Korea!!! Nov 15-20, 2007

First my analysis, then a bit more of a narration of my trip. It's a long one so look out!!

Japan Versus Korea: A pretty shallow and uneducated surface analysis
Please excuse the gross assumptions and generalizations. I am just writing my observations for my own reminders of my personal experiences and to share with friends. If you are looking for expert knowledge you will def not find it here so please take everything lightly!

On the train home from the airport in Nagoya I’m very glad to be home in Japan. After living here almost four months now I can finally call it that.
I left for Korea Thursday and returned to Japan Tuesday. In my short visit to Seoul, South Korean countryside, and North Korea, I took note of various things. Keep in mind, also living in Japan as my first Asian country has definitely made my biased towards what I think is normal in Asia too.

In general, I find Japanese people much more quiet, reserved, and willing to help foreigners. Etiquette is huge and as a whole, they are EXTREMELY polite! In Korea on the other hand, attitudes and impressions slightly differ. Sandi and I had several encounters with people being more forward, pushy, and even rude. (From our cultural standpoint of course). Whether it be waiting in lines and suddenly having old ladies shove in front of us as if we weren’t there, or being cut off by Korean tourists when in the middle of a conversation at the information desks, having to fight your way on or off a bus, or general behavior in the onsen/spas, we were continuously shocked by the differences in behavior. On this note, I would like to add that in Korean (as well as Japanese) culture, old people are treated very well as they are highly respected. (And largely it was the elderly women who were ‘enforcing’ their superior position over us unworthy young blonde foreigners. So maybe in their eyes we were the ones being extremely rude by not automatically stumbling over ourselves to become more humble and automatically showing that we were undeserving of our position in the situation). On the other hand, like everywhere, we also did meet genuinely kind people who (potentially because we did look so lost and foreign -did I mention neither Sandi or I knew a word of Korean?) were nothing but helpful to us. (As you can notice I think my mastery of English grammar is slowly slipping away). I’m not sure if I mentioned anywhere in my blog yet my ‘celebrity’ status in Japan. It’s a lot like what I read about before I left—people staring on the street (although you do get used to it) and asking to take pictures with me. I guess it’s just cuz I’m blonde but it still seems bizarre to me, coming from a truly multinational country, that people would want a picture of some random foreigner in their pictures. I get stopped at least once a trip I would say for random pictures with strangers. This trip Sandi and I also had Korean men stop their cars, get out and invite us to come with them for drinks. (This is where Japan is different, they are not quite as forward like that usually). We also had a man on the bus (who was probably very nice but too old) practically beg us to go out for lunch/dinner with him or let him take us to our hotel—this is where the yes it is nice but way too creepy factor came in. Don’t worry! We were good! Don’t go with strangers—lesson learned in elementary! : )


In terms of fashion, we noticed that Japanese people have much more detailed, accessorized looks to their outfits- even in the inaka. They also wear more stylized hairdos (ie clips, curls etc) while Koreans looks seemed to reflect a preference towards flat hair or simply have it pulled off their face (rarely fringe or decorations). The clothing styles (especially shoes) were notably different too and soon became one of the main ways that Sandi and I could first decipher who was Japanese versus Korean.
The thing that I was most glad to be leaving behind in Korea was the stench of kim-chi everywhere. Perhaps it is an acquired taste but for me, I think I’ll pass for a little longer and see if maybe in a year my taste buds have changed. Korean food is quite difference from Japanese food. It is much more spicy too! I’m still getting used to eating foods in both Asian countries’ traditional breakfasts that are very non-traditional for Westerners to eat in the morning. Each day soup, rice, some sort of pickled veggies, tofu and seafood morcels are just not quite working for me as replacements for cereal and yoghurt. At least food is decently priced though! In either country a typical full meal you can purchase for about USD$10. Ooh and fruit in Korea is so much more reasonably priced!
Moving on, speaking of foreign smells, I noticed an overwhelming odor in some Korean washrooms. Because of their sewer systems, you should not put toilet paper down the toilet, but instead must always throw it in the waste pail in front of you in the stall. It is understandable since the sewage problem really was an issue, but the resulting smell from the sometimes overflowing garbages full of used toilet paper=- and I mean very used complete with all of the loveliness that you could expect to find in a women’s washroom that should have been flushed down the toilet in most cases. Eww is all I am going to say on that one. It was quite the relief to find the sign in Nagoya airport indicating which disposables should be placed where (in the traditional flush the toilet paper down the toilet fashion.). Anyways yes I guess I should get off of my washroom rant soon.

