Tigers and Cranes

“Ray’s Diary” is drawn and written by a Korean expatriate named Han Yong Jong, living in Ikebukuro, Tokyo, Japan. I find his drawing style and humor strangely captivating, as he chronicles his daily life living in Japan as a Korean.

I had the pleasure of him emailing me and we corresponded a bit, and I hope he won’t mind my reprinting his old comics here with my translation of his Japanese and Korean into English, so those who can’t read either Korean or Japanese can also enjoy these comic strips.

Also, the author even includes mini Japanese lessons on the bottom.

You can view his latest comics online at his website (warning, it’s kind of hard to navigate, since it’s Cyworld, a notoriously insular and difficult to navigate website, kind of like Korean version of Myspace or something.)

In this installment of Ray’s Diary, he talks about those ubiquitous tissue dispensing people that are all over large cities in Japan. They’re mighty handy, since you can practically solve all your noseblowing needs just by strolling through some busy intersections and looking for these tissue giver-outers. At close to 100 yen each for a pack of “handy tissues” in Japan, they’re practically giving away money on the street.

And what are they advertising? It seems almost anything and everything, but mostly pachinko parlors, from the ones that I’ve received.

Well, it looks like people are still dressing up as their favorite anime/manga/game characters and trading lipgloss and hairstyle tips everywhere.

Some of them are, admittedly pretty cool, like this one,

Is this a soldier from that anime “Jinroh”?

and some are insanely detailed, like this one here,

and my personal favorite, a costume that costs approximately 35 cents to make, but still maybe the best I’ve seen so far.

Aaah!

From my Hollywood contact in the Global Tigers and Cranes Enterprise, report of “Hadaka Sushi“, AKA Nekkid Women Sushi.

Basically, this sushi restaurant from Hollywood(where else?) serves morsels of food, mainly sushi, on naked people. At first I was going to remark that this restaurant is chauvinistic, and sexist, as I thought they serve food only on top of women’s body. Then I read a little further, and it seems that you can order food on naked dudes as well. Okaay…

Called “Nyotai Mori”, here’s the description of what goes on at this joint.

“Also referred to as “body sushi”, nyotaimori is the practice of eating sashimi or sushi from the body of the woman”.

I quote. It’s markedly different from cannibalism, where the flesh of the said woman is eaten.

“Sushi is not merely food,(it isn’t?) but the culinary expression of art and sensuality. At Hadaka Sushi, the gourmet experience is taken to a new level as the model’s inherent beauty and energy enhances the exquisite cuisine.”

“The food never touches the model’s skin(whew!), but instead is presented on banana leaves draped on top of the flower-adorned body.”

So, how much for this “expression of sensuality and art”? Try $1100. And, the website notes, it doesn’t include food(what the hell?!), beverage (oh, double snaps!), nor room charge(restaurants now charge for rooms?!), nor, tax and gratuity, which, I suppose is fair. Let’s see, what is the tax and tip for a $1100 “model fee” sans food and drinks and shit? uhm… gotta bust out my calculator… punching some numbers in… well, it looks like additional $300 or so, and you still haven’t even touched the food.

And, for $6000, one can order the “premium package”, which does include food and booze.

The idea of eating food off a person kind of gives me the creeps, but hey, different strokes to float your boat, I guess.

Earlier I wrote about really creative bento (Japanese lunch box) art by a Korean. Granted, the previous ones I highlighted were rather cute (to the point where if I was given one for lunch, I really wouldn’t want to eat it), but this time around, I present you with some creepy bento from a Japanese bento maker.

I mean, what?

I posted a while ago about those garish, over-decorated Japanese minivans.

For those Japanese that may not have the dough to roll in one of those monstrosities, some have opted to trick out their bikes. By bikes I mean velocipedes, not motorcycles.

I wonder where the power comes from to make all those lights be all lit up.

From TechEBlog

I’ve taken somewhat liking to historical Korean dramas.

I think maybe it’s because I’ve always thought Yi Soon Shin is pretty cool, and there was a drama called “The Immortal Yi Soon Shin”, that I downloaded a few episodes and began watching. It’s fascinating to watch the period costumes, military uniforms, ships, and architecture of the Joseon era in Korea.

