Fukuoka Festival

The Hakata Dontaku is a Japanese festival held in Fukuoka, Japan every year in May. It has the largest attendance of any Japanese festival. This festival coincides with the Korean national holiday Children's Day, so I am thinking about going back for a few days to enjoy this event. I am particularly interested in hearing the traditional music and dance performances.

For example, play this fantastic video compilation of the event and crank up the volume. The music on this video, recorded from the event is wicked cool!



By the way, the way the girl on the left and the boy on the right are dressed is called Ganguro and is common to see among youth in everyday life in Japan.

Mom & Dad Visit Korea! (Part 5)

The Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving) celebration is three days long, however the middle day is the official day of celebration. It's typical for most of the population to travel to their grandparents' homes to eat traditional food, play games, talk, and get money! The get money part is a little different than the American Thanksgiving. Here in Korea, children participate in a bowing ceremony where they honor their elders in the family. In return for this, the elders give money to the children. Not every family does this during Chuseok. This is mainly done during the Seolnal (Lunar New Year) celebration. My students told me they get money because they don't see their grandparents or extended family very often.

On to the details of my parents' visit! On this day, we did a lot. We started out at the COEX Aquarium, then went to City Hall to watch the public celebration, and finally went to Jeongdong Theater to watch performances of traditional Korean music and dance.

A two-headed turtle.

A pig-nosed turtle.

Deadly and dead-ugly stonefish.

Jellyfish.

At the end of our time at the acquarium, we watched a special Chuseok performance in the shark tank. In this photo, two men are playing a traditional Korean game.

This photo was during the celebration at City Hall. These musicians are really loud. This style of music is closely tied to the farming culture here. I made a video of this performance which you can watch below. It's about 15 minutes.

Mom and me.

Kite flying was a popular activity today.

City Hall.

Father and daughter playing with a hoop. Notice she is wearing the traditional dress.

Dad made another friend. It was really fun to see people approach dad. It's just so common in Korea for Korean men to talk to foreigners because they want to practice their English. I'm glad dad got to experience that too!

We left City Hall early so we could head to Jeongdong Theater. When we arrived, the staff were playing another traditional game with the guests. I didn't figure this one out, but it involves throwing the four red things and then determining winners by how they land.

Outside the theater were some instruments set up for guests to look at. This drum was more than 6 feet high.

These are photos from inside the theater. The ambiance was very cozy and warm. This was the highlight of an entire year of living in this country. I was totally blown away by the music, and I plan to go back.

You've got to find what you love.

Steve Jobs, founder of Apple Computers and Pixar Studios, talks about never graduating college, being fired from his own company, and turning it all around. He says you've got to find what you love. You will know when you've found it. To do that, you must search for it now by following your interests wherever they lead. You can connect the dots of your life looking backward in hindsight, so just follow your heart. Life is short, live your own life. Stay hungry, stay foolish.

Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

This introduction is quoted from Google Video. This video is 1:25:21 in length. It's really worth watching.

Carnegie Mellon Professor Randy Pausch, who is dying from pancreatic cancer, gave his last lecture at the university Sept. 18, 2007, before a packed McConomy Auditorium. In his moving talk, "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams," Pausch talked about his lessons learned and gave advice to students on how to achieve their own career and personal goals.

Skarirang!

I just love ska music. The horns, the energy, and the often accompanying positive message in the lyrics.

There is a traditional song in Korea called Arirang (아리랑). A Korean ska band caled Kingston Rudieska (킹스턴 루디스카) and a guest singer named Jang-goon (장군) teamed up to sing a ska version of this traditional song.

I am in love with this song, and I've been trying to find a CD of this bands music at every music shop I come accross. I just can't find it. So for now, I'm limited to watching videos like this one... enjoy!



If you like it, you can watch more videos like this one here.

Korean Riots

Here is a one of several videos on the net of Korean riots. The last clip on this video is only 4 years old. You never know who instigated the violence from these videos and I certainly don't know the history behind the protests.

What you can see in these videos are men hurting other men. The violence, in general, is disturbing but I think the attacks on the people sitting with their clothes off or who are clearly unable to defend themselves is sickening.

Korean riot police are usually doing their government mandated 2-year service in the military or police. So you have to understand that is why many of them are there in the first place.

I am reminded of Stanley Milgram's book "Obedience to Authority" where he showed that the average American is willing to inflict pain and risk death to another person as long as they can defer personal responsitibility in service to a higher authority.

By the end of the video I had a glimpse of what pre-gun era battles looked like.... Lots of men screaming and yelling, hand to hand combat, and chaos. I hope to never experience that first hand. I'm left wondering what situations I'd be willing to use violence.

Korean cicadas (매미)

Korean cicadas (매미) are really loud. You rarely ever see them flying around, but you can always hear them making noise 24 hours a day. This video is just to demonstrate the noise that the cicadas make. Listen how quiet it becomes after the shrill sound fades.



I've really come to hate these bugs. I don't know much about them except they don't make noise when it's pouring down rain, so I like it when it rains.

Korean Rock Paper Scissors

Koreans of all ages play Rock Paper Scissors. They used the words Kawee Bawee Po (가외 바외 보). This clip is from a bar when some adult Koreans began playing as a drinking game. I couldn't resist recording it. The thing that made me laugh was the woman said "Ah-ssah!" (아싸!). That's the English equivalent of "Hell Yeah!", so I think she won that round.

Chinese Kung Fu Demo

I posted this before, but deleted it because there were problems with the Google video embed. So here are the links to the videos I made of a Kung Fu Demonstration in Suwon that I happened to see outstide a department store.

Introduction Of Artists 3:43

Simulated Weapons Battle 1:06

Individual Weapons 4:03

One Guy No Weapons 1:59

Various Guys No Weapons 3:09

Head And Neck Strength 2:55

My favorites are the "Simulated Weapons Battle" and "Head And Neck Strength".