in following line:

“Do not pick the dream that you want, but the dream that is easiest to pursue. Do not the pursue the love that you desire, but love the person who loves you, as it is safer”

Is this the way to think, and if so, how does one end up adopting this mentality? From what I’ve seen and experienced, it feels like unrequited love holds the largest share in romantic love (after all, the entire Asian drama industry relies on the phenomenon to sell their shows to their audiences). Having been on both the giving and receiving end of this source of frustration, I find it difficult to accept the compromise stated above. 

Even if you do choose the person who cares for you, how do you force yourself to love them?  How do you stop yourself from having second thoughts or doubts? How do you pour everything you have into that one person and not regret it later on? I remember watching the teaser trailer for 2AM’s “You Wouldn’t Answer My Calls”, where several female celebrities were asked about their opinions towards break up. I’ve included the link to the video below as it’s quite thought provoking, but Ballerina Kim Ye Na probably put it best:

“Now that I’ve gone through a couple of heartbreaks, I am more frightened of ruining everything than losing my one true love”

This compromise, hence, might stem from societal and peer pressure, especially in Oriental countries, where marriage is viewed with upmost importance and seen as the foundations to the revered family unit. Ironically, despite this need to conform, the various mediums in Asian pop-culture continue to portray “true love” as the only kind worth pursuing, even if it does lead to bittersweet endings (or cancer, in the case of Korean ones).

Why hence, does society encourage us to hurt ourselves, to conform, yet grant us sources of individualism? Perhaps it links back to the allegory of the cave by the philosopher Plato; these mediums exist to help us fulfill our needs, to give us the illusion of freedom of choice in the pursuit of love, while depriving us of the energy to actually break away and follow our hearts.  Perhaps, as I mentioned above, this links back to the idea of “face”: we feel a need to project an image of ourselves to others that is “ideal”, which might include a healthy, long-term relationship, even if it is at its root, a lie.

2AM "Her Story" / http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tU69xFqLKoc

Blog Restart, Repurpose, and Reflection

(It's been a very long time since I've posted anything in this blog, but I felt that the blog itself was empty, uninteresting, and uninspiring to both me and readers. I've hence decided to revitalize it as a blog more concerned with my thoughts (think of it as a public diary if you will). Anyhow, onto today's topic:)

 Relationships, Effort, and Distance

 As someone who moved to study in the UK a couple of years back, and who doesn't spend many summers here in Finland anymore, I've watched how I've made new friends, lost contact with old ones, reconnected with a few old friends, removing others from my life. The process is painful and frustrating: I guess you could compare it to growing a bunch of saplings, and failing to invest enough time to care for each one as the number of saplings grow, resulting in some dying of thirst.

 This past summer, I've tried my best to mend some of these broken connections, but now I wonder, should one even try? The time spent away from your friends back home creates a gap between you and them, while the fact that the rapid pressure to mature up while abroad will probably change you. Your old pals evolve too, and naturally find new circles, different interests, while you slowly lose touch with each other.Japanese animation director called the speed at which people move away from each other emotionally to be at 5 centimeters per second. Multiply that by 18 months, and add the physical distance, and you've got yourself quite a big chasm to get across.

 Even the new friendships that you make back home can't be properly established as you're only around for a couple of months before moving back to a completely different environment. Yet even with these tattered remains, I still feel that I can truly be myself back home: the relaxed, down-to-earth, and honest manner that epitomizes Finnish society is something that I really miss abroad. I won't deny that I've had more moments of regret than I'd care to have, but now that I'm older, I realize that I must live with my decisions and make the most out of them.

That's all for today, folks, this won't be a regular thing anymore, but we'll see how it goes.

Artist's Corner (Week 41): Uverworld!

The other day, I realized that I had been tagging these AC's with "Asian Music", and yet have only blogged about Kpop (Yes it took me 3 months to realize it :D), but that changes today with our first Japanese showcase (and prolly one of my favourite bands of all time): Uverworld!

Uverworld is a 5-member Jrock band who are probably one of the most popular non-idol groups in Japan today. The 5-member-group (consisting of vocalist and rapper Tatsuya, Katsuya, Shintaro, Akira, and Nobuto) has achieved nationwide success and limited international success ever since they rocketed to mainstream fandom through their hit single "D-technolife"- an opening for the animation Bleach.

Though they've done openings for Bleach, Gundam 00 and blood+, most of their music is very alternative and varied- from pop-rock songs to techno-infested tracks, to touching piano-versed ballads. Uverworld has frequently released demo, alpha, and remix tracks, and have successfully shown to be a multi-edged and multi-talented group.

Through the release of their "Neo Sound BEST" album, which is a collection of their greatest hits, never before has Uverworld been so accessible to the millions of potential fans out there, so check them out! The great thing about this band is that their musical style is so varied that everyone will definitely find a track that they'll love.

Koishikute- http://tegoshilovergyal.multiply.com/video/item/165/PV_UVERworld_-_Koishikute

Kimi no suki na uta- http://tu.tv/videos/uverworld-kimi-no-suki-na-uta-pv

Kanashimi wa kitto -http://video.nate.com/210450300

Arist's Corner (Week 39): BEAST

BEAST.... IS BEST.

A group with a motto like that cannot suck, and BEAST (or Boys of the EAst Standing Tall; B2ST) does not dissapoint. While the group is relatively young, formed only in late 2009 under Cube entertainment (alongside labelmate 4minute). Because of their close relationship, BEAST regularly appears in 4minute's songs and videos.

