Asia again?

When I logged three months in Seoul in late 2008, it was in the form of a meditation regimen that wasn't quite finished at the conclusion of my stay. While meditation was valuable, I also found my travel and cultural experiences, throughout Seoul, the rest of South Korea, and into Hong Kong, to be just as valuable.

It looks like as my work slows down a bit, I will once again make Seoul my home for a bit, for a few months, to continue where I had left off. The goal will be to restore my health to the levels I had when I was wrapping up my initial stint, and to further bring up my energy-pooling abilities to a point where I can easily meditate even in an energy-vortex-devoid place like Southern California. (Only then will I be able to even consider spreading my good energy to others; right now, it's more like spreading negativity.)

Only preliminary details are being put down now, but I am in touch with my contacts in Seoul, and it looks like I will resume Seoul in 2-3 months. I was glad that a number of people found my tidbits from Seoul very valuable, and I am glad to continue on that path. I am also glad to know that supporters of South Korea's far-right government (including the vast majority of Korean-Americans) will once more find their blood pressure going up, as I dig up even more inconvenient truths; however, Chinese speakers will be a bit bummed, as I don't intend to go to a Chinese-speaking area this time - I expect to spend my off-time in Japan instead, which will be my first stint in Japan.

In addition to Japan (which will most likely take me to Tokyo, plus a more traditional part of Japan), I expect to do two trips within South Korea - one road trip to fill in the gaps from my initial 2008 one, and one quick flight to Jeju Island in the far south; both will also have an emphasis on South Korea's democratic struggle against domestic dictatorships, as places like Gwangju, Yeosu, and Jeju have been well-known for pro-democracy demonstrations, as well as the violent response from the right-wing dictators.

Assuming that the far-right government isn't out to ban me, I may even look at possible options for future work stints. I can run my US-based business by email and Internet just fine, my physical presence in the US will be necessary once a month at most. Of course, I will apply for proper work visa before I take up any employment. Proper work authorization will also mean that I can do economic activities (bank accounts, etc.) in South Korea and also enroll in its public health insurance plan, though it also means that I must cough up my alien registration number to the police state authorities to do my Internet activities. Will see what happens.

Future travel plans

It's a bit of an old news, but I want to mention some travel plans for the future even as I reminisce a major past trip.

Before long, I expect to be in New Orleans, possibly the biggest gap in my US travels. I am planning on spending three full days there - should be enough to get the basics, like the French Quarter, taken care of, plus meet a few local friends. Again, this is my first visit to New Orleans (or Louisiana for that matter) and this should be lovely! Unfortunately, it'll be unlikely that I head out to see my longtime friend Christy Cole of Christy's Art Blog, since she's located close to Shreveport, 250 miles away.

I do not expect to use a car in New Orleans, but I have already reserved my air transportation and lodging. While the logical airline choice for New Orleans is Delta, because of its name coming from the Mississippi Delta, and Delta indeed flies nonstop from Los Angeles, I will stick to my usual lesbian-friendly airline, United, with its own nonstops, to take advantage of elite-level perks while I still can. In fact, I used a $150 apology credit from my previous United journey - a nightmare flight out of Toronto.

Later on in the year, I expect to see my business wind down quite a bit. That may free up more time for travel, while maintaining a reasonable amount of income to fund the trips. Ideally, I would like to spend a week in Japan, which is my biggest East Asian travel gap the way New Orleans is my biggest US travel gap. Most of that week should be spent in Tokyo, while a side trip to Kyoto for two nights or so will let me experience traditional Japan. I need to see my schedule to determine how this will be carried out, however; if I somehow decide on resuming my South Korean meditation regimen, I could pull off a quick Tokyo weekend from Seoul very easily, the way I had done Hong Kong. Once I check Japan off, Taiwan will be my final East Asian gap to fill in, though I would also be very interested in covering the parts of mainland China I have yet to see.

Other destinations I can consider are the Canadian Rockies as well as some points within the US (Boston definitely needs a return visit, as I have NEVER had a chance to explore it). Returning to Europe is not on my agenda this year. And while Latin America and Southeast Asia also deserve my attention, for now I want to concentrate on filling in the gaps in the parts of the world I had covered previously.

I do hope I can cover both New Orleans and Japan this year in a satisfactory manner!

Number Eighteen!

It's a karaoke term. Yes, my attention is turning back to Asia, for now, given how much I love karaoke.

In Japanese kabuki theater, 十八番 (pronounced "Juhachiban" with the u being a long vowel), or Number Eighteen, refers to an official list of eighteen best kabuki plays, dating back to the early 19th Century. There is also an alternative New Juhachiban list that consists of kabuki plays from the newer Meiji era. Today, some of the Juhachiban are no longer actively performed, but they are still being preserved for archival purposes.

In karaoke, Juhachiban refers to one particular song that a given person likes to perform at the microphone, in order to best showcase his/her vocal skills. So this Number Eighteen sounds more like a Number One.

Most people I meet at my favorite karaoke bars tend to have a very narrow repertoire. They may only stick to their one and only Number Eighteen, which can get boring really fast if I frequent the karaoke bar on a regular basis. In particular, the Righteous Brothers' "Unchained Melody" is the Number Eighteen of too many wannabe crooners, and especially gets tiresome. At my "home" karaoke bar (a lesbian bar in Van Nuys), I can name a number of regulars, and their Number Eighteens, quite easily.

My style is to change my songlist dramatically every time. As for Number Eighteens, I may actually have eighteen or so - or even more. If I absolutely must pull out ONE Juhachiban, I tend to use Anna Nalick's "In the Rough," since nobody else ever sings it anyway.

From now on, I'll be looking at taking on a different theme each night. The last time I went to my home karaoke bar, I had a lesbian theme - songs from lesbian singers (i.e. Melissa Etheridge), songs from rumored lesbians (i.e. Kelly Clarkson), and songs from heterosexuals that have a lesbian theme (i.e. "I Kissed a Girl" by Katy Perry). I'm hoping to change my theme dramatically and have fun with that; my next visit will definitely feature a Mariah Carey theme, as a shout-out to my last weekend in Vegas.

Wikipedia: Karaoke
Wikipedia: Kabuki Juhachiban

Seoul: Starting to wind down

I can't believe that three months of South Korea (except for a week back in Los Angeles, and half a week in Hong Kong) have flown by, and will end soon. I had thought I would be slowing down, but that was not to be; it looks like I'll be busy wandering around to the very end.

Today's initial agenda was to visit the Japanese embassy and join a special International Human Rights Day protest by the former Comfort Women and their supporters. Again, the most logical routing was to Anguk Station on Line 3. With each ride on the line, I am hating it even more; not only is its routing very crooked and its rolling stock outright junk (when the Vietnamese take the trains next year, they'll need to do some serious refurbishment before putting them in service), but its stations have too-tiny platforms for their traffic level. At least Line 3 uses more island platforms, which allow easier direction reversals, than other lines, and its trains tend to carry less propaganda than other Seoul Metro lines.

I did find the embassy, a diminutive building identifiable only by the Japanese flag overhead, without much trouble. But there was very heavy police presence, and it was pretty much impossible to get past the police lines. The police line, using several armed buses, was so thick that I couldn't even see the demonstration itself. I had to walk away.

Seen at a major fire station near the Japanese embassy: a Kia Pride (Rio in the US) with hybrid powertrain, as indicated by decals and badges. Both the Pride and its corporate twin Hyundai Verna (Accent in the US) can be ordered as gasoline-electric hybrids for fleet use. Can Hyundai-Kia send a few of these stateside as well, so that I can consider buying one and saving a bundle on gasoline?

The fire station, as it turns out, is right across the alley from the rear fence of the US embassy.

