Be found on the Internet

I’ll be updating the blog a bit more blogging about Korea’s rise in recent years in entertainment, business and education.  Simultaneously, I still help busineses of all size with Search Engine Optimization in Seattle and throughout the world.  

There is no privacy online

While browsing this early Saturday am, I tripped over a sad story about a young Japanese wrestler who possibly committed suicide after being bullied online.

Japanese Stardom wrestler Hana Kimura dies aged 22

Knowing myself, I probably read the handful of sources trying to understand why a young person would end her life so early. With media these days, however, no matter how powerful the piece you might be reading, you’re distracted and influenced by so many sources.

Somehow, I find myself eventually clicking through to pieces about travel and the current state during covid-19 that industry execs say is the “worst crisis the sector has ever faced” (according to Morning Brew). Nevertheless, one link sends me to the Guardian.

Getting back on the saddle

These thoughts are mostly for myself, but if you’re curious about how much interest exists re: Koreans, you might want to check this out.

Searches related to Koreans & Gyopos

You can see that there has been a rise in “han” searches, but if you look deeper, it’s because they are related to “han solo” which is searched 368,000 times a month, if you didn’t know. The different permutations add to a much larger number.  Nevertheless, there are people (probably gyopos themselves) who are searching for my specific diaspora.

Pulling out “han,” the searches are a bit more sparse. 

What are the Best Spas in Busan, South Korea?

If you do a search for the “best spas in Busan,” “Heosimcheong Spa” shows up at the top. Despite it’s position, I’d argue you should check our #2 and #3 instead.

The top spas by Google

Honestly, Spa Land at Shinsegae is bar none the best in Busan:

CNN did a piece about the spa.  I share it since you have a full time writer telling you everything about it from a journalistic perspective, but from a layman’s perspective, it’s:

• one of the most modern spas in all of south korea
• the facility is HUGE with a plethora of options
• it’s reasonably priced; try getting the same value stateside or in any luxury hotel
• it’s never that crowded since it’s so large (but that’s been my experience up through my last trip in ~2019)
• it’s also conveniently located; it’s in the Shinsagae Centum City near Haeundae

Another modern facility near is

The Best Korean Breakfast in Seoul

I’m not talking about eggs, bacon and toast because that’s definitely not Korean.

My favorite Korean breakfast in Korea is and always be Hwangtae Maeul:

This place serves up a great bowl of Pollack Soup in the heart of Gangnam in between Yeosksam and Seolleung stations just off Teheran Ro (Road).  Directions below, but look at

Living in Korea

Earlier, I wrote about how it was getting colder here in Seoul.  However, if you see this snapshot I just took with my iPad, you’ll see that there’s a huge difference between 41 degrees Fahrenheit and -2 degrees Fahrenheit – 43 freaking degrees difference!  

Excuse my french accent here, but it is definitely colder now and according to Yonhap, today may be the coldest day this winter here in Korea.  In contrast to the temperatures in the article though, it was actually -19 degrees Celsius vs. the -16.5 they reported.

Being from the Northwest region of the U.S., this is definitely a stark contrast to the mild temperatures I am used to.  When I originally wrote about 41 degrees being cold, I really did feel like it was weather that would require a few extra layers.  However, after walking literally just 3 minutes from one meeting at…

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Living in Korea

If you grew up on burgers and fries like me, you probably had a hard time living in Korea a number of years ago.

But no longer do you have to suffer from just McD’s and Burger King!  Korea has landed in the 21st century.  This Top Asian destination has stepped it up when it comes to grilling up some “all beef paddies.”  Here are a few options to seek out if you land in Seoul:

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Typhoon Bolaven Appears to be Heading West

Typhoon Bolaven Appears to be Heading West.

2012 Guide to Getting a Cell Phone in South Korea

2012 Guide to Getting a Cell Phone in South Korea.

AMERICAN CITIZEN SERVICES NEWSLETTER in South Korea MARCH 2011

U.S. State Department, U.S. Embassy Seoul
Consular Section, American Citizen Services (ACS) Newsletter
MARCH 2011

The U.S. Embassy is transmitting the following monthly newsletter via its warden system as a public service to U.S. citizens in the Republic of Korea.  Please disseminate this message broadly to other U.S. citizens.

