Sapporo

Currently, I'm in Sapporo, the capital of Hokkaido. This may be the best Japanese island, mainly because it isn't so goddamn hot...

 Sapporo tower!

Shopping arcade 

They have great miso ramen, best served... 

In the Ramen Alley. Why doesn't every city have one of these?

 Hokkaido Shrine (jingu)

 Hokkaido Jingu

The city

Sumo in Nagoya

The city of Nagoya is rather run-of-the-mill. But at least, they sport the Summer Sumo Tournaments! Finally a sport for me! Here are some excerpts:

Fukuoka

Finally som decent internet (and time). Here are some pictures from Fukuoka in Kyushu, southwest Japan.

The DMZ

Wednesday the 8th I went to the DMZ (demilitarized zone).

The DMZ is a remnant of the Korean War, basically the line where the opposing forces stood when the armistice was signed in 1953. It is apparently the most heavily militarized area in the world (kind of an ironic name). Foreigners like me can book trips to the DMZ (which I did obviously). Ordinary Koreans usually can't, except through school trips and such.

This is the Joint Security Area, where North and South meet. The guys in the picture are South Korean soldiers. 

The microphones on this table, which is inside the blue house on the left in the previous picture, demarcate the border between north and south. So yes, I was in North Korea.

Me at checkpoint 3, with North Korea in the background.

There was an infiltration tunnel we went into too. Unfortunately, pictures were not allowd, but I got this map of it at least!

And some random pics of North Korea:

Now, I'm going to Japan. See you (maybe) on the other side!

Shades of history

I've been trying to get some insights into Korean history as presented in their museums and so on. My success has been variable. While I located the massive National museum of Korea, it only focused on ancient history, with little to be explicitly said about 20th century history, and WW2 in particular.

I also found the National museum of contemporary history, but it focused mostly on the Korean war, as did the War Memorial, mainly only discussing the WW2 period as "shameful" (because of Korea being colonized by Japan).

But I did at least find one thing that hit me like a punch in the gut: the memorial to Korean "comfort women". It was created in 2011, and reminds everyone of the war crimes of Japan. Especially the Japanese, since the memorial is right across the street from the Japanese embassy.

And for those of you who don't know: approximately 200 000 Korean girls were forcibly recruited as "comfort women" during WW2. And to make the subtext text: that's sexual slavery. Of them, only about 10% returned to Korea after the war.

I think this memorial is one of the most powerful I've seen, but you make your own call.

Trying to walk the northern fortress trail

On Monday I set my mind on walking the northern fortress trail around mount Bukaksan. The trail follows the old fortification line and gives some excellent scenery.

The area itself is restricted - apparently in the 1970s, the mountain was infiltrated by North Korean spies who used it as a staging ground for an assassination attempt against the then president, General Park. Since then, you need to show an ID to get in. So I got there with my passport ready - and it turns out this particular day is a national holiday - so no entry...

Oh well. If I can't go on the restricted route, I can still follow the general tracks around the mountain. Turns out there were some great scenes there to, so all wasn't lost!

Changdeokgung and various videos

I also visited the famous Changdeokgung palace and its "Secret Garden".

Also, here are some short videos of various things:

Street performance in Insadong

Changing of the guard at the main palace

And finally, some Korean street music

Some Korean palaces and people

Saturday and sunday were spent in various locations with various people. First, i took some time to walk around the namsan park, which sports a famous tower.

Some pics from Namsan

Then in the evening, i met up with my friend Jina and her boyfriend:

And they took me on a korean barbecue!

On sunday, i met up with my friend Anders, who took me palace-visiting.

The southern gate

The main palace

War memorial of Korea

One of my first places to visit was the war memorial of Korea, a museum commemorating the modern wars of Korea - specifically the Korean war.

The frontside of the memorial

The memorial is very blatantly focused ob building a common korean national identity. The parts of the museum about earlier wars focus on portraying Korea as constantly assailed by others such as japan and China (to be fair, that is a valid perspective). Likewise, the Korean war is portrayed as a family tragedy, a conflict between brothers.

The two korean brothers, north and south.

More disturbing, in its way, is the short shrift given to the colonial period: the japanese occupation is glossed over, merely mentioned as a shameful experience, and Korean opposition against Japan is highlighted.

This means that those who collaborated with Japan aren't mentioned at all. And that silence, in turn, makes the kind of identity-building the memorial works toward, exceedingly fragile. Like all master narratives.

Oh well. At least they have a pillar hall! And a B52!

Seoul: first impressions

It took me about 16 hours travel time, but at least I managed to arrive in Seoul by Friday evening. A few pictures may give a few impressions:

The view from the Incheon-Seoul train. Incheon houses the airport (and the port, for that matter). 

This is my base of operations, quite close to Seoul Station. 

A very Asian street view. 

Sunset, July 3