Until last month, this place had the longest line in the world for obtaining a US visa. But today, the line is empty, thanks to South Koreans now being able to enter the US visa-free. While short-term tourist and business trips up to 90 days can now be done visa-free, all other US entries, including study, investment, work, or immigration, still require a visa. Those who had been denied US visas in the past also need to get a visa first, as they will not be pre-cleared by the Homeland Security website. Nevertheless, this does open up the US to South Koreans who couldn't previously travel there; the most notable such demographic is single women tourists, as the US visa policy has been to treat every single female casual visitor as a potential sex worker looking for illegal US employment, and therefore deny visas. I do hope that more of these newly eligible travelers can visit the US, and take the initiative in US-South Korean relations away from the Moonies, the neocons, and their puppets.

The bilingual signs above advise that applicants for immigration visas need not stand in line, but go straight to a dedicated window for them. Also, all visa applicants are advised to not submit any fradulent documents; submitting fradulent documents may ban the applicant from the US for life, and even adversely effect South Korea's status in the US Visa Waiver program. In fact, a number of Latin American nations, including Argentina and Uruguay, have had their US Visa Waiver participation status revoked, when too many of their nationals were staying in the US illegally.

There are a number of legal services within a block of the US embassy that assist US-bound travelers. Some notarize and translate documents, while others offer legal consultation and assistance in obtaining any necessary US visas, including study, business, and immigration, especially to those who had previously been denied US visas.

I am now heading for my next destination, the Hongdae/Sinchon district, to look for a Greek lunch. From the US embassy, it's five stops - two stops on Line 5, three more on Line 2.

I am on a Line 2 train. This ad was taken out by Amnesty International, and urges South Koreans to "keep a promise that hasn't been kept for the past sixty years." Of course, it's a reference to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, whose Korean translation is in the background. Amnesty International has certainly done a lot of good in South Korea, for conscientious objectors of military service, for political prisoners in the past, and for the LGBT community.

But I am reminded that things are looking very grim again. After all, I am on a Seoul Metro train, featuring tons of propaganda from the colonial government. I continue to be encouraged to turn in any left-winger in sight for a 30 million won reward. An ad behind me, from the Republicans, has a whole bunch of empty promises targeted to college students and the middle class, including "removal of regulations" to create 200,000 new jobs; unfortunately, the Republicans will only remove necessary regulations, and keep truly harmful regulations intact (or make them even worse).

I took a look at a newsstand on a subway platform when I had some time. It looks like Dong-A Ilbo, a very pro-independence and anti-Japanese newspaper during the Japanese rule, is just as much of a right-wing mouthpiece today as Chosun Ilbo; maybe Dong-A opposed the Japanese, not because they were foreigners, but because colonial rule by the US Republicans or some other similar power would've been vastly more preferable. This is the same mentality shown by South Korea's Christian establishment. Much saner reads are the venerable Gyeonghyang Shinmun, which had once been shut down for opposing the Syngman Rhee dictatorship, and which I now see as a mildly left-wing paper, as well as the Hankyoreh, a more strongly worded center-left paper; if I were to be in Seoul long-term and actually start reading newspapers, I'd make these two papers my primary sources. I'll also read the prominent center-right papers, especially the familiar Hankook Ilbo and its English edition The Korea Times, quite a bit too, but I'll certainly do everything to avoid the lies and propaganda of Chosun Ilbo and Dong-A Ilbo. Sure enough, in the subway cars, elderly passengers in reserved seats always read Chosun Ilbo and Dong-A Ilbo, while younger passengers in non-reserved seats are more likely to read a variety of center-right and left-wing papers.

The Greek place was closed for today, and its menu seemed less than authentic anyway. However, I did find a decent Mexican place nearby, and ordered a 8,000-won burrito which turned out to be excellent. Yes, Mexican food is very rare and quite expensive in South Korea, but I'll take what I can get.

Now, I am walking away from the Mexican place. Above is a shot of the Volkswagen Phaeton, an extremely nice but overpriced luxury car that had to be withdrawn from the US due to very slow sales, but quite popular in South Korea.

I was able to read a Korean edition of US car magazine Motor Trend while waiting for my lunch, as well as a glance at a few automotive newspapers in the subway. Anything automotive now grabs me, due to my imminent purchase of a Hyundai, and due to some weird South Korean-market cars that I will not get to see after my US return. Some stuff I picked up today:

• The Hyundai Genesis V8 (the US-market prototype that Motor Trend tested here in South Korea) has a few flaws - its trunk lining is incomplete, for example. The engine also doesn't perform as well as numbers suggest, and the car itself is more Lexus conservative than BMW sporty. But it still is one heck of a car at a great price. My Genesis will be the V6 model, which is actually a better car, based on what I've gathered.
• The Hyundai Sonata and the Honda Accord, both 4-cylinder models, were pitted against each other twice: first at a Hyundai event in South Korea, and second at a comparison at Southern California's Santa Anita Park. As my current daily driver is an Accord, and as I did some serious driving in a Sonata for my road trip last month, both cars are of interest to me. The South Korean reviewers liked the Sonata's design better but preferred the Accord for its performance, while the US reviewers, while praising the Accord's engine, still chose the Sonata. The Accord is personally my favorite, but if Honda won't bring a high-efficiency hybrid version to the market anytime soon (as Hyundai will), I'll definitely consider defecting to the Sonata camp, especially if my Genesis turns out to be even half as great as it's supposed to be.
• A BMW is much harder to justify than before. That's music to my ears. The reason is that the interior ergonomics, which has lots of electronic gizmos that must be controlled through the iDrive knob, is horrible. Sure, BMWs still perform well, but competitors are getting close enough for lower prices.
• South Korean petroleum market consists of just four players: GS Caltex, Hyundai Oilbank, SK, and S-Oil. (SK's Ulsan refinery is the largest in the world - and neighbors the world's largest car assembly plant and the world's largest shipbuilding dock as well, both owned by Hyundai.) Gasoline taxes have gone up quite a lot recently to pay for highway improvements, leaving South Korean motorists fuming, but tax cuts won't reach consumers due to the collusion of these four refiners. Allowing foreign oil companies in could solve the problem, but be careful what you wish for, as the multinationals like Exxon and Chevron are among the most evil bastards in any industry anywhere in the world.
• The Japanese are making a full assault on the South Korean market. Toyota has been selling Lexus luxury cars for a while, while Honda has been selling mainstream vehicles. In the past month or two, Nissan and Mitsubishi have also arrived (though Nissan has been selling Infinitis for a few years). Nissans are quite competitive and selling decently, and the boxy Cube is already starting to pop up quite a bit. Mitsubishis are doing very poorly, however, even though South Koreans know Mitsubishi very well due to most early Hyundais using Mitsubishi technologies.
• GM Daewoo is doing very badly. Its Winstorm SUV is actually pretty good, but the new Winstorm Max, which is a different model and is identical to the US-market Saturn Vue, is a flop due to fewer contents and higher price tag. The Winstorm Max is really intended for European export as an Opel. Meanwhile, Daewoo's last good luxury car was the Opel-designed Prince from over a decade ago, which was replaced by the Ssangyong Chairman (another good car, thanks to Mercedes mechanicals) when Daewoo acquired Ssangyong. But Daewoo then went bankrupt, Ssangyong was divested, and Daewoo itself became part of GM; Daewoo's first luxury car under GM, the Statesman, sold so poorly that I'm lucky to spot even one every other week, and its brand-new replacement, the Veritas, is doing even worse. Over in the US, Suzuki used to be the primary seller of GM Daewoo products in the past five years or so, but it appears that they are now discontinued, leaving the Chevy Aveo (formerly Daewoo Kalos, and now redesigned as Daewoo Gentra) as GM Daewoo's only US offering (and certainly its only product good enough for the US market).

Walking in front of Lesbos again. This place was/is certainly a trendsetter, as South Korea's first lesbian bar. The lesbian culture will continue to evolve and blossom, even as 2MB starts to crack down on the lesbians.

