Estimated reading time: 6 minutes. Sources: WBur, Mimi Thian on Unsplash (cropped). I went on a date through Bumble recently. Yes, even I manage to pull that off sometimes. And no, don’t worry—this post is about Simu Liu. You see, for the benefit of those blessed without ever having used dating apps, most give you ..read more

Just an amusing coincidence for your Friday night. But don’t worry, Korean Feminism geeks—I’ve also got you covered! Estimated reading time: 2 minutes. Image source: Aladin. No, not that F-word—although these days, it’s just as taboo to say either. And no, I don’t quite know how Easy to Read Feminism: Who Says Feminism is Difficult (Background information for beginners to feminism) / 쉽게 읽는 페미니즘: 페미니즘 누가 어렵대 (패미니즘 입문자를 위한 배경지식서), by the BT Humanities Research Institute / 비티인문학 연구소 (2019), ended up on my phone screen exactly. Probably, watching Blue is the Warmest Colour (2013) the week before s ..read more

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes. Image by ArtHouse Studio @Pexels. Apologies that this post comes so last-minute. I only just discovered I was free, and my policy with Zoom lectures is only to announce those I can attend myself. If I didn’t, this blog would be overwhelmed, turning into a lighter version of the Korean Studies Events Database! (You should totally sign up for the Korean Studies Events Database.) The first lecture, from 3:30–5:00 pm (all Korean time), is: “Doing Ethnography in the Wake of the Displacement of Transnational Sex Workers in Yokohama: Sensuous Remembering” by Ayaka Y ..read more

Smart people tend to make more logical, more directly-related parallels and connections between the news and the pop culture they consume. So, my niche has to be providing the wilder and more bizarre ones instead. Estimated reading time: 4 minutes. Image sources: University of Minnesota Retirees Association and Amblin. Last week, our Busan Book Club covered The Girl with Seven Names by Hyeonseo Lee (2014—The StoryGraph, LibraryThing, GoodReads). A tale of her escape from North to South Korea via a decade spent in China, and later her returning to the border to help her mother and brother also ..read more

TIL that many simple, everyday things like monkey bars in playgrounds, and standing desks, were originally born out of eugenic concerns with white people’s postures. What surprises might an examination of Korean “figure correction” services also provide? Estimated reading time: 10 minutes. Full disclosure—I’m not actually answering that question I pose. Or at least, not for now. Sorry. Instead, this meta post is about reveling in the asking. Then, passing on to you the mind-blowing BBC podcast episode about the “posture police” that helped me remind me of the value of that, plus a myriad of so ..read more

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes. Hello everyone! Sorry for the long, unexpected hiatus. Suffice to say, I was feeling a deep, stultifying sense of ennui leading up to this blog’s recent 17-year anniversary, frankly. In hindsight, I really needed a break. But simply opening up this page and just writing is already doing wonders for getting that spark back. And if it happens to be posting about this film screening that enables this soft restart, with more regular and longer posts soon to follow, then I’ll gladly take advantage! This announcement is not just a means to that end though! If you ..read more

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes. Photo by cottonbro studio @Pexels. Sounds like another wild Friday night! Tatsuya Kageki (Keio University) presenting the new book “Women in Asia Under the Japanese Empire” in conversation with Marnie Anderson (Smith College). Register for Zoom here: https://mjha.org/event-5684823 Presenter: 蔭木 達也 (Tatsuya Kageki, Keio University) Discussant: Marnie Anderson (Smith College) Contributors to this book provide an Asian women’s history from the perspective of gender analysis, assessing Japanese imperial policy and propaganda in its colonies and occupied territori ..read more

But if you do, there’s a real danger you might start thinking and acting like one… Estimated reading time: 8 minutes. Photo (cropped) by Raka Miftah @Pexels. So, I finally have the elevator pitch about what feminism is. Pursuing equality of opportunity. For all sexes and sexual orientations. It’s crude, but I think it’d do. In the moment, there’d probably be so little time to work with whoever might be asking, and so much hostility from some, that my priority would be getting them to acknowledge any inequality between men and women even exists at all. First then, I’d broach that different sexe ..read more

Busan is GOOD! 부산이라 좋다! Estimated reading time: 4 minutes. Source: iamcacophony. Sorry that I’ve been so neglectful and absent these past few weeks. One excuse is just being very busy settling into the new semester. The other is that I seem to be just inundated with interesting events to attend and people to meet these days. For reasons, this is a very novel experience for me. So, lets just say the abstract concept of declining invitations, because it turns out I do still need to write, pay the bills, and sleep, has been slow to sink in. Forced to be very selective from now on then, here are f ..read more

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes. From the event website: To celebrate International Women’s Day this March, Tokyo College’s “Gender, Sexuality & Identity” collaborative research group will host a special webinar event with MURATA Sayaka, author and winner of the 155th Akutagawa Prize for her novel Convenience Store Woman (2016). Through discussing Murata’s writing, experiences, and inspirations, the event hopes to generate reflection on society’s gender and sexuality “norms” and how they shape our world. Please register there. Related Posts: “Japan is Famously—or Notoriously—Known for ..read more