Dramabeans » Korean culture

Happy Chuseok weekend

javabeans — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 21:00:05 +0000

Geez, how fast time flies — I can’t believe it’s been nearly a full year since the previous Chuseok, or Korean Thanksgiving, which is among the biggest holidays of the year.

The actual day falls on Sunday, but the holiday weekend kicks off today, which means lots of traditional Korean foods and desserts (like the customary rice-cake songpyun), special holiday television programming (movies, family-friendly fare), and yes, lots and lots of hanboks. Particularly, stars dressing up to wish people a happy holiday.

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Behold the power of Yonsama

javabeans — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 23:00:07 +0000

Oh, brother.

The current dispute between Japan and Korea over the naming of Dokdo (Korean name), aka Takeshima (Japanese), aka the Liancourt Rocks (American) has spilled over into Bae Yong-joon, aka Yonsama, issues.

There are a bunch of bloggers who’ve already covered the Dokdo-Takeshima dispute, but those tend to get pretty heated and/or biased, so here are a couple of more neutral articles from BBC News instead. The articles are a few years old, but as you can see the issues haven’t changed much (or at all) in the interim.

Anyway. Suffice to say that Dokdo-Takeshima is a touchy subject, with the Korean perspective characterized by overreaction and oversensitivity and the Japanese often characterized by a dismissive, “Oh the occupation was ages ago, why can’t Korea just forget about it?”

Apparently, after the magazine Lady Kyung-hang published an interview with Bae in their July issue, letters started trickling in from Japanese fans, “written very courteously,” expressing an apologetic sentiment over the “difficult situation” with Dokdo and offering their wishes for a positive resolution of the issue. According to the magazine, “Above all, they were very careful in explaining their hope that Bae Yong-joon would not be hurt over this incident.” There were even some who added, “Dokdo is Korea’s land! Long live Bae Yong-joon.”

For instance, “Iwate in Tokyo” wrote a letter saying, “In the past, I wouldn’t have been very interested in this [Dokdo] matter, but after being introduced to Yong-joon sshi, any news that mentions the word ‘Korea’ has me stop what I’m doing and perk up my ears. Whenever news like this arises, I feel my heart sink. Not all of Japan believes Dokdo to be their land. I wish to apologize in place of our politicians.” After more apologies, the letter closed, “It makes me sad that our countries would be further distanced by one small island. I wanted to make sure to express these feelings to other Korean people.”

Another letter titled “I don’t know anything” by someone named Kitajima Tokio went, “I hope that Japan would reflect upon its past actions with humility and wisdom and advance together with Korea.”

Well, it’s said that Winter Sonata did more to ease relations between Japan and Korea than any recent political act, so maybe Yonsama does deserve credit.

Via Chosun.com

SONG OF THE DAY

The The – “독도… 대한민국의 땅” (Dokdo is Korea’s Land). For having such a potentially inflammatory title, it’s a pretty nice song. [ Download ]

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Post tags: Bae Yong-joon, Korean culture

Extending the Choi family line

javabeans — Sat, 31 May 2008 19:31:36 +0000

Veteran actress Choi Jin Shil (40) (most recently of the romantic comedy/family drama The Last Scandal of My Life) — whom I love and have thought was adorable since I first saw her act in Jealousy in 1992 — has been granted the right to legally change her two children’s surnames from that of her ex-husband to her own. While this isn’t necessarily a rare occurrence, it’s a formerly impossible but now growing practice in a society that until very recently was strict in its application of Family Registry Law (the patriarchal system requiring children to be registered under the father’s name). (Women keep their names upon marriage in Korea, which I used to think was oddly forward-thinking, but which I’m now inclined to believe has more to do with keeping a woman as an outsider when she marries into her husband’s family.)

Following Choi Jin Shil’s 2004 divorce from baseball player Jo Sung Min, her 7-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter will take her surname Choi. The court granted permission saying they based the decision on the fact that she’s been the childrearing parent for the past four years.

Choi explained she doesn’t intend to remarry, but as her ex-husband has remarried and she wants to live her own life, she wanted to her children to proudly bear her family name. (Apparently the kids didn’t see the occasion as a big deal; when she told them of the name change issue, they were expecting it as an obvious outcome.)

According to the article, 80% of applicants in cases like this involve divorced women who want to remarry, whose children will take on the last name of their stepfather. Those who intend to raise their children as single mothers make up the other 20%. A source with the court explained that in cases like Choi’s, the name change isn’t made to sever ties with the children’s biological fathers, but in affirmation of the care their mother has provided and an assurance of that relationship. (In ye olden days, the rigidity of Confucian-based values favored men and gave many women the shaft in regards to family relationships, their children and custody. Recent law changes are expanding women’s rights and giving them more freedom, although the changes are still new and the shifts bound to be gradual.)