Hongdae is also home to Manyeo ("witch"), another venerable lesbian bar, though I had no luck finding it today either. There are a number of other women-only bars in this area, and I am very well convinced at least some of them are lesbian-oriented, if not outright lesbian.

Lesbian Power, baby!

A women-only bar that I had previously sighted here was Lady First, but now it's under a different name, "Sexy Han Bar," as seen above.

Not a women-only space, but of interest anyway. This is a hip-hop nightclub, named Harlem. Those "Merry Christmas - Happy New Year" signs now let me know that I am not too far away from 2009. I hope it will be a better year - given that Barack Obama takes the Presidency in the US on January 20th, and that will also reduce 2MB to a slave without his master.

Across from Harlem, I can find an American Apparel store. I certainly could use some more of their legwear products, especially leg warmers. Here in South Korea, American Apparel, which is imported from Los Angeles's Garment District, is pricey compared to locally manufactured legwear, however. At least American Apparel is NOT sweatshop!

Now that I'm full, I see a nice Greek restaurant, Greek Joy, that has a better menu. Too late.

There is a nice lunch special at 6,500 won as indicated on the board. Very tempting.

I love eating Greek food, partly because it's unlike other cuisines I eat, and partly out of a nod to the ancestral land of my idol Jennifer Aniston. After months of staring at images of the homewrecker bitch Angelina Jolie, even in the subway, I need to make up for it. Sure, Jennifer Aniston is herself no fan of Greek food, but I don't care - I love Greek culture anyway, and look forward to a visit to Greece in the near future.

The Queen Bar. I wonder if this could be yet another women-only space...

There are so many women-only bars in Hongdae, quite a few of them lesbian, that every sight of anything resembling a women's bar makes me feel good. The sight of local fashionistas, a number of them dressed in wool Ally McLesbian miniskirt suits, also are welcome.

Girls on Top. Love the name. I do hope it's a lesbian hangout, but even if it isn't, just the name itself is more than adequate.

A look at the neighborhood map indicated that Hongdae is easily accessible not only from Line 2 at Hongik University Station, but also from Line 6 at Sangsu Station. In fact, Sangsu is closer to the Hongik University campus itself.

I am now approaching Sangsu Station so that I can finish off for the day. I love the name of this Japanese ramen joint, written in large Japanese letters with small Korean caption. "Onehsan Ra-men" - great name! It means "Older Sister Ramen."

My hatred of 2MB and his cronies is more intense than ever. I'll have to face their base - the Korean-American community - when I get home, and that's not pretty either. Nevertheless, South Korea seems determined to please and inspire me to the last moment, and I appreciate it. I'll make sure to carry these inspirations well into the future once I am back stateside, and of course, buying my new car will be a huge step in the right direction.

Human Rights

2MB is now ensuring that I can't even access BBC. Firefox will load BBC headlines, but any attempts to read actual articles now go nowhere. 2MB, why not just stop being chicken, and actually put up an official firewall banning BBC (and other subversive foreign democratic websites) from South Korea, showing your true colors as an undemocratic tyrant? After all, South Korea already runs a firewall - to keep North Korean websites out.

I'm staying in today, my only time skipping a meditation session for a reason other than travel. I'll probably stay in all day and watch some Go matches on TV, and maybe do some offline writing. In the meantime, tomorrow, December 10th, is International Human Rights Day, and I am looking at observances both here in South Korea and back in the US; I will support these observances - if only in spirit - as my sign of severe displeasure against the past 8 years of W rule in the US, the continuing rule of W's puppet 2MB in South Korea, and tyrants elsewhere in the rest of the world.

• In Seoul, activists from within South Korea and around the world run the House of Sharing, a museum/shelter for survivors of Imperial Japan's Comfort Women program. The website tells lots of painful stories of the former sex slaves, who have been neglected by their own families and government for decades. Thanks to their own courage, however, as well as help of pro-democracy activists and media (including the Hankyoreh, which publicized the plight of the Comfort Women in the early 1990s), the Comfort Women now have a voice. Since 1992, they've been protesting every Wednesday at noon in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul, and will continue to do so until their seven demands - including official apology from Japan - are met. Tomorrow's protest will coincide with the International Human Rights Day, and will include special events. I think supporting them will be the best thing I can peacefully, safely do to support the everyday South Koreans, and strongly condemn the New Right sellouts who see these former sex slaves as willing volunteers.
• Back in the US, an AP report on Yahoo! indicates that gay rights activists are planning on doing something along the lines of the massive immigrant walkout of 2006. They are fed up with continuing passage of gay marriage bans nationwide - especially Prop 8 in California. They'll make sure to get heard by withholding their economic contributions (both work and spending), and by volunteering for worthy nonprofits. Many of the participants will be sympathetic straights, and some employers do expect significant work slowdown for the day. While this will certainly make some symbolic impact (how much, I don't know), some activists do point out that a more effective strategy will be to permanently direct spending money away from homophobic companies and toward gay-friendly companies. And by retiring my BMW, I'll be doing just that.

The Korean-American community, overwhelming supporters of both the treasonous New Right movements within South Korea and the homophobia in the US, will certainly see my wrath. They are enemies of democracy worldwide, and I will gladly point that out for the rest of my life.

The journey to Hong Kong

I am at my hotel in Hong Kong - a bit behind schedule. I'm very glad to be here. Here's a recap of my journey from Seoul.

As indicated in my last post, I took a deluxe airport bus to Incheon, which took Expressway 1 into Seoul to take advantage of the bus lane, before taking Olympic Expressway and Expressway 130 into the airport. I slept much of the way - and enjoyed the ride.

No problems at Incheon whatsoever. The colonial government relies on massive databases of personal data to police its subjects, and as I am a mere short-term visitor with no South Korean Internet portal accounts, it's much more difficult to police the truth that I send out to the world. Basically, I had obeyed the immigration laws and the terms of my visa without incurring unsettled debts or commiting a crime, so I had no problem clearing immigration.

My flight was on Asiana Airlines, with codeshare United and South African flight numbers. With my new Premier status at United, my boarding pass and luggage tag specifically identified me as a Star Silver customer. It was delayed for connecting passengers from a delayed flight from Los Angeles, then again for a no-show whose checked luggage had to be unloaded. The passengers were overwhelmingly Hong Kongers; very few South Koreans were on board, thanks to the crash of the won. The equipment was an Airbus 330 (HL7740), my first flight on a large Airbus; I liked its ergonomics, though hated its surprisingly low ceiling. It featured video-on-demand, but didn't feature much for the rather short 3 1/2-hour flight, so I did some music mixes again, starting with some Elton John, then proceeded to playing some chess.

Here's my flight projectory. I'm about to start some chess games - and I'm just over halfway from Jeju Island to Taipei. After taking off from Incheon to the north, and getting a brief look at the total darkness of North Korea's Hwanghae Provinces, I hugged the western coastline of South Korea and exited its airspace at Jeju Island. I felt very glad to be flying into East China Sea; from now on, everything was brand-new territory for me, and moreover, the 2MB colonial government no longer had jurisdiction over me.

The rest of the flight took me straight over Taipei, following the northwestern Taiwan coast, before staying a bit of a distance off of the southern Chinese coast all the way to Hong Kong. I was surprised at how bright the lights of Fujian Province were, even from about 80 miles offshore; the coastal Chinese lights stayed respectable all the way to Hong Kong. And as I continued to spend time over the Taiwan Strait, I was reminded of all the progress being made between China and Taiwan. Sure, both sides have very problematic governments that need lots more work, and the very future of Taiwan is still up in the air, but they both know that it's best to work together, set ideological differences aside, and prosper together. And the opposing political factions in Taiwan are fighting over whether it's better to work closely with Beijing, or explore Taiwan's native roots further; both are very noble causes, unlike the outright treason that makes up South Korea's various "New Right" movements.