So on to transportation. I think it’s quite comparable to Japan and miles ahead of Canada. Both Japan and South Korea have very extensive public transit systems that go anywhere and are always on time! They also have wonderful services online and through people to help you navigate through the subways and busses ahead of time. So lovely! I often think of how much more difficult it would be to freely tour Canada without arranging an organized tour or having to rent a car. I don’t feel qualified to compare landscapes too much , but when I was in Korea everything was brown and autumn was well on its way to becoming winter. Japan on the other hand is still green and so has many more aesthetic charms about it at the moment. I think Japan also has more beautification projects underway as they seem to fill many roadsides/hills with some design or decoration, where as I didn’t notice anything similar in Korea along the highways. Both places are very clean, despite the lack of garbages (that drives me crazy about Asia!)

Housing in Korea is much more Western than Japan. Although in both country’s major cities there are inevitably rows of mass identical stock apartment complexes, Korean ones were more colorful. Outside of the city core, Japanese homes on the other side are much more distinctly Japanese-traditional styled where as Korean homes shared many more Western looks to them. Ooh and did I mention that Korea has heated floors and beds everywhere! Ahhh that definitely makes me jealous.

Another aspect that Sandi and I discussed was which country was more Westernized as a whole. We noticed more white people and English language used on Korean commercials, advertisements, and television, but also found it more difficult to find English romanji signs and people to speak English with us in many Korean places. For us tourists, this is pretty important as everyone knows our Korean is not quite up to par (aka non-existent). How lucky are we that we speak English as our native language and have most countries in the world learning it as a second language! It gives us travelers so many more opportunities! I thought about commenting on my observations regarding friendliness and people talking to us, but it is very hard to compare because we were in different circumstances in each country.. but… well no I can’t make any assertion but I just really appreciate how friendly so many people are to us obvious foreigners.


Few things I loved when first returning to Japan
-Bowing: Oh how I missed it! Along with “dozo”- my translation: after you, go ahead please! So polite! I wonder how I will feel when I go home for Christmas after living here for 6 months…
- Toilet sign in Nagoya airport—I already talked about it but yes, just happy. Haha you guys know I really do have a fascination with toilets, and when Sandi and I were driving to the airport in Seoul we saw a sign welcoming the International World Toilet Association Conference. Haha too funny!
-No kimchi smell or smoking! I know that Japan has it’s fair share of, um interesting smells and I’m sure the Tokyo fish market ranks up there pretty high, but in general there’s not as much smoking in restaurants I have found and to be free from the constant kim chi smell- funky spicy cabbage thing for those who don’t know, was quite the relief!

Don’t get me wrong, I had a wonderful time, and loved my surface exploring of an obviously cultured country, but for now I’ll stick with Japan! Yeah JET!


Well I just realized I finished my bit of analysis between South Korea and Japan but didn’t mention anything about the trip itself really! The real reason we were going… the trip to North Korea! Woot Woot!!

Being the Social Studies geek I am, of course I have a fascination with North Korea and the way the country is run. When I found out we could go into the country with a tour—even past the DMZ I was totally in!

