I feel ashamed. Like a failure. Broke, though I have some money in the bank. Inept, though I’m qualified to do many jobs. Lazy, though my routine isn’t really too different than that when I’m living in my own apartment. Unattractive to women, a source of mockery. Shorter, smaller. Sheltered. Mollycoddled. It’s only been...
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There’s something I really haven’t understood in all my travels. Let me set the stage. I’m in Ao Nang, Thailand, walking along a street comprised of the same tacky t-shirt shops, restaurants, tailors, massage parlors, and pubs. I’m wearing my Korean “the foreigner is coming/leaving” shirt with my Nakhon Si Thammarat Buddha pendant. I’m...
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What can one person do? When he’s faced with something of this magnitude… The international media has practically forgotten about Japan. Remember that potentially dangerous nuclear situation over at Fukushima that no one could shut up about last year? Well, the reactors are still very much damaged, and the fuel rods did melt down....
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Why travel by ferry when there are other options? Cruises. Flying. For me, it comes to comfort. Ferries take a little longer, but there’s more amenities on longer trips, like table tennis. And even if the ride is longer than a few hours, the overall commute is just… well, easier. Consider someone in Seoul...
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I’m going to get in trouble with this entry no matter what, so I better check all my facts. It’s worth mentioning that during my two years in Japan, I never heard mention of Dokdo Island (독도 or Takeshima, 竹島, as it is known in Japan), though I did hear about disputed territory north...
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I arrived at my local branch of Suhyup… which, incidentally, has the tagline “Fresh Fish, Fresh Bank”. It’s certainly original, I’ll give them that. They even have fish and seaweed wraps available for sale in the bank. Anyway, I arrived around noon, and immediately had to run back to my apartment for my passport,...
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The same process repeats itself in country after country; there’s always going to be some kind of bureaucracy. How easy it is to work with the system (or pay it off, depending on the level of corruption). Anyone planning to stay in the Republic of Korea longer than 90 days must apply to a...
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“We’re just watching you; this is better than Survivor.” The two men and single woman sitting at the end of the bar to my right had a point, I thought. After all, I had eaten many strange things in my line of travel work – semi-poisonous blowfish, octopus with mayonnaise and fried batter, the...
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I take being surrounded by English speakers for granted. I imagine I’d feel completely liberated in one way if I were to return to Japan and begin my life with the Japanese people, but, in a far more accurate way, I’m slowly forgetting what it’s like to be in the language minority (never mind...
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