From now on, to honor the various New Right movements within South Korea, whenever there is a conflict between South Korea and Japan over geography, I will use Japanese conventions. I already use "Sea of Japan," the internationally accepted current name for the sea separating the two countries, even though the Korean convention uses the "East Sea." And Dokdo will now be considered Takeshima, part of Japan's Shimane Prefecture. Since the New Right considers pro-independence movement and nationalism to be on par with vicious terrorism, and considers Japanese rule (and US Republican benevolence today as well) to be extremely beneficial to Korea, South Korea can pretty much forget about East Sea and Dokdo as long as the New Rights call the shots. And seriously, all the pro-Dokdo protests are poorly organized like afterthoughts, and the organizers drive around in Lexuses anyway!

Nevertheless, my bitterness of the past few days melted away upon the sight of the world-famous Hong Kong harbor, as I approached. Both the skyscrapers of Hong Kong Island and the bright lights of Kowloon were absolutely gorgeous. I then shot out west halfway out over the mouth of the Pearl River, getting some glimpses of even the casino lights of Macau, before turning back east to land at the airport, which is not as pretty as Incheon but certainly just as modern and logical. Too bad that I'll never get to experience the thrill of landing at Kai Tak, which closed a decade ago; landing there used to involve a last-minute turn over a residential area. A ride on the super-modern Airport Express train and the somewhat British-feeling MTR subway system brought me to Kowloon, where I am staying. And honestly, any subway system other than Seoul Metro is good enough for me right now.

Loved hearing the various Cantonese conversations - even though they tend to be way too loud sometimes. Also loved hearing announcements in Cantonese, English, and Mandarin on the Airport Express. (Kowloon - 九龍 - is Jiulong in Mandarin!) Also love the fact that the mass transit system runs until after 1AM. And unlike in South Korea, English announcements and signs actually make sense here. I do have to give the Koreans some credit however; Asiana's flight was excellent as usual, with plenty of Christmas carols for boarding and disembarking, and great inflight food. As my plane did its takeoff roll at Incheon, I was also able to spot a United 777 that had just come in from San Francisco - always a welcome reminder of my past travels in other parts of the world.

Hong Kong greeted me warmly. That's something some other cities, namely Amsterdam with its immigrant thugs, will never be able to claim. I look forward to some great days ahead here. Reality does demand that I must return to Seoul and 2MB's treasonous arms after a few days, but after ten more days of that, I will be back in Los Angeles - where I'll look forward to doing some real ass-kicking.

Following the game of Go

Baduk (바둑) is a national obsession in South Korea. Of course, English speakers refer to the game by its Japanese name of Go. Go was originally a Chinese game, but it's the Japanese who developed it into its modern form and spread it around the world, so modern international games all follow (at least mostly) Japanese rules and concepts. Back in China, there are separate Go rules, but they are normally not followed internationally. In Korea, there used to be another local set of rules for Go, but it pretty much died out during the Japanese occupation, and Japanese rules are used today, as modern Go had to be pretty much re-imported back from Japan over the past several decades.

For the past two weeks, I couldn't watch any Baduk TV, because I was on the road, and no hotels would show it. But now I am in a residence and able to watch it again, and while at it, able to observe some trends in Go.

As mentioned before, Japan was where the modern Go theories were developed and refined. Until recently, Japan yielded the best players in the world, and the bright Go minds of China and Korea had to go to Japan, and Japanize their names, to pick up those advanced concepts. One of them is the legendary player, Cho Chikun, who was born in Busan as Cho Chi-hun but has lived in Japan since early childhood. Cho elevated the game to new heights in both Japan and South Korea, and was a major inspiration for aspiring Go players back here in South Korea.

For the past few decades, South Korea has led the way in Go. Two older players with well-defined personal styles are Cho Hun-hyeon and Seo Bong-su; both are still active today. However, the current champs tend to be in their mid-20s, such as Lee Se-dol, the best player in the world; Lee Chang-ho, considered the second best in the world, but with some key strengths that Lee Se-dol doesn't possess; and Kang Dong-yun, who is especially strong in international matches. I feel very privileged to be able to follow Lee Se-dol's trademark out-of-the-box aggressive style on a daily basis, through Baduk TV.

China has suffered for decades under Mao Zedong, whose Cultural Revolution turned Go into a capital offense, due to its territorial (read: capitalist) nature. But now, that's history. China has some very strong players. Right now, South Korea's Nongshim (a major ramen manufacturing company) is sponsoring the tenth annual three-nation battle, and China was last year's winner. (Japan won in 2005, while South Korea won the other seven times.) And given the huge pool of players in China today, things can only look up from now on.

China also leads the way in women's Go. The best female players are from China, where aggressive, assertive women doing traditionally male activities are considered positive. By contrast, in South Korea, women have been discouraged from playing Go for decades. But South Korea now also has a sizable female Go population, and the players' levels are constantly improving. As I watch some children's matches within South Korea, I notice that some of the best grade school-level players are girls; I hope they will conquer the world in another ten years.

I am also noticing that fuseki (opening) and joseki (sequence), two very important concepts in Go, ebb and flow with time. Young players are using some strange joseki that would have been completely unacceptable 10-20 years ago. As new joseki are developed, old, overused ones that have been well countered over the past few years fall out of use in turn. This reminds me that I need to keep watching as many current games as possible, just to stay updated on the newest trends.

I am also noticing some regulations for tournament play. Common South Korean regulations stipulate that each side is given a small amount of thinking time - 5 or 10 minutes, kept in track by a chess clock. Once the initial time runs out, the player enters the countdown phase; s/he must make a move within an allotted timeframe, say 30 or 40 seconds. A female referee will audibly count the final ten seconds of the timeframe. Going over the timeframe is allowed a certain number of times (3, 5, or 10 times are common), at which time the countdown begins again. Exhausting these overtime allowances loses the game, however. International matches appear to be using similar regulations, though countdown is not done audibly (partly because it has to be done in some mutually agreeable language).

Japanese domestic games, however, have been notorious for lengthy initial thinking times - traditionally up to six hours per side. Starting a match at 10AM, the two sides exhaust their thinking times, adding up to 12 hours. There are one-hour lunch and dinner breaks. And of course there are the countdown stage moves. It is common for a game to end at 2AM the next day, and after analysis, it may be 3 or 4AM. With no mass transit running at that time of the day, and with exorbitant Japanese taxi fares, it makes sense to rest until 5AM and take the first subway train home. I don't think I can pull that off.

Lastly, Baduk TV has American-style commercial breaks, though they are mercifully short. However, they are also able to give me another look into Korean culture. Apparently, funeral funds are a big business in this Confucian society. For a monthly deposit of about 30,000 won over ten years, I can have the services of six funeral directors, a limousine, and a few mourners' buses, when a parent passes away. I must pay for renting a mortuary and feeding the guests, as well as the actual cemetery plot or crematorium, but everything else, including taking care of all the headaches, is included. The funeral directors will provide me and my parents with ideas on how to make the funeral a special experience; my parents can probably pre-record a video will that can be played at the funeral. Doesn't sound too bad, really - I only need to sink a small amount per month, and hope that my parents will stay alive for ten years, until after I am done depositing. Good to think about this stuff, after having visited the graves of three of my four grandparents - and being very well aware that my parents don't have much time left either. (My paternal grandfather is buried somewhere in the northern fringes of Busan, but he was so hated that my grandmother specifically asked to be buried as far away from him as possible, and that neither my father nor his siblings even remember where exactly he is buried, much less visit the grave.)

Seoul: Looking to the future

My "sightseeing" in Seoul today actually wasn't much of a sightseeing day at all. It was more of a subway joyride to make myself feel better, and to look into possible travel opportunities in the future.

My original intention was to visit the Chinese-Korean hybrid shrine of Dongmyo, dedicated to the Chinese General Guan Yu (of the Romances of the Three Kingdoms fame). Unfortunately, I found that it remains under renovation, and will stay that way for a while.