So we flew into Incheon airport, a really cool futuristic place built on its own island that also has an accompanying nearby airport town (complete with a Korean spa which of course Sandi and I had to visit!) On Friday morning we got up from our hotel in airport town and headed to Seoul city where we encountered many many many South Korean soldiers. It was really intimidating at first, but everything turned out ok. I think they were just down for the weekend away from training duties, but just soo many men in uniforms and half with guns was quite a shock—and we were still well into SOUTH Korea! We kept thinking—uh ohhhh what are we getting ourselves into!? Sandi and I took a 3 hour bus ride to the eastern coast of South Korea (on a bus where there were only about 4 other people who were not wearing army uniforms) and arrived in the town near the North-South border where we would start our tour. It was a little scary getting off the bus in the middle of nowhere—to a bus depot that was closed—with few lights anywhere—not knowing the language or having Korean cell phones (luckily my Japanese one occasionally got service). But Sandi and I are great body language communicators and approached the other civilians who got off the bus with us and called our tour guide in Seoul who was supposed to have a car waiting for us at the bus stop. Interesting start to our adventure we decided. Soon though, a man was there to pick us up, who took us to an endearing little condo right on the sea. We could see the ocean from our room- ah if only it wasn’t so late (the sun sets soo early here—I wish they would adopt daylight savings!).
Anyways Saturday morning Sandi and I met up with the only two other English people on the whole tour, who were two sisters from Australia. They were really fun and so helpful too since one of them was in Korea on a University study exchange and knew a bit of Korean. We passed through all the checkpoints and slowly made our way to the final border and immigration into North Korea in the early morning. We were quite wary at first, as we just found this tour on the internet, and everyone knows North Korea is not exactly the best of allies with North America and little blonde white girls who cannot understand what they are saying. But in the end, we were quite relieved as there were about 25 busses each with about 40 people on them who were going with our tour to an area which we found out later was heavily fortified in order to be a Tourist Only Zone. It was basically built up by South Korea and was comparably very safe. Although, that being said, it still showed signs that a whole different world was not that far away.
We entered the DMZ (demilitarized zone of 4kms between the North and South borders) along a road near the ocean where we could see barbed wire along all of the beaches and alongside the road on either side. This barbed wire continued throughout the rest of the tour alongside the road, accompanied by numerous guards and gates.
Our tour was to explore North Korea and all of its beauties by hiking up the mountains and visiting selective sites. The tourist only zone included a lake which used to be a date spot for lovers, then was turned into a meeting spot for families to have 3 days together to reunite after the country was divided, and now is only for tourists and North Koreans even in the town can’t access at all. Also in the tourist zone is the mountain we climbed Mt Kumgang (the Grand Canyon of North Korea), Onjeonggak town (which means Hot Spring House) and its accompanying hotspring, and an acrobatic show to impress the tourists. The town was about 15 or 20 minutes by car into North Korea from the immigration area on the border. I learned that there are only about 3 entry points throughout North Korea that outsiders are allowed in. This is the only one with a special designated tourist zone.
