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	<title><![CDATA[koreatown]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[[indent][indent][indent][indent][indent][indent][indent][i][URL="http://www.flickr.com/photos/shinyai/5478746983/"]Okubo, Tokyo[/URL] by Shinya Ichinohe[/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/i]


[i]Where's the mountain I 've just come down? 
Where am I? 
[b]Ko Un, Walking Down a Mountain[/b]


Even if you know the way, ask one more time.
[b]Korean proverb[/b][/i]


There has been a Korean boom in Japan for a few years. It started with a TV drama series called Winter Sonata in 2002. Then one or two Korean pop artists released songs in Japanese. Now there are many, many popular Korean singers and groups.  

There are a lot of Korean restaurants and shops selling Korean music and related goods near Shin-Okubo station in Tokyo. It used to be a dying area. Especially during the day. At night it was perhaps a little busier because it is close to some of the Shinjuku entertainment areas. But in the last couple of years it has become a bustling shopping area. Most of the people who go there now are very, very young. They are fans of Korean pop idols and actors. I have to say that Korean movies are usually much more realistic than Japanese movies.

Shin-Okubo is quite near the Aikikai hombu dojo. And it's the closest station to the Iwata budo supply store. I wrote about the store in [URL="http://www.aikiweb.com/blogs/moon-in-the-water-19051/iwata-3973/"]Iwata[/URL]. It's where I get all my aikido uniforms: aikidogi and hakama.

It's nice to see an old decaying area become revitalized. 

When I went to Korea years ago there was no aikido. Not even one dojo. I think there are a few there now. But I did go to a hapkido dojo. Hapkido is written with the same three Chinese characters as aikido. &#21512;&#27671;&#36947;. It's supposed to have descended from aikijujutsu. It was very energetic and athletic. And the uke was expected to be very responsive. I didn't much like training to music though. 

Niall


[i][b]background articles[/b]

[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_Sonata[/url]
[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_wave[/url]
[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K-pop[/url] 
[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koreatown[/url]
[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shin-%C5%8Ckubo_Station[/url]
[url]http://seoulbeats.com/2012/01/counterpoint-k-pop-in-japan-no-special-treatment/[/url]
[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ko_Un[/url]


photo: [URL="http://www.flickr.com/photos/shinyai/5478746983/"]Okubo, Tokyo[/URL] by Shinya Ichinohe


my home page with a mirror of these blog posts plus other stuff: [URL="http://mooninthewater.net/aikido"]mooninthewater.net/aikido[/URL]
 

my [URL="http://www.aikiweb.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=75&filter[1]=Niall%20Matthews"]columns[/URL] on aikiweb[/i]


© niall matthews 2012]]></body>
	<date>09-02-2012</date>
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