My joyride took me to Gimpo Airport in the far west of the city; this was my first visit there since 1994. My initial intention was to check the connections to the A'REX airport train service, which connects Gimpo to Incheon International Airport; as it is cheaper than a bus, I will use that service to get to Incheon when I head for Hong Kong next month. It looks like I will need to allow myself plenty of time, as the subway ride (Line 5) to Gimpo from downtown takes a while.

While at it, I also toured the rest of the airport. The 1971-vintage former domestic terminal is now an E-Mart, which I did not check out. The 1980-vintage current domestic terminal (which was the main international terminal, with sizable Japan Airlines, Northwest, and United presence, before Incheon opened in 2001) is much less miserable now than I remember, after Incheon took the heavy load off of Gimpo and the terminal got renovated. I counted at least half a dozen airlines serving it, now that several low-cost airlines have taken to the skies, primarily on the popular Jeju Island route. Even the main full-service airlines have joined the low-cost fray, in the form of Jin Air (Korean Air) and Air Busan (Asiana Airlines); they join the established low-cost airlines Jeju Air, Hansung Airlines, Yeongnam Airlines, Eastar, and others, as well as Korean Air and Asiana Airlines' own extensive domestic services.

While flying around the compact South Korean mainland is more hassle than it's worth (especially now that the bullet train offers a much easier alternative), Jeju Island, due to its distance and isolation, is best reached by air. While I have no plans to go to Jeju at this time, I will certainly go there during a future Seoul visit. Jeju also requires a rental car for any serious sightseeing. I wrapped up my visit of the domestic terminal by visiting showcases of various South Korean locales, including Jeju Island and a few mainland destinations that are part of my road trip next week.

The 1988-vintage international terminal, originally a secondary terminal built exclusively for Korean Air (though shared with a few other airlines, including Asiana, later on), once again handles international flights. It currently runs services to Haneda Airport in Tokyo and Hongqiao Airport in Shanghai. There are six airlines there: Korean Air, Asiana, Japan Airlines, All Nippon, China Eastern, and Shanghai Airlines. As the terminal is underutilized, the western half of it is now a giant shopping mall. Originally, I didn't want to check out the terminal, but I decided to check it out anyway just in case I end up going to Tokyo, a two-hour flight away, on a future Seoul visit. And yes, despite the reactionary Japanese politics, I think Tokyo will surely be worthwhile; after all, despite 2MB, I am loving Seoul.

Sure, it's also possible to head out to Incheon and take a flight to Narita; in that case, a number of other airlines, including Northwest and United, also become viable options. But the airport transit times will be excessive, and the cost will be prohibitive as well.

Now, I have picked up inspirations for future visits to Jeju and Tokyo. I am determined to make Seoul not only a mere destination, but my second home, and also a jumping-off point for journeys into other great Asian locations. Now, it's time for me to book my trip to Hong Kong, as a start in making this happen; I will learn a lot from planning and carrying out my Hong Kong trip, and that will certainly carry me well into Jeju, Tokyo, and more.

My return to Los Angeles is now confirmed for mid-December. Looking forward to enjoying the experience of getting a new car while I am back home.

2AM - and seething mad

It's 2AM, Sunday, October 19th. I can't sleep because I am seething mad, over what I had heard in the evening from a relative, who runs a manufacturing plant supplying various larger corporations, including Samsung. He had done a round of golf with a Samsung executive and other suppliers.

It looks like the Samsung executive said that it'll be in everyone's best interest to pray for a long Kim Jong-il reign in North Korea, because if/when he dies, four factions will vie for power, and there is a 30% chance of war. He also advised suppliers to hold off on capital investments due to the war threat. He finally asked them to pressure the leftist opposition parties into dropping their proposal for a defense budget cut.

Honestly, I don't know who's a patriot, and who's a leftist Communist puppet, around here anymore. The fact is that the four rival North Korean factions are no more, and no less, likely to consider going to war than the current Kim Jong-il regime, given the international conditions. One thing that they will certainly not have is Kim's totalitarian control and personality cult, and this is extremely important. The personality cult is the most important tool enabling North Korea to exert total control over its people, with very willing compliance; take the cult away, and North Korea will have to change, open up, and start working closely with South Korea and the rest of the world. The North Koreans will not dare speak up against a deity (the Kim family), but WILL speak up against a government that they don't consider divine. Asking for a long, prosperous Kim Jong-il reign is asking for the continued status quo, which will benefit nobody but maybe defense contractors. To me, this is the true treason.

This, combined with Samsung's total support and practice of neoliberal economics, has me seething mad. Samsung would rather offshore overseas than invest in its home market, workforce, society, and consumers. Samsung would rather re-write laws, and re-shape the government, in its favor, than comply with common-sense regulations. Samsung is practicing the same economics and policies that have brought the US down to its knees over the past three decades, slowly but surely. If the economy were sound, those leftist-proposed defense budget cuts may not even be necessary anyway.

The money that I recently spent at Everland will be the last bit of money Samsung will ever see from me. Samsung has done to the electronics industry, and to South Korea, what Toyota has done to the automotive industry, and to Japan and the US. Toyota has pretty much determined the current Supreme Court Chief Justice for the US, and has weakened US labor laws in its favor, while funding its evil deeds by selling the Prius to well-intentioned progressives. And it would be Samsung's wet dream to add to those Toyota accomplishments in the US. Just as I refuse to drive the Prius, I refuse to use the PAVV TVs and other Samsung products from now on.

My first order of business, when I return to the US, will be to immediately throw away my last Samsung product - a 20" TV set with a dead speaker. It'll especially be the case, if the South Korean neoliberal government succeeds in its goals of either a John McCain presidency or the passage of California's teen abortion ban and/or gay marriage ban. The TV has caused me tons of grief, like my former car Ford Contour. And honestly, I would rather buy another Ford piece of scrap metal than another Samsung product. When I am trying to support policies in the US that encourage domestic job creation and discourage further offshoring (therefore restoring the American workers' spending power and the economy as a whole), it makes no sense to continue using products from the world's most eager offshorer - Samsung.

Turning back to the automotive world, Toyota is not the only evil one. BMW, which funded Bill O'Reilly's terrorist threats on San Francisco and progressive politicians, must be taught a lesson. My intention for the past several months has been to keep my South African-built 3-series running as long as possible, but if I get fed up enough, I will again consider selling it. The current Hyundai vehicles, such as the Sonata, the Veracruz, and the Genesis, are tempting, though given that President Lee Myung-bak is a former Hyundai executive, I will think twice before jumping in. At least, if I do end up in a Hyundai, I will be able to claim that I have more appreciation for South Korea's economy, industries, and workers than its own elites, who would rather buy overrated Lexus pieces of scrap metal (especially the RX, which is just a jacked-up Camry wagon) just to "teach the unions a lesson." Now, who's really guilty of treason? (Especially considering that Japan is in a high-stakes territorial dispute with South Korea?)

At least it's a good thing that Samsung is not, and never was, in mass transit vehicle business, and that I don't have to ride Samsung buses and Samsung subway trains around Seoul.

Revisionist History

As I was out and about in and around downtown Seoul, I came across another banner, courtesy of the Korean Railroad Workers' Union. It read: "Mad cow-tainted American beef threatens Korean families and farmers, and as such, the railroad workers refuse to transport it." Of course, this is a continuation of the American beef hysteria - and more importantly, the people's disapproval of Lee Myung-bak and his coddling of the US Republicans.

