Will and I both love tattoos and getting tattoos and while that has caused some problems while traveling (mainly in the onsen in Japan) there’s nothing we love more than scoping out a talented artist on our travels. History of Tattoos in Korea Korea has had a turbulent history with tattoo culture, similar to the views amongst the older generation in the West...
Written by Kang Kyeong-ae | Translated by Anton Hur Even if The Underground Village were to be underwhelming, it is worth attention for being perhaps the only collection of stories to come out of Japanese-occupied Manchuria (written by a lower-class female Korean communist born in what is now North Korea) that you’ll ever read. Fortunately, thanks in no small part to...
Itaewon Foreign Bookstore (이태원 외국서점) When we travel or move abroad, there are often specific home comforts we seek out. For me, it’s English books. And so, what a delight it was to find the excellent Itaewon Foreign Bookstore in the heart of Korea’s capital. A post shared by Jaylen (@jaylenjoy) on May 19, 2018 at 6:06am PDT The store is owned by a delightfully grumpy...
Written by Hwang Sok-yong | Translated by: Sora Kim-Russell Have you ever listened to Big Yellow Taxi? I like the Counting Crows version. Hwang Sok-yong is arguably Korea’s most prestigious and well-respected living author; his most recently translated works – Familiar Things and Princess Bari – have garnered themselves heaps of praise across the English-speaking...
Written by: Hye-Young Pyun | Translated by: Sora Kim-Russell Millennials are often accused of destroying a lot of things, but they have also been attributed to the resurgence of so much lost art, such as vinyl records and pixel-art video games. In literature, one of the greatest writers to receive a second life is Franz Kafka. More and more frequently we are seeing...
Some of the best films (certainly some of the best horror) have been coming out of South Korea for years now. A lot of people I’ve spoken to don’t know where to start and The Vengeance Trilogy (although excellent) isn’t to everyone’s tastes. Here are some of my favourite South Korean films, in no particular order. The Taxi Driver (2017) My...
Bad Friends | Ancco | Translated by Janet Hong They say a picture speaks a thousand words, and yet even as a fan of comics and manga I’ve always placed more value in a thousand well-chosen words than a single image. But Bad Friends has taught me that, perhaps, the meaning of the phrase is that sometimes a picture, in complete silence, can say all the words we’d...
The world is taking notice of South Korea with the explosion of K-pop groups like BTS. While there is a slim chance you will meet Jungkook, Jimin, or J-Hope in Korea, you can book a private Seoul tour with a just as equally-handsome man. What is Oh My Oppa? Oh My Oppa is a private tour company that lets you rent a Korean oppa, or big brother, for a private tour of...
Endless Blue Sky by Lee Hyoseok |Translated by Steven D. Capener The wealth of information we’ve lost over the years – through war, suppression, occupation, and simple accident – is staggering. Coupled with this loss is our largest barrier against the freedom of information: language. So much of what we can learn about a culture hinges on its availability in our own...
Eat Korean Barbeque Like a Pro Korean Barbeque is an internationally-popular dish. But what is the best way to eat it? Here are some friendly tips you should know the next time you visit a Korean barbeque restaurant. If you’re in Korea looking to eat barbeque, look for a restaurant with air vents! A traditional Korean barbeque restaurant will have air vents over each...
