tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36405856.post8796503634566409629..comments2024-03-18T07:07:53.346-04:00Comments on Ask a Korean!: 10 Year Reflections: Korea in the WorldT.K. (Ask a Korean!)http://www.blogger.com/profile/07663422474464557214noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36405856.post-20219183876152763252017-01-27T17:51:29.818-05:002017-01-27T17:51:29.818-05:00... oh, yeah; another thing that made me say that ...... oh, yeah; another thing that made me say that korea is more "chinese" now is the domination of these bakery chains! paris baguette and tous les jours on every block makes me think of the taiwanese bakery chains in taipei, which i'll probably see have now been replaced by the korean brands when i next visit. it honestly disappointed me to see that korean street snacks have gotten more unhealthy. in the past, we'd stop for 팥빙수, 떡볶이, 오뎅, various meats on sticks... but now everything is such gluten, carb, and sugar overload!황명록 beno hwanghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02088076560389211476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36405856.post-23146859690374019832017-01-27T17:37:41.535-05:002017-01-27T17:37:41.535-05:00first off, thank you very much for your keeping up...first off, thank you very much for your keeping up your blog.<br /><br />i visited korea in 1999, 2003, and then 2015. i was kind of shocked in 2015, and you obviously can appreciate the huge difference between 2015 and 1999 especially in terms of the economy. wow! it's so funny that you mentioned that the coffee is a lot better because i definitely noticed that too. on my most recent trip, i got used to ordering 더치 아메리카노, while on my first trip i pretty much gagged on my first taste of korean coffee and questioned if the cafeteria accidentally made some kind of weird tea instead.<br /><br />back in 2015, i summarized my observation of contemporary korean culture as this: korea in 2015 looked like hong kong in 1998. first off, i found korea to be so much more "chinese" now. i mean, part of it was because i was stuck in metropolitan seoul and tourist areas like jeijoodo on this trip, and it was obvious that chinese tourist dollars were worth a lot more than america tourist dollars at this point. however, i felt it had to do with more than just tourist dollar but just increased general business/trade between the countries. also, the current level of spoiledness, opulence, and vanity reminds me what i saw while visiting hong kong back in the 1990s. maybe it's based upon the crowds i hung out with then versus now, but i felt like koreans were "tougher" back when korea was coming out of the imf days. like, another thing i kept having to mention when people would ask me for updates after my last trip was that guys (again, especially in seoul) were now such "pretty boys." again, maybe it's just the different crowds i hung around over the years... like, in the past, i was a taekwondo instructor and hung out with martial artists there, a lot of guys fresh out of the military. now, my wife's all into kpop dance stuff; so, yeah, hanging around those kpop dance studios maybe skewed my observations... i also hung around crossfit gyms and met more guys like ones i hung around in my martial arts days, so i know not everyone has shifted that way.<br /><br />anyway, the world keeps on changing, and i know korean culture will probably change again by the time i visit again.황명록 beno hwanghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02088076560389211476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36405856.post-4278688761869482502017-01-27T09:43:03.725-05:002017-01-27T09:43:03.725-05:00I remember reading an article in the WSJ about 15 ...I remember reading an article in the WSJ about 15 yrs ago that called Korea "the land of quite not right" based on the b-rated goods produced such as electronics, cars, and home appliances. Oh how things change. Make no mistake, like the Chicago Bulls in the 90s, Korea (and Koreanism throughout the world for that matter) is living through its glory days now, with a deep long recession similar to Japan's waiting on the horizon. Immigration is a controversial topic, particularly in countries that values its cultural purity, but it's absolutely critical for any modern nation's future survival. <br /><br />TK, you maintain a kick-ass blog. Peter the Eagles Fanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06992502970689519100noreply@blogger.com