But that is not my biggest concern today - a bigger news item popped up on today's Joongang Ilbo (published as The Korea Daily in major US cities). As if naming 23 books as "subversive" (including designating patriotic American books as "anti-American") was not enough, South Korea's Ministry of National Defence now wants the nation's textbooks re-written, to stamp out what it calls the "leftist bias" in the public education system. (It also ties into Lee Myung-bak's plans to reveal the number of unionized teachers at each public school.) Some details of the proposed changes are as follows:

• President Park Chung-hee, who collaborated with the Japanese colonial rulers under the name Masao Takaki, and who was the nation's unitary executive from 1961 to 1979, is currently described in textbooks as "a man above the Constitution," but the Ministry of National Defence wants him described as "the visionary who masterminded the nation's industrialization."
• The inaugural President Syngman Rhee, an autocratic Korean-American who led South Korea during the war, is currently described as "a dictator who used the division and the war as excuses to consolidate his grip on power." It is generally well agreed among Koreans of all political stripes that Rhee didn't get much done during his 12 years in power. The proposed changes will describe him as "the founder of Korean democracy and a patriotic anticommunist fighter." No mentions whatsoever will be made of his war crimes.
  
• President Chun Doo-hwan, a Reagan puppet who seized power in a 1979 coup and killed hundreds of pro-democracy protesters in 1980, and ruled until 1988, will be described in much more positive terms, including his winning the rights to host the 1988 Summer Olympics, overseeing an economic boom, and being the first South Korean President to peacefully step down at the end of his term. His negative aspects, including the coup, ties to Reagan, support of the Unification Church, and eventual death sentence for his coup (later commuted by a leftist regime), will be left out altogether.
• Currently, North Korea is described as "an autocratic personality cult of Kim Il-sung, succeeded by his son Kim Jong-il." The proposed changes will change that to simply "an extraordinarily evil regime, even by communist standards."

South Korea is currently up in arms over Japan's own right-wing revisionist history books, which describe the Korean-administered island of Dokdo, or Liancourt Rocks, as the Japanese territory of Takeshima, as well as Japan's World War II-era war crimes as "liberation of the Asian peoples from Western powers," and even the Comfort Women as "voluntary sex workers." But given that South Korea wants to teach revisionist history of its own, the cries against Japanese revisionist history are starting to sound a lot more hollow - especially given that the very conservative forces that want the revisionist history taught in South Korea tend to be soft on Japan (to a point where they want to thank the Japanese colonizers for industrializing and modernizing Korea - never mind that Japan was really exploiting Korea instead).

I do believe that democratic traditions, which developed despite the decades of dictatorships, will triumph over the military in the end, here in South Korea. The children of South Korea need to learn facts, not propaganda. I strongly denounce the Lee Myung-bak government for putting its own selfish goals (including meddling in US politics) above the well-being of the South Korean people.

And in the wake of this news item, I have decided to strike the War Memorial, with its McCarthyist propaganda galore, off of my list of place to visit during my stay. I had wanted to go there to study military history, to pay homage to my 11th Century ancestor General Seo Hui (whose bust is at the memorial), and to look at some pro-peace artwork, but I cannot, in good conscience, support the South Korean military and its mentality anymore.

Calendarology

Even one more tangent.

Since calendars were mentioned in an earlier post today, here's a Wikipedia article on Korean calendar (as well as traditional holidays), which has traditionally been lunar. In fact, my flight to Seoul will take place on August 15th (AKA Chuseok, or Lunar Harvest Festival) on lunar calendar - which means my nighttime flight will enjoy plenty of moonshine, and my bus ride into Seoul will benefit from lighter-than-usual traffic due to the holiday weekend. To help out with farming, however, 24 solar terms (an example would be the summer solstice), tied to the solar calendar and its seasons, were also used. The names of the terms are largely shared with their Chinese, Japanese, and Vietnamese counterparts.

The days of the week are also an interesting topic. All days of the week get the 曜日 (yoil) suffix. The seven days of the week are 日, 月, 火, 水, 木, 金, and 土 (pronounced il, wol, hwa, su, mok, geum, and to), from Sunday to Saturday. Like the days of the week in Germanic languages, they use the sun, the moon, and the planets as their names, in the order of Sun, Moon, Mars (fire), Mercury (water), Jupiter (wood), Venus (gold), and Saturn (soil). The Japanese also use the exact same labels, though with Japanized pronunciations. This is different from the Chinese system, which sequentially number Monday through Saturday as 1 through 6; the average Chinese won't be able to understand the Korean/Japanese days of the week.

Latin languages also use the moon and the planets, but instead of Sunday, they have "Lord's Day" - dimanche in French, domingo in Spanish. In South Korea, the Christians follow the same practice, preferring to use 主日 (juil, "Master's Day" or "Lord's Day") instead of 日曜日 that everyone else uses. In the US, where virtually all Korean speakers are fundamentalist Christians, 主日 is used far more frequently.

When I arrive in Seoul, I can expect to see calendars showing Gregorian solar calendar and Christian AD/CE year, though lunar dates and solar terms (sometimes in Korean, sometimes in Chinese) will also be noted in smaller font. The days of the week will follow the secular convention, either in Korean or in Chinese characters (NOT Chinese names) - or they will be in 3-letter abbreviated English names.

And last, but not the least, in addition to the traditional holidays listed above, South Korea observes these holidays, which include modern-day nationalistic memorials as well as Christmas; some are days off, some are mere memorials, some will require flag display. And speaking of Christmas, again the Christian and the non-Christian terminology differ. Popular terminology follows the Christian preference, 聖誕節 (seongtanjeol, or Holy Birth Celebration Day), because, obviously, it was the Christians who popularized it and turned it into a national holiday. The legal name for Christmas is 基督誕辰日 (gidoktanshinil, or Christian Birthday), the preferred non-Christian terminology. It's also acceptable to simply call it Christmas (크리스마스), or in written form, X-mas (X-마스).

For comparison, check out North Korean holidays, which, by contrast, tend to celebrate Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-il, and their milestones. In particular, July 27th is called Victory Day, which, in North Korean revisionist history, means the triumph of the great Korean people over the American imperialist aggression (North Korea still insists that the war was started by the US and South Korea); in real history, it marks the Korean War armistice signed in 1953.

Lots of Moonie information

I just came across a page, maintained by a former Moonie, with lots of links showing the true colors of the Unification Church as an evil cult out to destroy democracy and families (despite its "pro-family" mantras). Its links to the Bush family and American conservatives, to former fascist dictatorships in South Korea and Taiwan, and to Japanese fascists and mafia members, are well documented as well.

Freedom of Mind

Family registers

I previously mentioned that in my upcoming South Korean trip, part of my work will involve digging through family vital records.

I found some relevant Wikipedia articles, which deal with the scope of family registers in both Koreas as well as China and Japan. In fact, Japan's koseki (戶籍) system formed the basis of South Korea's old family register, which was used until this year. The koseki uses the family as the basic unit of record, and is fraught with many privacy issues; in Japan, regulations had to be enacted to safeguard sensitive information, including birthplace, lineage, and transgender status.

China runs the hukou system, which works similarly. Taiwan has a slightly more liberal version of hukou, where address of registration can arbitrarily be changed.

Nevertheless, South Korea's new individual-based registry system is a first in East Asia. It enjoyed the strong support of feminist and liberal groups, and drew condemnation of Confucian conservatives and the Moonies (who even launched a new political party promising to restore the old system). Again, I'll report more on it when I am in Seoul and in possession of my vital records.

There are no equivalent systems in English-speaking nations, which have traditionally been more stringent about collecting and maintaining personal data, though the post-9/11 US police state may be buckling that trend.

Wikipedia
Korean Women's Development Institute

White Supremacist wants to be...

... the Superior Court Judge No. 125 of Los Angeles County.

Bill Johnson, whose hand-painted posters are all over Los Angeles County, turns out to go by the nom de plume of James O. Pace, the author of a 1985 proposed constitutional amendment to limit US citizenship to whites, and to deport all nonwhites (except for Native Americans, who will have to be evacuated to reservations). He previously ran for Congress in Wyoming as a Republican (to fill Dick Cheney's seat when Cheney became Secretary of Defense in 1989), and in Arizona as a Democrat in 2006, both times failing at the primary level; his platform didn't deviate too much from his 1985 work as Pace, and his campaign managers were linked to the KKK and other white supremacy groups.