The group consists of Doo Joon, Hyun Seung, Ki Kwang, Jun Hyung, Yon Seob and Dong Woon. The group is known for having experienced members: of special note are members Hyun Seung (Former Big Bang member), Jun Hyung (former XING member), and Ki Kwang (who had previously debuted as solo singer AJ). Most of the members have also been Ki Kwang's backup dancers during his days as AJ- something he still feels guilty about.

Their cheerful image in their debut single Bad Girl later gave way to a more popping and techno-focused gritty image that they exhibited in their single SHOCK of the New Era, followed by a more militaristic and powerful image in their newest single, Mastermind.

These guys definitely give 2pm a run for their money :D

Mastermind - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iReqU4F0OPg&feature=player_embedded

Soom (Breath) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5n8sXkxwsY&feature=player_embedded

SHOCK - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXxGo1MvNls

SHOCK LIVE - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLWuqI0_oUg&feature=related

Beast being cute - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUEDjEbmagM

Ps. Been busy moving to London for uni, so couldn't update (more lame excuses coming up later :D).

Artist's Corner (Week 35): Secret!

This week's star will be... a SECRET! Lol no seriously, it's a rookie group called Secret that consists of 4 members- Zinger, Hyosung, Sunhwa and Ji Eun that has caught the industry by suprise by.... just being awesome (Try making a better explanation). Their first single, "I Want You Back", was met with a lukewarm reception, but with the release of their mini-album "Secret Time" and with lots of TV-appearances they managed to firmly plant themselves into the increasingly saturated korean music scene. Not a lot of music yet from this group, but keep an eye on them!

3 Years and 6 Months- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0Lrb3X9_LI

My Boy- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5V48XY9nAE

Magic- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSS1KsquDHc

And the FUN LINKS (their group name doesnt help finding videos at all, sigh)

Secret and MBLAQ- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=La2U6zb5rt0

Sunhwa and T-aras Hyomin (and Hyuna and friends etc.)- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgY7DEZdi04

Rant No.1- Standoff in Manila

So despite what I promised, I failed to write an entry about the Israeli ship-assault, and to make up for that, I'll mention it in conjunction with this post concerning the freshly "resolved" hostage crisis in the Philippines.

For those who don't know, I present a short summary: earlier today (GMT+2) in Manila, a former police officer in the Philippines police department went nuts and took a bus load of Chinese tourists hostage. Out of the 25 hostages, 10 were released unharmed. During the last hours of the siege, video footage showed a police SWAT team approaching and surrounding the bus and attempting to smash one of the side windows of the bus, to no avail. After a whole hour of trying and failing on live television, they finally managed to get the nutjob, with a deathtoll of 8.

Photos of the events: http://www.chinasmack.com/2010/stories/philippines-hostage-crisis-ends-many-dead-chinese-netizen-reactions.html

Live comments of the events:http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?184862-Breaking-News-Hostage-incident-in-the-Philippines

To get a feeling of the frustration many are feeling, I have taken a few examples from the forum mentioned above:

"Jesus, First time that I can say that airsofters can do better.
God save the hostages."

"The first sign that the hostages was screwed was when their lives was dependent on the Philippine National Police rescue. That is about the most incompetent law enforcement in the planet."

So that's enough of that, you get the picture- let's do a quick analysis on WTF went wrong, shall we?

1. The police had no plan of action: It was like watching the Munich Olympic massacre all over again. The police just surrounded the vehicle.... And fumbled. For an hour.

2. The SWAT-team clearly lacked proper training or experience, almost making the whole rescue operation seem like a hidden-camera joke. Among the many fumbles spotted by Netizens (militaryphotos) include:

-Dropping a riot shield

-Attempting to use sledgehammers on the windows and doors and failing (this may be excusable by itself, but afterwards the police simply retreated and continued to camp outside the bus, during the course of which one more hostage was killed)

-Entering the bus for a moment before jumping right out again.

-Neglecting the use of flashbangs, which have been used in every successful hostage-rescue operation with no hostage casualties.

-And can someone please explain why many of the officers didn't even have bulletproof vests? It was common knowledge at the time that the hostage-taker had an M16 rifle.

How do we explain all of this? Well, by claiming that the Philippines have no experience in dealing with insurgencies is BS, as they've had large numbers of insurgencies, and are currently receiving the largest amount of US-funded training in Asia. Therefore, the only possible culprit is the police force itself.
(http://www.adl.org/terror/tu/tu_0404_philippines.asp).

Every well-trained assault team trains to expect the worst. When the GSG-9 get weapon jams, they switch to their sidearm and drop to a knee, allowing a buddy to open fire. When the SAS find that their sledgehammers don't work, they quickly switch to breaching charges (actually most of the time they'll just use the breaching charge by default). Police SWAT teams in both the US and China drill constantly to do things fast, aggressively, and with momentum, because they know that wasting a single moment (let alone a whole hour) means more dead hostages. Unfourtunately in this incident, the "assault" team did everything in reverse, and in the process became the laughing stock of the whole world. F*cking A'. Next time Manila, get the military to do it.

As for the Israeli operation, everyone who's familiar with helicopter assaults knows that the most important part of an operation is during the fast-roping process, when the team members are most vulnerable. The idea is that one should land the entire team in quick succession into a relatively clear and safe area before going into contact with the enemy. Anyone who's seen the released videos will notice that the Israeli troops are roping straight into angry mobs... Nuff' said.