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Psy is a Korean singer. His songs and videos are meant for Korea as they are cultural critiques on the society. He’s been critiquing and lampooning Korean society and celebrities since 2001 when he was fined by the South Korean gov’t for “inappropriate content” on his debut album. He’s been controversial in Korea similar to Eminem in the States. Psy’s only international fame came from (arguably mainly the video of) Gangnam Style.

Psy’s new Korean song and video, “Gentleman”, appears to be a critique of the male-dominated Confucian society that exists in South Korea today. As a Westerner you probably understand what the male-dominated part means, but the Confucian might be new. Basically Confucianism as practiced in Korea (no it’s not a religion) culturally requires a strict adherence to obeying your elders. Even a 1 year difference requires more formal language. In the famous lyric “Oppa Gangnam-style”, “oppa” is the term used by a woman referring to any male slightly older than her.

In the beginning of “Gentleman”, notice Psy’s entourage – all old men. Why not sexy women? Because old men are funny? Well kinda, but there’s more to it. The old men look like they could be butlers, which makes since in Western society (think Alfred from Batman). But in Korea, you will never see an older man acting in an inferior position to a younger person. This scene alone will make Koreans awkwardly laugh seeing old men carrying clothes for the clearly younger Psy. Huge cultural faux-pas.

The opening scene also sets the stage for the mindset of the rest of the video. The “gentlemen” are the older men (or men in general) in Korean society. They are rude and inconsiderate towards others because they are men and older, aka in a male-dominated Confucian society (watch this video humorously explaining sexism in Korea).

Now, for those of you unfamiliar with Korean culture, no, obviously men don’t pull the chairs out from women and give them the stink-fist in libraries. And that’s the point Psy is making. What’s so different from not letting women smoke in public, talking down to people younger than you, not waiting in lines, pushing to be first on or off an elevator, and all of the humorous incivilities in the video? They’re all incivil and rude.

As a Westerner living in Korea, I appreciate Psy’s efforts to change the course of his society through humor and music. I won’t argue his talents as a musician, singer, or dancer but I will commend him on his willingness to take chances to make change through ridiculous humor.

Psy is dead. Long live Psy.

Korea’s breathtaking beauty can sometimes sneak up on a foreigner. The people of Korea however, sometimes have the beauty of their country down to a science. Naejangsan National Park just north of Gwangju is well-known throughout Korea for its vast expanse of trails lined with Japanese maple trees. These maples put on a display of shades – reds, oranges, yellows, and burgundies – every Autumn, and Koreans know exactly when to take in this annual ritual.

The weekend of November 6-7 was not a festival – it was simply the best weekend to see Naejangsan in all its glory. Considering that Korea is a country only as big as Indiana, yet containing more people than all of California and Indiana combined, that more than 70% of people live in apartments, and that there are only so many places to go outside of one’s apartment, you’ll should believe the next statement. On Saturday, more than 80,000 people visited Naejangsan.

As Warren so deftly put it, “Americans watch football on the weekends; Koreans go to mountains.”

That’s twice as many people as can attend a sold-out Boston Red Sox game. Warren and I drove to Naejangsan at the peak time, and ended up parking in Parking Lot 4 out of 5, which was more than 2 km away from the entrance of the park. It was seemingly absurd how many tour buses from Seoul, Busan, and Gwangju we saw in the parking lots of this National Park. I repeat, this was not a festival. This was not an event. There were no celebrity appearances. The celebrities were the leaves of the trees. The stages were two Buddhist hermitages, and two temples.

So, if you come to Korea in the Fall and want to experience a unique facet of the Korean culture, then ask somebody the best time to go to Naejangsan. If it’s a weekend in the Fall (probably November), then go, and experience the masses. But if you prefer a more exclusive experience, then visit Naejangsan in the Winter after a snowfall. Either way, Naejangsan is worth a visit.

For more photos check out my Flickr album.

Haejangguk, or pork spine stew, is one of the top 3 Korean dishes you’ll want to try if you visit Korea. It’s known in Korea as the best hang-over cure, and restaurants specializing in the dish are often open until the early morning hours.

The tenderness of the meat combined with the spicy red-pepper spices and vegetables make this dishes one of the standards that I eat in Korea. It’s never hard to find a haejang-guk (pronounced hay’-chong-gook) restaurant in any town in Korea. Just act drunk and tell any passing Korean “pay go pah yo” which means “I’m hungry.” They’re bound to direct you to a haejang-guk restaurant.

Now, there’s a subtle art to eating the dish. It’s brought to you in a steaming hot pot usually with some spinach draped over the pork bones boiling in the broth. Don’t be alarmed by the bones – you’ll be eating the meat and tossing the bones aside.

Here’s how I eat it – and my recommendation for how you should eat haejang-guk.

Step 1: Remove meat from bone. Do this by holding a bone still with your spoon (or fingers) and scraping the meat down into the broth with your chopsticks. Some will fall easily, others will resist.

Step 2: Remove bone from soup. Pick the mostly meat-bare bone from the soup and place it in the empty white bowl. While picking at the other bones, this one will cool, allowing you to pick it up with your chopsticks (or fingers) and gnawing off the last bits of meaty goodness. Yes, it’s worth it.

Step 3: Enjoy. Wait a second for the soup to cool. Eat the kimchi’s sides while you wait. Try each of them and figure out which ones you like the most. Then, grab your spoon and dig into the haejang-guk.

Hint: Spoon a little rice before dipping into the broth. “Mah-she-tah” – “delicious!”

Enjoy the video below of us eating two different types of haejang-guk, the traditional pork dish, and a seafood version with clams and crab.

Exiting the speed train from Narita International airport, we transferred to the local line that would take us from the busy Shinjuku Station three stops over to where my friend grew up: the more residential area of Tokyo known as Nakano (not to be confused with Nagano where the 1998 Winter Olympics were held).

The first cultural difference I was taught on this subway/train was that it is against the rules to talk. Yes, that’s right: no talking on Tokyo trains on weekdays. Hundreds of commuters on public transportation heading home from work, out to shop, over to a friend’s house, etc. and one must respect the rules of a library. Coming from America, this surprised and somewhat perplexed me.

Don’t get me wrong: I get it. Continue reading →

Kuno Stories

Tag Archives: culture

Psy’s ‘Gentleman’ Lampoons Korean Men and Confucianism (+video)

Fall Colors in Naejangsan National Park

How to Eat Pork Spine Stew

No Talking on Tokyo Trains on Weekdays