He is identified as an "international corporate lawyer" on the June 3 ballot. He does have international experience in two of the right-wing extremists' favorite countries - Japan and South Korea, both of which have supported white supremacy in Europe and the US despite being nonwhite countries themselves.

Johnson's most recent work was as a campaign organizer to the Ron Paul presidential campaign, showing Paul's own true colors as a racist neoliberal. Paul has recently disassociated himself from Johnson, however.

I have already sent in my absentee ballot, and I didn't vote on this particular office, as most judicial votes have little for me to go by, aside from the name and the occupation. Had I found
this information earlier, however, I would've definitely cast a vote for Johnson's opponent, James Bianco, not a perfect candidate but vastly preferable to Johnson.

Metropolitan News-Enterprise (a newspaper for the legal community)

Honda Accord

While random websurfing, I came across two places where some trivia and information on the Honda Accord could be found. Nice, since I drive a sixth generation model as my daily driver, and have fond memories of the third generation (due to its pop-up headlights) and the fourth generation (because many classmates in high school drove one). The current generation, introduced last fall, is the eighth.

Available in the US since 1976, the Accord was the first Japanese car to be built in the US, in 1982, and was exported back to Japan since 1988. I certainly remember quite a few 1993 model year "10th Anniversary" Accords - they marked the tenth anniversary of the US production. The car was named to inspire a state of accord between the car, the driver, and the road, according to trivia information.

I don't plan on buying another Accord though, because of Honda's conservatism and homophobia (as well as Honda owners' conservatism). The only Honda I will now consider is the Civic Hybrid (though given my line of work, I'm more likely to return to hated Ford and its Escape Hybrid SUV). Nevertheless, the Accord is a very nice car, despite abuse from my sister's ex, and an improper tuneup that decreased fuel efficiency significantly. At 105,000 miles it's doing very well otherwise.

How Stuff Works (history by model year)
MSN Autos (trivia)

Barack Obama and the town of Obama, Japan

An interesting article on the town of Obama, Japan, and its relationship with presidential candidate Barack Obama:

Reuters

And it looks like I have no choice but to support the Obama candidacy, even though I am still incensed about his homophobic advisors. The level of discourse coming out of the Hillary Clinton and John McCain camps is unacceptable, and Obama's promise of change may pretty much be the most needed thing in Washington, DC right now. Of course, making the decision is a bit easier when John Edwards, my original pick for the race, is now endorsing Obama.

Visiting Epcot

As planned, I spent most of the day at Epcot, after finishing up my business in the morning hours. Here is how my day went at Epcot, as I arrived at noon.

Although the Florida humidity was very noticeable, and temperatures were very warm (80s), it wasn't too bad. The showers held off, which helped.

Spaceship Earth, the symbol of Epcot. Inside is a slow ride talking about the human communications evolution. But I decided to save that ride for later, and hit the back half of the park, the World Showcase, right away.

The World Showcase has pavilions representing eleven different nations, ringing this huge lake. It's possible to make out, from left to right, Chinese, German, and Italian pavilions. I spent most of today here, to see if the presentations of the nations were authentic (I've been to a good number of the nations represented).

I went counterclockwise, starting at Canada, where I saw a CircleVision movie called "O Canada" narrated by Martin Short. It was very lovely to see the familiar Vancouver and Montreal skylines again - and get hints of the Rockies, Toronto, and other Canadian locales I have yet to visit. In front of the pavilion is this garden, modeled after Butchart Gardens in Victoria, British Columbia.

The UK pavilion was next. It was a dud, save for some fish & chips. There is a Beatles tribute band performing here, but I missed it.

This waiter plays with the chairs at a cafe in the French pavilion. Here, I watched another movie, this time about the various parts of France. Again, it was so refreshing to see the Parisian cityscape. I noted that the attendants here were native French speakers, and their heavily accented English was hard to understand. Of course, basic French lesson was given, from "bonjour" to "oui" to "merci."

This gate, in Morocco, is based on a city gate in Fez. Behind it lies markets and restaurants. Although I was hungry at this point and the kebabs sounded pretty good, I moved on.

I liked the Japan pavilion, complete with three restaurants and a huge department store. This storyteller (in orange) tells the story of a fisherman named Taro, who rescues the turtle and travels to the underwater world, only to return 150 years later. The man next to the storyteller is a guest playing the role of Taro. Just like France, Japan's staff were natives with heavy accents.

After listening to a drum troupe, I ate fast food lunch here, consisting of sukiyaki beef and teriyaki chicken with rice.

This drum and flute troupe in Revolutionary War costumes played various patriotic music at the US pavilion, culminating in "God Bless America" which all spectators were expected to sing along. Here, I entered a colonial building, where an a capella group in 19th Century costumes sang even more patriotic and folk music, before showing a movie about the American spirit. Glad to see the unique, in your face, American-style patriotism, but I dozed off during the film, so I will need to return here tomorrow.

Italy simulates Venice's St. Mark's Square. A man was juggling soccer balls, but beyond that, not much to see.

Next was Germany, where these figurines are ringing in the 4 o'clock hour already. This clock tower, along with the beer hall, was supposed to represent Munich; honestly I was disappointed, since I was expecting something more elaborate, like Glockenspiel in the real Munich. There was a band playing in the beer hall, but I had to buy the expensive buffet to get in, so I gave up, and moved on.

China was represented by this small replica of Beijing's Temple of Heaven. Having seen the real thing, I was nevertheless impressed by how good it looked. It led to a few things...

These are fake terra cotta warriors representing the Qin emperor's tomb in Xi'an. Alongside were exhibits showing Chinese burial practices. After seeing these, I watched another CircleVision movie, showcasing the major landmarks of China. Again, I was glad to see the familiar sights of Beijing's Forbidden City.

The China gift shop had various goods for sale, including these Buddhist sculptures, from Buddha to Kwan Yin. Honestly I wanted to buy a traditional Chinese dress in mini length, but the ones for sale were too long for my tastes.

The Norway pavilion had a Viking boat ride with a long wait. I obtained a FastPass and spent some time over at the Mexican pavilion next door, before coming back for the ride, which was gentle despite a drop. After the boat ride, I had to watch a 5-minute movie on Norway before exiting.

The mariachi band played at the last pavilion, Mexico. They almost made me homesick - with Los Angeles being so close to Mexico (and having so many Mexicans), mariachi music is a fact of life for me. After enjoying their performance, I hopped on a boat ride, much like It's a Small World except that everything was Mexican-themed.

I saw this collection of Disney princess dolls for sale. From left to right: Cinderella, Belle, Sleeping Beauty, Ariel, and Snow White. Not in the picture, but just above them, was Jasmine from Aladdin.

This pretty much wrapped up my World Showcase tour, leaving me about three hours to spare before park closing. I immediately went on General Motors' Test Track, which propelled me at 65 MPH in open air (I had to really watch my hair on that one!). Then I took a long ride on Ellen's Energy Adventure, which was a dud despite the presence of lesbian icon Ellen DeGeneres. Rides on Mission: Space and Spaceship Earth wrapped up my day.


As the night fell and the park closed, this fireworks show, called IllumiNations: Earth, took place at the large lake in the middle of World Showcase. It was a good sight to end the day with.

I will return tomorrow to finish Future World, revisit some of the World Showcase pavilions, and have good time in general, before preparing for the flight home. All in all, a wonderful day, and a wonderful end to a nice week. I've always wanted to visit Epcot since its opening in 1982, and it surely did not disappoint today.