In order to go on our tour we had to submit documents weeks in advance (pictures, application info, copies of passport etc). The tour company then set up our Visas that allowed us to go on the organized tour with minders and restrictions on our mobility. I would’ve loved to explore more of the real North Korea but getting access is very difficult and even more dangerous so for the time being our tour that gave us only a glimpse into the country had to suffice. Some of the rules about the tour included restrictions about what we could bring into the country. These included: no cell phones or cell phone chargers, no GPS, no binoculars with certain amount of zoom, no inappropriate literature or any literature to share with others (political, religious, including no magazines, newspapers or detailed maps etc). Cameras were allowed if their zoom was minimal which luckily mine was as well as Sandi’s personal video camera, but what we were allowed to film was very limited. We were not allowed to take any pictures of North Koreans or pictures that even had North Koreans or their daily lifestyle/home/buildings in the background. North Koreans posing as civilians (but distinguishable by their pin of the Great Leader of course) would inspect to make sure that rules were being followed and Sandi and I had to delete pictures and video even when something inappropriate got in by accident. Another limiting rule was that we were only allowed to take pictures in certain designated areas and absolutely no pictures were to be taken from the bus. This meant pretty much limiting us to the things they wanted us to show when we went back home—nice scenery, fake built up tourist zones only and their images that would portray North Korea favorably to the outside world. It was so difficult for me not to take pics of the things I really wanted to capture—like the soldiers standing on the hills, and the homes, and the people in the field etc. More rules included no talking to North Koreans unless they initiate the conversation and that we could not talk about sensitive issues like politics, religion, or the outside world really. We were always being monitored. We were even warned that places may be bugged such as restaurants, our hotel room etc so don’t say/do anything you wouldn’t want a North Korean official to hear or see.
Anyways, so back to everything. We entered North Korea and Sandi and I felt like refugees (or maybe more like cattle) for the first time in our lives… hoping we would get in, practicing what to say to the guards, triple checking our paperwork, waiting endlessly in line (haha very similar to on the way out hoping everything would check out too!). There were guards everywhere and a big photo of the Great Leader and music playing out of the speakers on repeat which apparently was welcoming us and saying nice to meet you (translated by a Korean on the tour with us). Sandi and I originally chose to interpret the folk song as some hailing of their great leaders still. It was awesome. So out of a movie! And the lady singing the song sounded like Glinda off of the Wizard of Oz. Such a funny voice—even when she spoke later at the acrobatic show. We got a kick out of it and are currently searching for it online (you know that North Korean civilians don’t get have access to the internet right?).
We passed through immigration and were herded back onto the bus. Constantly reminded not to take any pictures! We soon arrived in the town in the tourist zone and were told to change all of our money into American dollars (ironic no?) as South Korean won was only sometimes accepted in the places we would visit. The tourist zone was quite like what you would expect for a tourist area, but there were always signs that would remind you that you are actually in the dictatorship of North Korea. Even the tv and music we were exposed to were from South Korea (I was quite disappointed as I was really looking forward to watching North Korean Tv—but I suppose I understand that they don’t want us seeing it.) The Tourist Area is fenced off from the neighboring North Korean village of On Jung Li and was created at the cost of tearing down an entire village and displacing its residents. According to an article I found, “Hyundai Asan, an offshoot of the Korean car company, built the resort. It paid the North Korean government US$1 billion for 50 years of exclusive rights to the region and other business interests in North Korea. It spent an additional US$400 million to build the five-hotel resort, which opened in 1998.”