I’ve always been fascinated with old, traditional Korean buildings, from the thatched huts that the commoners lived in to palaces where the king dude hung out with his crew.

I’d notice that each time the show is on TV, a little graphic would pop up informing the viewers that the location has been furnished by “한국민속촌”[Korean Folk Village].

This got me thinking… What exactly is it? How big is it? Where is it? (in Korea, obviously, but)

So I decided to go and find out what this place is all about.

First of all, it’s not in Seoul, which kind of bummed me out, since the subway/train ride there is pretty damn long. Okay, it was like an hour from Jamsil station, but I was standing most of the way there, since Korean trains sure do get packed.

After reaching a city called Suwon, south of Seoul, I headed into the tourist information building where I paid in advance for the ticket as well as receiving maps(in Korean, English, and Japanese). Buying the entrance ticket entitles one to a free ride on the shuttle to and from the Folk Village, so at least I didn’t have to worry about what bus to take.

It being a weekday, and a rainy one at that, the shuttle was pretty empty save for an Older Japanese couple. The Shuttle ride took about thirty minutes, and I marveled at how many protestant churches there were in this city en route.

I couldn’t help but wonder, as the shuttle bus was trundling along, where exactly could one locate a folk village in this metropolis. Everywhere was tall modern buildings and busy streets, and it certainly didn’t look like any place one would film a historical drama like the “Immortal”.

Stepping out of the shuttle, I headed towards the entrance gate, which sort of reminded me of Magic Mountain in L.A, but mucho Koreanified. All around us were lunatic Korean kids screaming and running around, which again reminded me the critical need for Korean parents to beat their kids.

The site of the folk village is apparently very cleverly designed, so that despite the fact all around the place is a big, bustling city, nowhere from within the vantage point of the village it self does anyone get the notion that they’re not in 17 century Korea.

Once you get past the unruly kids, the place is extremely charming and seemingly authentic to the last detail, to the point where all the people who live here(yes, people do live here, I’ve been told) all must wear authentic Joseon era clothes, as well as if they are engaged in a craft like say, making spoons or crack pipes, they must use traditional material and methods.

Just regular tobacco pipes, all hand made by this gentleman

There are a countless number of thatched roof huts and houses, along with many tile-roofed patios where one can just sit around and take in the surrounding. Parts of the walls of this village are apparently made here as well, as I saw many mud bricks drying out in the sun(in this day’s case, getting wet by rain).

I saw plots of farmland where the inhabitant/owner was apparently growing herbs(not that kind, you fiend) for medicinal purposes, as well as fields of barley, vegetables for who knows what, and many charming stalls selling everything from traditional tea to “yuht”, kind of Korean sweet taffy that is very sticky and chewy, and excellent for denture and loose tooth removal. Oh, and grilled dried squids. Gotta have the squid.

It being a rainy day, all the lazy Korean entertainers decided to take the day off, which was a total bummer since I was looking forward to seeing horse mounted acrobats and the traditional wedding.

The village is sectioned by the region in Korea, i.e., a part of the village represents the lifestyles of southern parts of Korea, some east, some north.

What is really cool about the place is all the nifty livestocks. It’s like getting a free ticket to the petting zoo! There are horses(of course) roosters, donkeys, geese, goats(their pupil is a rectangle! I thought this was just a myth.) as well as my favorite, bunnies.

A goat. With its rectangular pupils. Weird.

The horse had the day off today.

I know I shouldn’t have done this, but I snuck into one of the farm plots to ah, “harvest” some greenery for the rabbits to much on. Man, they must’ve been starving, because I almost created a mini rabbit riot, as they were battling each other to get at my sprigs of some herb that I’d picked.

All that walking around sure makes one hungry and thirsty, and this is Korea, after all, and no one goes hungry or thirsty for long here. Stumbling upon an open market, I approached a very untraditional ticket booth to purchase meal tickets and bought some traditional noodles. Man, it wasn’t very good. Take my advice: if you come here, go for the “잔치국수”[Jahn Chi Gooc Soo](”festival noodles”) not 칼국수[Kahl Gooc Soo](noodles cut with knives). That stuff sucks.