The white American liberals' perception problem

As I wrote my post on Venezuelan politics yesterday, and briefly discussed the American liberals' support for the policies of Hugo Chavez, I had several thoughts on the state of white American liberalism, and how out of touch it feels to the nonwhites like me - the very ones they are claiming to stand for.

According to the white American liberal orthodoxy, Venezuela is a commendable example of a nation breaking free of Western European cultures' influences, by charting its own course of spreading the prosperity to the weak, and defying the imperial fascist tendencies of the W regime. Chavez came to power, by running on a populist platform, and by defeating a pro-Western candidate, former Miss Universe Irene Saez, who had met with President Bill Clinton during his visit to Venezuela. While it is true that there is a lot of oil wealth in Venezuela, and it has not been distributed fairly in the past, even Chavez hasn't been able to make much of an improvement, despite his flashy grand social programs. Fixing Venezuela's problems requires long-term visionary plans by several successive regimes, and the power-hungry personality of Chavez is now working against that.

But nobody on the American left dares to suggest that Chavez is power-hungry. In fact, they continue to point to his high approval ratings - but that's pretty much the only thing that's going well for him now. In particular, no white American liberal dares to point out the discrepancy between Chavez's supposed regard for human rights in Venezuela, and his friendships with Ahmadinejad and Mugabe, the world's worst human rights abusers.

The white American liberal premise seems to be that dictatorship and imperialism are evil values of the Western white man, transplanted into the Third World by centuries of colonialism. By extension, racism, sexism, and homophobia are related Western white man values to enforce control over the Third World inhabitants. I couldn't disagree more. First of all, democracy is another Western white man value (it started in Greece) - does it need to be thrown out too? Also, almost all cultures in the world have historically considered themselves superior to others, so racism is a universal value, regardless of culture. As for sexism and homophobia, they are severe problems with Confucianism and Islam, purely Asian value systems that the white man has had nothing to do with. The white American liberal may be enamored of the existence of Indian hijras and Thai kathoeys, but they do not enjoy the social acceptance that the white American liberal thinks they do.

Speaking of Confucianism, just about the only thing it has to do with the Western world would be its adherents' receptiveness to primitive fundamentalist Christianity (as evidenced by the Christians' success in Korea and failure in Japan), with the shared values of sexism and homophobia, but even that doesn't change the fact that those values are home-grown in Asia and not by the white man.

In fact, the fact remains that despite the self-loathing of white American liberals, the Western world still continues to offer the most personal freedoms and the most opportunities. And in fact, it's this aspect of the Western world that allows the white man to be critical of his own values, and seek better values from elsewhere. Non-Western cultures, being more communally minded and never believing in individual happiness, work differently, and are much less tolerant of differences. Back to Venezuela, that's why Hugo Chavez wants Halloween, a "decadent custom of the Western imperialists," banned.

Of course, for someone like me, a culture that values individuality and diversity is a MUST, and that's why I've been outspoken in my criticism of Confucianism and some other conformist non-Western cultures and values; of course, the clueless white American liberals have dared to accuse ME of self-hatred. If anyone's guilty of self-hatred, however, it's them, not me. The fact remains that if Venezuela were a white man's country in Europe, these same white American liberals would've ripped it to shreds, and it's only because it's a Latin country in the Third World that they tolerate and celebrate its "defiance." And the fact remains that Toyota and Samsung can be at least as neoliberal and antisocial as Halliburton or any other white man's company.

All this reminds me that just like conservatism, white American liberalism is orthodox and rigid - and less tolerant of dissent than it wants to admit. My goal will be to seek out the truly educated people, whose liberal backgrounds are rooted in actual understanding of the issues they claim to support and embrace, not the lemmings who blindly follow the feel-good issue of the day.

Toyota: the Company That Supports American Theocracy

The Supreme Court, now headed by a former Toyota corporate lawyer John Roberts, has just handed down a decision declaring W's "faith-based initiatives," notorious for their illegal and unconstitutional discrimination policies, off-limits to taxpayer challenge.

Thanks to Toyota and its grooming of Roberts, Americans are now forced to pay taxes to support religious doctrines and dogmas they disapprove of.

Unfortunately, the liberal community just doesn't see how evil Toyota can possibly get, simply because it's not a white man's company. The same way the Unification Church and other yellow perils sneak past them. The same way the liberals can't possibly imagine the likes of Rape of Nanking ever happening, at the hands of a nonwhite race.

MSNBC

Yellow Peril, revisited

Last December, I found a TruthOut article on the Moonies - if I remember correctly, on a tip from another site. It was such a disgusting reading material that even though I made sure to share it with peace activist Medea Benjamin, I didn't get to read it in depth myself until now. And as I see it, the web of influence goes well beyond Moon.

TruthOut article

It appears that much of the initial influence for Moon was made possible by South Korea's government, specifically the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA) led by prominent right-wing politician Kim Jong-pil. Kim, of course, was also the prime minister under president Park Chung-hee, a 18-year fascist dictator widely credited with industrializing the South Korean economy (though on his terms, not on the businesses' or the laborers'). As the US tried to withdraw from the Vietnam quagmire, the South Korean government feared a similar ending for itself in case of another Korean War, so it tried to influence US politics through Moon. Moon was convicted and jailed for tax fraud in the Jimmy Carter era, but under Reagan-Bush, he came back stronger than ever, launching the Washington Times.

South Korea was not alone. Other dealmakers included the government of Republic of China on Taiwan (Kuomintang, led by Chiang Kai-shek), which also was fearful of the Communists on mainland China. In addition, Kim Jong-pil was instrumental in getting the Japanese mafia - yakuza - involved. Other players in this setup include various racists and Holocaust deniers (Moon himself is a Holocaust denier, if I remember correctly).

One thing that assured Moon's free pass was his status as the leader of a "religious organization" - enjoying many protections and freedoms under the US Constitution's First Amendment. In addition, Richard Nixon gave Moon freebie permanent residency in the US, allowing him to function much more freely than a visitor could. Moon eventually used his US operations as the base to further expand his influence, interfering in politics of Latin American nations. It is alleged that much of Moon's deep pockets results from the multi-step money laundering done through Latin American drug trade and Japanese yakuza operations.

Moon's deep pockets were instrumental also in ensuring the survival of Jerry Falwell's Liberty University, and in continuing to run the Washington Times, successfully smearing centrist and liberal politicians and even casting doubt on the mental capacity of Al Gore.

One thing that must be noticed: Moon loves America when it is in Republican hands, and loathes it when it is in Democratic hands. During the Clinton era, Moon was sharply critical of American individualism and freedoms. This shows Moon's true colors as a backward Korean patriarch who thrives on conformity and uniformity. He is the true enemy of American ideals.

Sometimes, because of all the sweetheart no-bid contracts, Halliburton seems to be a subsidiary of the government of the United States (or vice versa). But after a close examination of the Unification Church, I have concluded that the US government, Halliburton, the Republican Party, the South Korean government (and the Grand National Party), the Taiwanese government (and the Kuomintang), Japanese yakuza, and Latin American drug lords, all are mere puppets of the Unification Church. They all are the enemies of the people of the nations involved, especially those who are women, LGBT, or love their freedoms.

There is one way to fight back. The Moonie puppet political parties can, and must, be voted out of power, in all these nations. While the US is seeing a failure of neoconservative ideals (so well championed by Moon) and is ripe for a swing back to a Democratic rule, things look much bleaker in South Korea and Taiwan, where between right-wing media and incompetent left-wing politicians, the voters are set to vote the Moonies back into power.

I am also for rescinding the proclamation of January 13th of every year as the "Korean-American Day." Given that the day - the only one of its kind for any ethnic minority in the US - really seems to celebrate the Moonies' influence in US politics, it is unconscionable to keep celebrating it.

The conservatives whine about the Muslims' destruction of European democracies and freedoms. They better look in the mirror for a similar Christian destruction going on in America - thanks to their Moonie buddies.