Wednesday January 27
 
18:01
 
Korean music

일본에와서3년이나됐는데도아직도내가자주듣는음악은한국음악이다
Even though I haven’t lived in Korea for 3+ years, even now most of the music I listen to is Korean. The latest Jaurim EP is superb (“제목 없는 음반”).

I most listen to:

1. Delispice 델리 스파이스
2. Humming Urban Stereo 허밍 어반 스테레오
3. 3rd Line Butterfly 3호선 버터플라이
4. Rollercoaster 롤러코스터
5. Rainy Sun 레이니썬
6. Nell 넬
7. You-me 유미
8. Casker 캐스커
9. Lucid Fall 루시드폴
10. Cherry Filter 체리필터
11. Jaurim 자우림
12. Loveholic 러브홀릭
13. Jadu 자두

Know them? #1, #2, #4, #7, #10, #11, #12 and #13 should be known to most Koreans - the rest, probably not. If you like Portishead, you must listen to #5. The last 4 I only like a subset of their music.

Friday January 8
 
13:38
 
Suicide

I just found out one of the bloggers I used to read religiously about Korea committed Suicide in 2006. Yeah, it took me a long time to find out – but after he left Korea, I stopped reading his blog.

One of the reasons I stopped blogging about personal stuff is that people read your blog and think they know everything that is going on in your life. People who read Shawn’s blog had no idea of what the guy was really feeling behind the scenes, and Shawn’s suicide illustrates that.

I actually bought Shawn’s original book when I saw it on sale in a bookshop in Korea. He inspired many people with his blogging and humour.

Thursday December 3
 
11:18
 
Weird Korean Tattoo

균형. Photo taken in Hawaii. No surprise that she’s not Korean.

Thursday October 15
 
11:28
 
What?! No SPAM?!

I tend to avoid Korean food in Japan for one very good reason: it’s usually crap.

There’s only one good Korean restaurant in Japan – actually, it’s a chain so there’s several, but you know what I mean. It’s called Tonjang and it’s a BBQ place – real sam-gyeop-sal, real Korean spicy kimchi, no charging for side dishes. Ok, so the lettuce for wrapping the pork is often a bit on the limp side, but for authentic Korean flavour, Tonjang can’t be beat.

The only other Korean restaurant I go to is Pung-geum in Shin Okubo. I don’t go there for the food though – it’s crap. Case in point – two days ago I went there and ordered budae-chiggae and it didn’t have a single piece of SPAM in it. SPAM defines that dish! How can there be no SPAM in it?! The menu said it had SPAM. When I asked the waitress why there was no SPAM in it, she said they don’t put any in. They don’t even put in SPAM substitute! “It’s difficult to get SPAM in Japan,” she told me. Bollocks it is. Go to Yamaya. And if you can’t get it, dont sell a blooming dish where it’s the main ingredient.

So why do I go there? It’s the only place I know of that has the exact same atmosphere as a Korean sul-chip (pub). It even has Hite and OB, and soju for 500 yen a bottle.

Wednesday September 9
 
17:10
 
Job discrimination is alive and well in Korea – even from Global Samsung!

4 excellent career opportunites from Times Search

this email is sent to koreajoblink.com members who have agreed to receive email alerts.
Pls read careffully before applying. The details can be found in the Job Opening Section in Koreajoblink.com.

TO apply: send your resume, coverletter and photo to :
haetahk@gmail.com

You must be in Seoul to apply for following positions.

1. Marketing manager – Samsung Joint Venture – age 30~40, female, English native speaker from N.America or Europe with bachelors’ or higher degree. Sales or marketing experience.
Full visa&! nbsp;sponsorship. Seoul Gangnam.
No Gyopos.
Salary: 4.8 mil per month. (if you have MBA degree, the salary can be further negotiated) plus sev. pay, insurance and other Samsung benefits.
Can start immediately.

2. US College Admissions Consultant
MN admssion consulting firm in Seoul, Gangnam
Gyopos only, Male or Female
age 35 or younger with bachelors degree from top tier private and state schools un the US.
Salary: 40 mil per year.

3. Overseas opportunity – Hong Kong
Korean or gyopos only
Sales in the financial industry experience
age! 30~35 ideal
perfect English and Korean
Salary: 150k USD per yr.

4. Overseas opportunity – Malaysia
Foreigners only – no korean or gyopos
Management and strategic consultant in K.L.
must have masters in business related major and from top schools from Europe or USA.

Salary 60K~100K USD (flexible depending on qualifications)

*do not reply to ask@koreajoblink.com

Because obviously you can’t market if you’re male, right Samsung? Sexist swines.

And obviously, 30~35 year olds are the most ideally suited for vague “Overseas opportunities”. Ageist.

The last two are the ones that really irritate me. Look at #4. A Korean born overseas – a gyopo – can’t apply for that job. To illustrate how stupid and racist that is, let’s take the case of two women: Milly and Mary. Milly and Mary are born on the same day at the same time in America, but Milly has US parents and Mary has Korean parents. Both of them graduated from the same top school in the USA. Both of them speak perfect English. Neither of them speak Korean. Milly can apply for job #4 but Mary can’t, because she’s a gyopo. Nor can she apply for Samsung’s job, #1. Why? It’s pure racism.

And #3. Imagine the case where a foreigner can speak perfect Korean and has lived in Korea for years. Why can’t he/she do that job? There’s no Korean visa issue – it’s Hong Kong. Again, racist.

I urge you to mail haetahk@gmail.com and ask@koreajoblink.com and call them racist, sexist, ageist, and, erm, appearanceist pigs. Oh, and mail samsungpr@edelman.com while you’re at it also.

Any if you have twitter, a tweet of this would be most marvellous.

All typos, &! nbsp;, etc etc, are exactly as sent on the email. Bold and red were added by me to highlight the objectionable content and the name of the Samsung company.