Mark James Russell

Books, blog and other blather

Category: Japan

2016 is winding down

December 16, 2016 / / 0 Comments

Another year is nearly done, and once again I find my life strangely in flux. There’s a new job about to begin in January — in a totally new part of town I’ve never really hung out in before. I think it is a really good-looking job, but I will miss working in the old, run-down Euljiro part of town. It had a lot of ramshackle beauty.

Euljiro3ga-night

Meanwhile, I’m still at work on POP GOES KOREA, 2nd Edition. So much has gone on with Korea’s entertainment scene since the first edition, revising it is turning into a bigger task than I envisioned back in October. But I’m still hoping to get it done in time for the start of the next semester’s classes (for students who might need it as a resource).

Oh, because the weather is so cold at the moment, here are a couple of photos of Okinawa from a recent trip there. Sunny, warm Okinawa…

Okinawa1

Come on in, enjoy the nice warm water. But btw, here is a small list of the local critters that might maim or kill you…

Okinawa2

Oh, but here’s something from the sea that we killed first. Justice!

Okinawa4

 

Monday Morning Links

December 16, 2013 / / 1 Comment
  • North Korean officials in China affiliated with recently-executed Jang Song-thaek are on the run, in hiding. (Korea JoongAng Daily)
  • The distressing state of illegal dog-breeding in Korea — 95% of breeders unlicensed, and most of them are terrible. (Korea JoongAng Daily)
  • Meet Latin America’s Teenage Korean Pop Fanatics. Fun to read about the trend from a non-Korean source. (NPR)
  • Ian Buruma restates his old (and good!) argument that the US presence in East Asia spurs nationalism and instability. But this time, he combines the argument with the dynastic element of East Asian politics, looking at the leaders of Korea, China, and Japan and noting how their policies have been influenced by their fathers (or, in Abe’s case, grandfather). (Project Syndicate)
  • Are “It” bags on the way out in Korea? An argument that fashion is maturing, shifting to classics and style instead of just brand-names and following. (Korea JoongAng Daily)
  • The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug was easily No. 1 last weekend in Korea, but still fairly soft with just 6.6 billion won ($6.3 million) in box office. (KOBIS) In related news, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is terrible.
  • Oh, Jeon Do-yeon’s moronic new film (did you know it’s bad to be a drug mule) The Way Back Home was second, with 4.5 billion won.
  • With two weekends left in the year, the box office in Korea has already set an  attendance record (over 199 million tickets, and will top 200 million for the first time later today), nearly a revenue record (at 1.450 trillion won, it will beat last year’s record in a couple of days), a major record for Korean movies (118 million admissions), and is 4 million admissions shy of a foreign film record. It is also the second-strongest year for Korean movies ever by percentage, with 59.2% of the box office going to local movies (more KOBIS).

Morning links

August 26, 2013 / / 0 Comments
  • I had no idea Yeomni-dong (not far from Shinchon in Seoul) was such a crime-ridden area. I used to live close to there. (Korea JoongAng Daily)
  • Korea’s organized crime targeting … universities? (Korea JoongAng Daily)
  • A summary of the weekend’s hip hop “wars” in Korea (Korea JoongAng Daily)
  • 3,000 Koreans living in Mongolia these days as Mongolian economy and Korean investment there keeps climbing (Korea JoongAng Daily)
  • It’s always nice reading sensible thoughts on the Korea-Japan relationship (Korea JoongAng Daily)
  • The second KCON (or K-pop convention) was held in Los Angeles last weekend (LA Times)
  • I always hate to see schools restricting access to books. In Japan, 39 schools have restricted access to Barefoot Gen, a famous graphic novel about surviving the Hiroshima nuclear bomb (Japan Times and here). The classic comic book just turned 40 in June (Japan Times).

 

A few lines under deadline

July 22, 2013 / / 0 Comments

Sorry for the lack of updates recently, but I’ve been rather under the gun of a rather large deadline. A deadline that I already missed rather egregiously. =_=

However, in between the writing and other tasks, I needed to make another exciting visa run to Fukuoka. Now, I’ve been making visa runs to Fukuoka since 1998, so I know the routine fairly well at this point (although this was my first since around 2005 or so). I quite like the city and always appreciate a chance to visit. This last trip, it was sunny and 34 degrees or so, while Seoul was getting soaked in a miserable, sticky rainstorm.

Fukuoka’s Naka River on a hot, hot day:

Plus, during my trip it was the lead up to the Yamakasa summer festival, so the city was full of those one-ton floats like this one:

Groups of men would load those floats onto their shoulders and run them around Fukuoka’s downtown, while people threw water on them. Very good fun (although incredibly hot, tiring work on a day like that).

Some old Japanese building porn (for Robert Koehler):

Fukuoka has some great ramen, too. Here’s a big building dedicated to ramen.

Inside, you are served in this tiny little stalls:

And here’s the ramen:

Meanwhile, when I got back to Seoul (last Friday), Seoul Station was full of budding photographers, all taking pictures of the sky. I’m sure my phone’s camera does not compare, but…:

Oh, some big news coming to the blog very soon (book news!), followed by some big changes to the blog itself.

 

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