Ego Libre

I know this is a cheap pun, but actually Seoul - the Soul of Asia is the official tag-line of this city. I must admit I am quite perplexed and amazed by this place. First, Korea is much more different from Japan than I though before coming here. Second, it is more exciting than I thought as well.

Since I have been studying Chinese and Japanese culture and history, I did not pay too much attention to Korea until it started to come up as a sore point, kind of a hole in knowledge between the two big brothers. And funny enough, that’s how Korean’s see themselves as well. And at the same time, people who visit must be struck by the differences between the two. Since I have most experience visiting big cities, I will make a comparison to those: Seoul is half way between Tokyo and Shanghai.

Now this might be an ambiguous statement even for people who have visited both and depending on you being a China hand or Japan hand you might interpret it in your own, but I just feel that both culturally and economically this place is somewhere half way in between. And before some of the Koreans I know will start bombarding me for this statement, I do not mean half way as in a compromise and not having a soul (pun NOT intended of its own. I just feel that Korea with its distinctive culture lies in between the two opposites. It makes sense both historically and geographically, but still it is surprising to see.

I will give you a simplified example of what I mean. I know that this is blunt generalization and is not valid in any scientific sense, but to me it makes things easier to comprehend and hopefully so will it to you. The difference can be seen how people behave in public transportation.

When you ride a subway in Tokyo no one will ever bother you. In fact people will be so quiet and distant that some people describe them as zombies. They will not even talk on the phone when in train and no one will initiate a conversation with a stranger. Even though the trains are full, people still get in and out quite orderly and politely.

In Shanghai getting into a train is a real battle. People fight and struggle to get through and win the seats. Once you are in, mobile phones will ring so loudly that you thing you suddenly entered a club playing click house in its peak. Then people will FINALLY pick up the phone and start talking. While observing all that a children might crawl on the floor and beg for money. That is Shanghai (as well as sky-scrapers, booming economy, businessmen in Prada suits etc.)

In Seoul it is half way in between. People in subways are lively and chatty. They do not refrain from speaking on the phone, but seem to limit the level of loudness. And when someone approaches you, it is not a beggar, but a Christian woman asking for donation for needy.

Now you might see what I mean. Please do not get me wrong. I am potentially capable living in all three cities. They are interesting and annoying in about the same amount. (Still my chart would be Tokyo, Seoul, Shanghai so far…).

While I am doing the generalizations, let’s recount another story that amazed me in Seoul. Yesterday I was sitting in a bus trying to desperately figure out where I am. That is not true. Inside I was trying to desperately find out, but my ego did not let this show and I was playing my usual confident cool. Suddenly a young guy asked me in perfect English where am I going and when I told him he went to the bus driver and asked him to stop there. Now that’s something that has not happened to me in Tokyo (at least coming from a Japanese).

Then I started to wander the streets looking for the hotel where I made the reservation. I was encountered by three drunk businessmen who tried to help me. They did not know the address and obviously the phone number I wrote down was missing one last digit. So they simply tried calling all the numbers from 0 to 9 to find out which one was it so the hotel could give them directions where should they take me (it was number 2, so it did not take so long, but still…

Again, these stories run surprisingly counter to what I heard from Koreans themselves describing their own country. A feature high on the list is the fact that they do not like foreigners and that expatriates in Seoul have a hard time.

And final observation confirmed (and partly created with help) by my friend Yeji is that Koreans all look the same. Of course this is a generalization again, but if you were to gather hundred Japanese and hundred Koreans, the chances are that both physical features and clothing styles will resemble each other in case of Koreans, while in case of Japanese you would find always groups that resemble each other, but which are very different from each other.

In any case, Korea fascinates me. If you think Japan is weird, go to Korea and try popcorn tasting tea. And final note on fascination - Hangul. I am amazed by the sheer geniality of this script. I have spent one hour learning it and I could already read maybe 10% of the letters. It is absolutely ingenious. I believe that after 3 days, anyone can learn it. Of course Korean language is much more complicated than that, but I want to study Hangul just for the beautiful simplicity of it.

I am sorry that I have to leave tomorrow, Korea really got to me. I know I have to come back here for holiday one day, at least a week, possible two to be able to go to Pusan and Jeju as well. It feels like Korea is the forgotten destination in Asia. And yet it has so much to offer. It is more Asian than Japan in many ways and more western than China. I really think that in some way or the other Seoul has all the ingredients to cook the soul of Asia.

All things come to an end. The good, the bad even the ugly. I have left Japan today. It’s a strange feeling, I am neither happy or sad. I feel it was time to leave, but of course I feel sorry for leaving my friends behind. But that’s the way life is. C’est la vie if you are French, Shiyou ga nai, if you are Japanese.

I will wait a few days before I start thinking what do I think of Japan now that I have spent some considerable time there. I want my judgment to be as objective as possible and I feel that next two weeks will help me understand Japan and Asia even better.

I took a flight from Nagoya to Seoul today embarking on a tedious journey, visiting 10 airports in 12 days and traveling throughout the major cities and hubs of South-Eastern Asia. In two days I will move to Taipei, then Hong Kong and Singapore before returning to Czech (or more precisely before returning to Denmark).

I think that this is a unique opportunity to learn what differences are there between the major industrialized hubs in Asia and I would like to share this reflections with you. So keep tuned.

Today, I have exchanged 60.000 Japanese Yen and got 140.000 Korean Won, 5.000 Taiwan Dollars, 560 Hong Kong Dollars and 120 Singapore Dollars. My valet looks like a treasure chest of a pilling pirate, but it makes me feel like a serious traveller

Now, if you will excuse me, I will go back to watching a fascinating live coverage of Starcraft tournament broadcasted in TV. I even have two channels showing Starcraft to chose from. I already feel that there are some differences between Korea and Japan

No excuses. I am still busy. Sometimes moving out of the country is even more complicated then getting in. Japan is surely the case. But during my last visit to Shinjuku town-hall (Shinjuku is central part of Tokyo), I saw a pamphlet and a link to an interesting video called “Would you survive?”. In the light of recent earthquake in Niigata that damaged the nuclear power-plant, the answer is probably no, but if you have nothing better to do, please go and see the video. Earthquakes will never be the same This goes especially to people who are about to visit Japan. The first earthquake freaks everyone out and frankly, this video is not helping

So I have to go back to packing (hoping that in my last five days in Japan no major earthquake will hit Shinjuku) and you can ask ourself: Would you survive?

I have heard some complaints about the frequency of posts, but then again I never have been good at these things No, seriously, lately I have been way too busy even to sleep more then 6 hours a day not to mention to find time to post articles. Hopefully things will get better once I finish school in Japan, but then there will be other stuff for sure. There always is. Anyways, besides working on serious projects, I also have to do some lighter stuff - like this animation intended for my Japanese class. Don’t laugh, it was my first attempt on such a thing It consist of more than 3000 shots taken on my Nikon D50. The story is a slight parody of the Japanese fairy-tale about Momotarou - the peach boy. Except that in our case it is Momoyarou - the peach bastard.
Alright, enjoy and hopefully soon I will be back with some more serious or relevant stuff