dreamer_easy: (snow kate)
[personal profile] dreamer_easy
Have some more random things from Asia.

Social media, compare and contrast: I read today that that idiots on Twitter thought the SFO crash was a hilarious opportunity for racist jokes. But I also read about the immediate response of SHINee's Key when his blunder in tagging an Instagram from Japan was pointed out by a fan.

The first time I summoned the courage to speak to staff at Morning Glory - long before my Kpop addiction - they were at pains to explain they were from South Korea, not North Korea. Being a historical and geographical ignoramus, I was puzzled at the time. These days, Tweets about how the crash was a North Korean attack come as no surprise. (Even better were the tweets a while ago about how the US should take revenge on the DPRK for Pearl Harbour. You'd think patriots would at least know their own country's history.)

Anyway. I continue to absorb small morsels of Korean culture, mostly by watching silly TV shows and reading possibly dubious online things (like many "international fans" I am dependent on other peoples' translations.) While boys touch each other affectionately with great freedom (to the delight of Western fangirls!), there's still a lot of reticence about boys and girls showing affection where others can see.

In fact, there is such a thing as "manner hands", where a young gentleman holds a lady while keeping his paws off her. Two examples from SHINee are Onew, in a sports competition thing, piggy-backing a young woman while making his hands into fists to avoid holding onto her thighs. He was praised for his chivalry. Poor Taemin, however, was teased mercilessly for putting an arm around his reality-show "wife", but hovering his hand above her shoulder.

I think that, through South Korean eyes, the West must look not just relaxed but downright sleazy. Here's an interesting account of Korean-American comedienne Margaret Cho, her tattoos, a health spa, and some unimpressed ladies. (There's a happy ending.) OTOH, in the West, certain tatts on women are called "tramp stamps", indicating that old-fashioned Korean ladies are not the only ones with issues about sex and class.

Here's an article about "westernising" cosmetic surgery actually written by An Asian Person (specifically, Chinese-Australian Benjamin Law). It's insightful and also very funny: Law quips that his asymmetrical eyes mean he "can give that David-Tennant-as-Doctor-Who quizzical look without much effort" and "I've got one of those classically flatter Chinese noses, the kind that makes it hard for me to wear sunglasses."

Also from Australia: Artistic expression helps overcome years of repression. "'Mum, I'm not Chinese, am I?'"

NetizenBuzz warns us: Don't look at strangers in Korea. Since staring is also considered a threat by Westerners and IIUC most of the great apes, I am not quite sure where this is coming from. Alas, Google Translate makes an absolute dog's breakfast of the actual article.

Finally, a small but poignant moment of Korean colourism as Kai gets fed up with the friendly teasing. (Keep in mind I'm reliant on someone else's translation and interpretation of events here.) I'm still trying to figure how just how serious it all is. Are the cracks about Kai's colouring on a par with gingerism (ie annoying but pretty much harmless), or do darker-skinned Koreans suffer prejudice and discrimination, as these remarks from a TV talent show judge suggest? (I'm partly cautious because if you simplistically cut-and-paste one country or culture's experience of racism onto another, you get confusing and misleading results.) (ETA: Cf the similar preference for lighter skin in Kenya.)

Date: 2013-07-09 05:34 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ashamel.livejournal.com
Not sure it argues one way or the other, but a tramp stamp is a particular type of tattoo, rather than just one on a woman.

Date: 2013-07-09 07:34 am (UTC)
ext_54569: starbuck (Default)
From: [identity profile] purrdence.livejournal.com
Yeah, I thought a tramp stamp was the one you have on your lower back, just above your 'plumber's crack' and often is the one seen when bending over in tight hipster jeans. Often paired with a visible G-string/ thong.

----

In Japan lighter skin is seen as desirable, particularly in women; maybe this is similar to darker toned skin in Korea not being seen as desirable? I *think* it ties in to the 'lighter skin = not doing manual/ low class jobs outside' idea.

Date: 2013-07-09 07:49 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dreamer-easy.livejournal.com
What I've read points in that direction, yeah - apparently China's got the same thing too. I wonder if Confucius can be somehow blamed for this. ¬_¬

Date: 2013-07-10 12:56 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dreamer-easy.livejournal.com
Apropos of nothing, last night (while perusing my yaoi manga) I grasped, for the first time, the difference between kanji, hiragana, and katakana. Partly because I am hypomanic right now, this was like being hit with a beam of light from heaven. This isn't complicated and confusing, it's entirely straightforward. Heck, it's not even as berserk as cuneiform. XD

I can even recognise an entire hiragana: あ This is because it was comically placed in the mouth of a screaming character in FMA. :)
Edited Date: 2013-07-10 12:57 am (UTC)

Date: 2013-07-10 02:36 pm (UTC)
ext_54569: starbuck (Starbuck circle)
From: [identity profile] purrdence.livejournal.com
This makes me happy. :D

Date: 2013-07-11 11:13 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dreamer-easy.livejournal.com
I'm glad. :) When I gush at poor old Jon about any of this language stuff ("Korean for 'mood' or 'feeling' is gibunae, like in that song about the girl's mood going up and down like mine is right now, so I looked for it in this tweet where Jjong talks about his mood, but I couldn't find it, but then I realised he'd transliterated the English 'feeling' as 'peeling'!") he looks at me as though I have just handed him a cat poo. :P

PS

Date: 2013-07-11 11:15 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dreamer-easy.livejournal.com
ドキッ

My yaoi manga, understandably, is full of these. Am I right in thinking the ッ mostly gets dropped from pronunciation, like in nasu "eggplant"?

Date: 2013-07-09 07:37 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dreamer-easy.livejournal.com
A clarification worth the making! *tips hat*

Date: 2013-07-09 01:44 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lillibet.livejournal.com
A preference for paler skin is a pretty universal preference (modern tanning culture to the contrary). I know it's been a big deal in India, where "whitening" products with often dangerous ingredients are an issue. It pre-dates Western contact in many areas, though I can't imagine us palefaces have helped any. One theory I've read is that it implies social status in many cultures because working outside (manual labor, peasant status) darkens the skin.

I've just read The Orphan Master's Son, a Pulitzer Prize winning novel about North Korea. I'm a little dubious about the cultural appropriation, but the author has good things to say about looking forward to a time when North Koreans will have the opportunity to tell their own stories to the wider world. He seems to have done his research (and, actually, to have left out some of the more horrific things he heard of) and crafted a compelling work.

Date: 2013-07-10 12:52 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dreamer-easy.livejournal.com
I read where the social status thing also explains tanning, since now everybody works indoors, and the leisured classes spend their time at the beach. :)

I have a few partly-read books about the DPRK floating about the house - I'll keep an eye out for Orphan Master's Son. *tips hat*

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