Having taken lunch, and seeing the most of the park, it was time to leave. As a dessert, I had the very untraditional “Dippin’ Dots” ice cream. Who knows, maybe it was invented here.

There are souvenirs galore to purchase here, although most of the school kids seemed like they were interested in plastic weapons to beat each other with. All in all, it was a very pleasant trip a little aways from Seoul, and after having toured the premises, I can see why “The Immortal Yi Soon Shin” and other historical dramas are filmed here.

A Couple of weeks ago, my friends and I went to an all-you-can-eat Korean meat grill… not really a BBQ, because if I learned anything from “Good Eats” with Alton Brown, it’s that to qualify as a BBQ, meat must be cooked with smoke.

So, at this all you can eat yakiniku place, which, by the way, is jam packed with people enjoying endless parade of meat, my friends and I were loitering in the lobby, since we had to wait at least an hour before our party could be seated.

As I glanced at the party that was leaving their table and heading towards us, I noticed a rather familiar face, and I realized that it was this dude my friend who pointed out “Hey, see that big guy? He’s a K-1 fighter!” at a birthday party a few weeks back.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with K-1, it’s a type of “mixed martial art” fighting organization, rather similar to UFC(Ultimate Fighting Championship), or IFC. It’s similar to kickboxing, and it’s popular in Japan where it started, and also in Korea.

So I was glancing at the large, mean-ish looking dude walking towards us, and behind him was an absolute giant, no other than Choi Hong Man. He’s a 7ft 2in(2.18 m) K-1 fighter from Korea, who’s popular, obviously, in Korea, but also Japan as well, where he’s appeared in several commercials, befittingly, as an ogre who grabs people by their ankles and hoist them upside down. I forget what the commercial was selling.

He’s also a pretty good fighter, as he’s won the World 2005 GP in Seoul. I watched a fight with him and some undefeated American fighter who stood 5ft. 10in, and the guy practically had to jump to try to hit him in the face. He spent most of the fight running away from this goliath, eventually getting a vicious knee kick to his face and getting knocked out.

Anyway, as he and his entourage was filing past us in the lobby, I whisper to one of my friends “That’s Choi Hong Man!”
“I know! we should take pictures!”

So we rush out to the parking lot where he’s already mobbed by people posing with him and taking pictures. He was pretty good humored about it, so I borrowed a camera, and took pictures of one of my friends. She’s pretty tall, and he’s hunching, so you can get a pretty good idea just how big he is.

Alas, before I could stand next to him to get my picture taken(maybe he could have grabbed me by the ankles and held me upside down), he disappeared into his van and the driver drove off.

Trolling through Flickr one day, I came across this disturbing image.

According to the person who took this picture, these weirdos would stand absolutely still and when passersby walk by, would scare the bejeezus out of them by grabbing them.

Kinda enough to make me swear Pepsi off forever, but hey, I’m no marketing genius…

There’s a tradition in Korea where giving a soap to your host when you visit is seen as a tasteful and pragmatic gift. After all, who can’t use more soap? Who doesn’t like soap?
“Oh, no, not soap! I prefer to remain filthy”.

During Korean new year celebrations, many people play some sort of traditional Korean board game called “Yut”, as well as card games, and the prize for winners sometimes will consists of big box of soap.

Here’s another bit of trivia: LG, that famous Korean brand that makes cellphones and deluxe washing machines is a combo of two companies, “Lucky” and “Goldstar”. While Goldstar is an electronics company, Lucky was well known for their toothpaste and, yup, soap.

Here’s a picture of box of soap made with 24K gold flakes.

Made with palm and coconut oil, along with some really good glycerine, it sez, it’s good for some one who desires clean and healthy skin(who doesn’t?), and those who’ve messed up their face due to excessive use of make up.

Everything is pretty cool about this box set of soaps, but they really need to work on the name.

“Asso”?

From Fusionpia

Two Japanese products, for whatever reason, that amuse me. First up, “Diet water” from everyone’s favorite brewery, Sapporo.

Thank goodness for this product. I’ve had it with all the fattening, high calorie water.

Next up, uh… “Homo Sausage”.

Hmm… Those two words probably feel really awkward being next to one another.