Via Joins.com

SONG OF THE DAY

Peppertones – “Diamonds” [ Download ]

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The Last Scandal of My Life

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Post tags: Choi Jin-shil, Korean culture

Mad as hell over mad cow

javabeans — Sun, 18 May 2008 15:00:15 +0000

Thirty thousand citizens gather for the “Candlelight Vigil Protesting U.S. Beef Imports.” Some sentiments:

“I’m not anti-American. I wear Nike shoes, Adidas tees, and I eat McDonalds. But having been called a red Commie, I came out.”

“I came because President Lee Myung Bak isn’t doing the right thing.”

Celebrities in attendance included singer Lee Seung Hwan, rock musician Yoon Do Hyun, singer Kim Jang Hoon, the band Black Hole, actress Kim Bu Seon. May 17, Seoul.

Modernizing the hanbok

javabeans — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 02:26:05 +0000

I don’t really care about fashion much, and I don’t blog about it, but I saw various mentions on the interwebs of Canadian actress Sandra Oh’s above tribute to the hanbok, or traditional Korean dress, which she wore to the SAG awards earlier this week. The look was deemed worthy fodder for fugging on Go Fug Yourself (here it is again on Chosun daily).

The Fug Girls did backpedal from their scorn when they realized her dress was a take on a national costume; they were probably afraid of seeming culturally insensitive or ignorant or whatever. I don’t think the dress is ugly, but it’s not really all that interesting either — neither as a gown in and of itself, nor as an innovative new take on the hanbok. It’s just so LITERAL. There are ways to modernize the hanbok more cleverly. Making the bow really really big isn’t the only way to make something seem fashion-forward. And there are Korean designers doing it better. See what I mean after the jump.

SONG OF THE DAY

Sorea – “사랑바라기” (wishing for love), from the soundtrack for drama series Goong S.
[ zShare download ]

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Post tags: fashion, hanboks, Korean culture

Korea just got a little pornier

javabeans — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 16:14:33 +0000

Newsen reports that Penthouse is coming to Korea. Porn lovers rejoice!

Penthouse Media Group has made a contract to enter into an exclusive license with Korea’s own adult media corporation, N Tree Media. This new media enterprise between the two groups marks a first step in advancing into the large potential Asian adult entertainment market, as a stepping stone to advancing into China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, and Malaysia.

The licensing agreement will span both on- and offline spheres, joining with Penthouse Group to franchise its merchandising, which includes broadcast entertainment, lingerie, jewelry and other items, in addition to adult movies and photos.

Personally, I’d thought Korea was doing just fine manufacturing its own pornography without the Americans lending a hand (insert immature snicker here), but apparently that’s not the case. What good is it being the world’s most wired society and the “bandwidth capital of the world” if you can’t get your porn the new old-fashioned way — through the interwebs?

SONG OF THE DAY

Tim – “사랑한 만큼” (as much as I love you), from his latest (fourth) album. The title comes from the lyrics, which say, “Please don’t worry about me… I’ll forget about you… It’ll just hurt me as much as I love you” (meaning the intensity of his pain is equal to his love). [ zShare download ]

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Just a quickie…

Just a quickie…

javabeans — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 23:58:16 +0000

…cuz it’s funny, even if it’s in an I-feel-guilty-for-laughing sort of way.

South Korea’s hosting an international condom conference this week on Jeju Island, in attendance by the world’s top condom experts (and no, that’s not a euphemism for the everyman, although it should be).

Two interesting points: they’ve concluded that condom sizing matters, ergo South Korea (and the world) needs more size varieties; and apparently South Korean men’s penises are growing!

Now they’ll be able to join the rest of the world at the grown-up condom table (ew, bad analogy; abort metaphor, abort!; oh no, even worse accidental metaphor; I’ll just stop now) and actually wear the damn things instead of going without because they just don’t fit right.

Furthermore:

Innovation for male condoms has focused on adding textures to enhance sexual pleasure, or offering different colors or lubricants. At the meeting, South Korean manufacturer Unidus displayed its “Long-Love” condom — featuring desensitizing cream inside to prevent premature ejaculation so men “make a lasting impression.”

So not only are they small, but they’re, um, non-lasting in impression? Now there’s a backhanded way to frame positive news, huh?

And in a totally unrelated bit, did you know there are such things as condom dresses? Or, as they’re referred to, condom couture. I’m not sure how I feel about this.