In this issue:

1.      Greetings from the ACS Chief
2.      Holiday Closure, March 1
3.      IRS Announces 2011 Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Initiative (OVDI)
4.      Consular Services in Busan, March 21-22
5.      Making Appointments or Using the Courier Service
6.      Questions of the Month: I have questions about taxes.  Who should I ask?  What’s the current Foreign Earned Income Exclusion amount?
7.      Travel Warnings

Zero to One Million hits (+35,377)

Starting in February of 2007, I started this little blog with very little in terms of expectations.  At the end of the month, I had a total of 27 views to the blog.  Most of them were probably mine. 😉

The month after, I had a whopping 50% increase and jumped to 37 views.  Well, it looks like I increased, but actually I decreased from two hits a day down to one because the month of February was only a short month of blogging.  I think I started somewhere in the middle of the month averaging my views per day to being 2/day.  So, yes, a total of 30 days of work got me a total of a view a day basically.  It was depressing and like many who blog, I’m sure I was wondering “what am I doing?”

Somehow, the 3rd month gave me a little inspiration.  Thanks to wordpress, our posts are not just optimized for the internet, but they also show up in some categories on the blog site where other “wanna be bloggers” are able to see our posts and give their support, if not just their curious fingers clicking on our well thought out post titles.  😉

It took me another 4 months (yes 7 months total) before I hit the 1000 views+ mark.  In September, I had almost doubled what I had in terms of website traffic in one month.  The google sandbox is reality.  It takes a while to get a blog (and a lot of hard work & energy spent) to get it more traffic.  Just a few months after in December, I increased my traffic 800%!!!

See you later Korea…

Four+ years ago, I came back to the motherland to start another chapter in my life.

The time has passed by quicker than expected and I was fortunate to meet many great people here.  I know I’ll be leaving out some of them here, but I want to say a huge thanks to the incredibly great people I was lucky to meet:

Tim, Jareb, Joey, Chris, Matthew, Mike, Petra, Inae, Amy, Ian, JJ, Kitaek, Sidney, Banessa, Bianca, Paul, Mike, Hana, Hyeri, Jiwook, Harry, Mikyung, Mira, Yunjin, Daniel, Ellis, Kelly, Joon, Erica, Eunhae, Harry, Lauren, Jesse, Leona, Lynn, Julia, Robyn, Kyle, David, Levi, Steven, Brenton, Jason, Anthony, Rebecca, Heather, Lee, Sean, Andy, Leo, Jinyoung, Stacy, Noemi, Janet, Tony, Devin, Tamara, Laura, Elissa, Dongmin, Maya, Julie, Amity, Tom, Amanda, Dr. Kwon, Dr. Park, Dr. Han, John, Heejin, Peter, and I’m sure many other great people I’m neglecting here.

I’d normally say “good-bye”, but who knows?  I may be back…

It was a great 4+ years here.  I really enjoyed and sincerely wish all my friends the best.  I’m sorry to be leaving…

Korean media in English

There are a number of blogs out there including mine here that write all about Korea, but what exists when it comes to actual Korean media that is either translated in English or is produced in English to help foreigners learn more about the “land of the morning calm?”

Well, it used to be mainly just the newspapers, The Korea Herald, JoongAng Ilbo (i.e., JoonAng Daily), and the Korea Times.  The AP of Korea, Yonhap News also provides their content in English as well here, but it seems that not all their content is fully translated into English.  Over time, the Chosun Ilbo (or Daily) has converted a bunch of their content here into English.

One of Korea’s leading TV & Radio networks, Korean Broadcasting System (aka KBS) appears to have recently translated a lot of their content here in English.  They have also translated their content in Chinese & Japanese as well. KBS World Radio also is translated in English.  KBS World TV as well is available in English.  It’s the inspiration behind today’s post since I had a bit of difficulty in the past obtaining English information about dramas or other TV content on the other major networks MBC, SBS, & EBS.

Korea more foreigner friendly?

Seoul wants to make expats’ lifestyles easier

April 27, 2010

A blueprint to improve life for foreign residents and entrepreneurs in Seoul was announced yesterday by the Seoul city government, including a one-stop help center for expats, a “global business zone” and new Web sites to help foreigners navigate the city more efficiently.

More here…

Busan News for Monday, March 15th, 2010

Suspect in Busan Middle School Girl Rape & Murder Case Confesses

The police have reported that 김길태, the suspect in the recent kidnap and murder of a middle-school girl, has confessed to part of the crimes yesterday including dumping the body and the possibility of kidnapping, sexual assault, and murder.  The police have attempted to secure an official statement from 김길태 that he committed the crimes of kidnapping, sexual assault, and murder.