I wish that we could have been on the English tour (we hear they run at least one bus with a fully English guide at least once a month) to get more information, but I suppose we were fortunate enough to get to observe most everything with our own eyes anyways. I suppose the tanks hiding in the bunkers on the hillsides and guards with weapons ready who are holding the red flags that they will hold up if they sense any problems/us taking photos is obvious enough though.
Anyways back to a few more observations. The landscape: lack of trees and much soil depletion. Although apparently the South Korean man who could speak limited English sitting next to me translated that South Korea is now helping North Korea learn some farming techniques and that 20 years ago their landscape looked very similar. The hills were largely bare as they had chopped down many of the trees because Korea is largely still running on burning wood as a source of heat. The area we were in was mountainous and quite pretty minus the brownness and guards everywhere. At every hill, bridge, new ditch, town through road, or entry point you would see armed guards just standing there. We saw very little wildlife or even domesticated animals. I think I saw about four cows in the field and 2 herds of goats—with an actual man with a Sheppard looking pole tending them. We didn’t see a single civilian vehicle. Potentially because they were not allowed near the tourist zone, but I have my doubts at how many vehicles there would be anyways. It’s quite the third world country in places –which is just so unbelievable when you contrast it with South Korea. I say this because we saw what looked like cows pulling wagons and even people, only 2 old tractors in terms of mechanized farming—everything was human hand land labour. A few military jeeps/trucks carried soldiers and vendors working for the tour in them but nearly everyone was walking and maybe ¼ of the people we saw were on bicycles. Also, we observed that our tour bus license plates were covered over with tape or cardboard- still uncertain of the stated reason. I think I was hoping for more huge portraits of their president to be mounted throughout the towns we saw but I suppose not all of my 1984 Big Brother ideas about North Korea were true in the area that we visited at least. After the sun went down and we were driving back to our hotel, you would not even be able to know that there were towns in the places we had observed them earlier that day—there was not a single source of light. It was only about 7 in the evening so we weren’t quite sure where the people would be and how they would cope without light. Past the town we saw 3 soldiers repairing a guard overhang (I think) at the side of the road—almost fully in the dark. I think one guy may have been holding a flashlight (could have even been a candle but I just can’t imagine not even giving the soldiers something better than a candle, so I’m going with flashlight.) As I mentioned earlier we also spotted tanks on the hillsides in bunkers and more tanks pointed out at sea. We got to drive by a school and see some makeshift basketball nets standing up in the courtyard. The kids were cute and waving to us (it was a Sunday and the kids weren’t actually going to school or anything, but they were nearby).
As you can imagine the style is quite different in North Korea (at least from what we could observe.) Think 80’s looking jackets and old shoes. Even comparing with the not always so fashionable parts of South Korea it was quite the step backwards. The housage, signage and road condition comparison I think is just so noticeable when you realize the contrast with South Korea only a few miles away. This is probably the thing that stood out most in my mind. When I think of other nations around the world who are living in similar conditions I think of the geography and wars etc associated with it, but with North Korea it’s so bizarre how two sides of an imaginary (well maybe not so imaginary any more) border can become so different in such a short time period.
One of the highlights about our mountain hike was seeing the massive stone engravings in the sides of the mountains. They were everywhere! Written in Chinese characters mostly they dictated the glory of Kim Jong Il, Kim Il Song, and Kim Jong Su (Kim Jong Il’s wife who is also Kim Il Song’s mother). Another highlight was going to the acrobatic show! It was so awesome to see! The performers were incredibly talented and the costumes were hilarious since they were so old school! I know this blog entry is getting incredibly long so I will try to wrap it up soon. One of the other Asian crazes we got a chance to try in North Korea at the tourist spa was the Dr Fish treatment. Basically you would put your feet/hands/ full naked body if you were brave into a warm water bath filled with hundreds of tiny fish who would then eat off your dead skin. It was such a weird feeling! It tickled so much and was hard to stay still. Eventually I think Sandi and I both enjoyed it and we loved the feeling of our feet afterwards!
Sunday we drove back to South Korea and were warmly welcomed by a South Korean guard on the other side of the border (what a contrast from the North—this one was smiling and waving!) and we felt much better about soldiers than we did when we were first on the bus full of them! It was yet another sign of the differences. Sandi and I were both sad and relieved when we did not receive a stamp from North Korea is our Canadian passports. We did have our own personal North Korea visa/passport but they confiscated that when we left the country. L
In Seoul we did a walking tour and met up with our friendly Aussie friends by chance at a gorgeous palace in the city. We went for lunch with them, did some shopping in Insa-dong and went to the only Starbucks in the world that has a different signage on the outside, walked around the canal, and got a little more shopping done before the snow really came down and limited the rest of our evening. The North Seoul tower was therefore shut and we had to return to our hotel. Our hotel was quite interesting as it seams anything that isn’t crazy expensive is often quite dodgy. This one had a mirror on the ceiling, condoms on the dresser, and a broken (and by that I mean physically broken in half) lamp next to the bed.
All in all we had a fantastic trip but were about ready to return home to Japan. We had a nice warm welcome from Japan as it was the first day of the new immigration security procedures and we had to get fingerprinted and have our pictures taken as all foreigners entering Japan have to do from now on. When we reached the other side of the gate we were met by about 8 government officials and news reporters who interviewed us about what we thought of the new security procedures. We may have also been on national television yesterday! NHK channel! Although I’m not sure for how long, since there were many other foreigners holding large protests in Tokyo yesterday and we weren’t overly opinionated! That’s all for now! 2 days of school and then it’s the weekend again : )