The Koreas
- I wonder if anyone will be chopping off their fingers or sending in bee man due to this Chinese land grab.
- What if Kim Jong-il died today? What would happen? Find out here.
- You have got to love fire safety in Korea. At least they had a mallet.
- Now it is against the law in Korea to take pictures of people at the beach. More here.
- All you ever wanted to know why there are so many Park’s, Kim’s, and Lee’s in Korea.
- Do you have a Hanchongnyun member in your extended family? Well I have an idea for the perfect gift idea you can give to that person.
- An East German and her North Korean husband have been reunited at last.
- Samsung now has an Armani flat screen TV. I don’t think I will be affording that anytime soon.
- The coolest subway mullet ever has been identified.
- Long time Korean resident (12 years) and K-blogger, The Fence Rider is leaving Korea for what appears to be quite a good job in the UAE. It should be interesting reading to compare UAE kids with Korean kids. I wish him well.
Japan
- I have to wonder if you English teachers out there have ever had journal entries from their students like from this student in Japan?
- Yes I think it would probably be a good idea not to fly this flag in Beijing.
- It looks like the Japanese are increasingly liking their ganja.
- I wonder how much attention in China this sign of Japanese sportsmanship will receive?
China
- Is China really an island?
- It looks like the Olympics are actually going to have little economic impact for China.
- The Olympics, unveiling the police state 2.0.
- The police state now even censoring books “in Australia”.
Popularity: 2%
12:21 am on August 11th, 2008 1
Sorry GI, expecting “ask a Korean” to actually answer anybodies question honestly and completely is like expecting Goebbels to tell the truth about the “master race” (as an aside, both of them measure up equally poorly against the ideal they put forth).
His fake explanation is so full of self serving propaganda that any reasonable person (unless you want a good laugh) should stop reading once his fake question started with “As guests, he generally finds Koreans to be polite and trouble free”. Oh please! Go to any hotel, and you can spot Koreans across the room, bickering, smoking and yelling.
But if you want to know how Koreans ended up with names like they have, here is the short version.
First they copied their naming style from the Chinese. That is last name first and so on. But one big difference that sets Korea apart from her old master China, and the civilized west is exactly how so many Koreans came up with the same names.
First in the west many people over time received names from their occupation. Koreans never had such respect for occupations (the concept of a Protestant work ethos, never existed until after the Japanese taught Koreans how to work).
In China and Japan people received their names from the enviroment around them. But how did Korea end up with so many of the same names? Well first they took Chinese names. Names like Cho are Chinese.
But why are their so many Kim’s and Lee’s? Good question! When the Japanese freed the Korean slaves (One more reason for ungrateful Korea to thank Japan) they all took the “royal” and prestigious names. Suddenly the countryside is covered with Kim’s and Lee’s. I am amazed that as much as things change, things stay the same in Korea. Koreans believe that the title makes the person. They bribe their way into prestige (think Ban Ki Moon).
And now you know… the rest of the story