And coming in at #42

South Korea made the New York Times list of "The Forty-five Places To Go in 2012." Not a single place, but the entire country, or at least the golf courses:

South Korea is redefining just how luxurious golf resorts can be. A slew of new private clubs — the kind with six-digit membership fees, designs by celebrity architects and clubhouses that look like modern art museums — have opened recently in the country.

The most prestigious is Haesley Nine Bridges, just outside Seoul, with a clubhouse covered by a huge, sinuous web of wooden beams (it also features one of Jeff Koons’s giant balloon toy sculptures).

Then there’s the Ananti Club, also a commuter’s distance from Seoul: 486 acres containing three courses nestled in the Yumyŏngsan forest, with a clubhouse, designed by the architect Ken Min, built almost entirely underground. And the futuristic Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea, which opened last year in the financial center of Songdo, has a huge, undulating clubhouse designed by the California architect Mehrdad Yazdani.

In 2015, South Korea will be the host of the Presidents Cup for the first time; apparently there are some tournament-worthy courses to go with all those fancy new clubhouses.

Go and read about the other forty-four, which include the Florence's art scene, luxury accommodations in Antarctica, and the nation of Panama, flush with investors, retirees, and visitors in the wake of the same wave of free-trade frenzy that brought us the KORUS FTA.

...

Koreanization of America, Florida and California edition

Okay, I'm not really saying that these places are becoming Koreanized or that Korea is actually exerting more influence. Rather, this is a term I like to use when something happens in America (or elsewhere) that Korea bashers and naysayers had characterized as unique to Korea (OINK: only in Korea), typically something that "would never happen in the US."

Alternatively, it can include things that have happened in America (or Canada, etc.) but, were they to happen in Korea, the commentariat in the K-blogosphere peanut gallery would be all over it as racist, nationalist, jingoist, backwards, etc.

The first is a "skirmish" that occurred in the California State Assembly. And while it can't possibly compare to the furniture-breaking, skull-cracking donnybrooks that have broken out in the halls of power in Seoul (or Taipei), that it happens at all in Sacramento is a bit shocking.

From the Los Angeles Times:

It all began when Assemblyman Don Wagner (R-Irvine) likened a portion of the Democrats’ budget plan, a plan to eliminate redevelopment agencies, to a “Tony Soprano” insurance scheme.

Assemblyman Anthony Portantino (D-La Cañada Flintridge) quickly rose to say that “as a proud Italian American, I resent that and I would respectfully ask the commenter to make an apology to Italian Americans in California."

Wagner retorted, “I will apologize to any Italian Americans who are not in the Mafia and engaged in insurance scams,” to audible murmurs and grumbling in the chamber.

Then Wagner rose again. "My apology, if one is needed, is sincere," he said. "My reference is certainly not one that no one in this room gets… I think my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, especially one who seems to be extraordinarily outraged over this for reasons I don't understand -- my reference is not lost on anyone here. This is not an attack on anyone. This bill is a bait and switch."

Moments later, Assemblyman Warren Furutani (D-Gardena), who is not Italian American, hustled over to confront Wagner and the two had to be separated by colleagues.

I found the part in bold somewhat amusing. I suppose, though, that some people without much exposure to Japanese surnames or who'd never driven through Gardena might assume a person named Furutani could be a paisano. For a long time I assumed Marisa Tomei was part Japanese.

There's video, but they only show very little of what happened (the stuff that causes offense starts around 2:45, with the brouhaha around 5:30). The cameras were focused on Sate Assembly Speaker Pro Tempore Fiona Ma, who's kind of a looker. A real MILF, as in Ma I'd Like to be Friends with.



And next we go from Ca. to Fla. It seems one sports writer for the Orlando Sentinel who is perturbed about furriners winning American golf tourneys:

Asking who is going to win this golf tournament is like asking who is going win the national spelling bee. Actually, it’s even more difficult because at least you know the spelling bee winner is going to be American. These days, golf majors are ruled by players from lands far, far away.

Tiger Woods is off fighting the battle of wounded knee while Phil Mickelson is flying so far under the radar he is scraping the tree tops. And when he’s not scraping the tree tops, he’ll likely be hitting his golf ball into tree trunks.

But wait, there is hope for the red, white and blue. South Korean K.J. Choi, who was just granted American citizenship, will win this tournament. And then U.S. golf will be like many other products Americans enjoy: “Made in Korea.”

Of course, the American golf establishment isn't exactly the most international-thinking group you ever saw, so I shouldn't be surprised at the sentiment. But just imagine this were switched to the Korea Open and it was likely to be won by Americans who are starting to dominate golf, and just picture the reams of comments at, say, The Marmot's Hole, about how this is symptomatic of Korea's deep-seated xenophobia.

Golf is a Scottish game
dominated by Koreans
living in America

They'd also get on the case of the reporter for calling the newly minted South Korean, in our hypothetical role reversal, an American.

I should, perhaps, take my own advice and not get too worked up over a hypothetical that hasn't actually happened (yet).

K.C. Choi donating $200K of his winnings to US tornado victims

One golf writer is holding out South Korea's K.C. Choi and Japan's Ryo Ishikawa as examples of "class act" athletes who area a stark contrast with their greedy counterparts others sports, notably the NFL.

While Mr Choi, who now resides in Texas, is donating a huge chunk of change to Americans in the South, where hundreds have been killed by freak tornadoes, Mr Ishikawa is donating his entire year's earnings to victims of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.

While I think Messieurs Choi and Ishikawa deserve our admiration, I don't know how fair it is to bash NFL players. After all, their sport is far more grueling, which means (to me at least) that they have a much greater chance of career-ending injury, debilitation, and even death (concussions are a huge issue).

Michelle Wie mature?

On the occasion of Korean-American golfing prodigy Michelle Wie making an announcement about next year's Kia Classic LPGA event, one Los Angeles Times sports writer commented on her apparent maturing:

She was tall and talented and as pretty as her golf swing. She could hit it a mile and look good doing so. It was a new American dream — fame and fortune before algebra.

The reality was that she couldn't play, at least not on the level of the seasoned female pros and certainly not to where she would storm the tour as soon as she was eligible and become the distaff Tiger Woods. After those booming drives, there was the need for second shots and clutch putts. Those came harder. ...

Now, time has passed. A story that could have ended badly looks as if it won't. Psychologists may have to revisit previous theories. Perhaps a lost childhood can be overcome. ...

Wie didn't make a speech. She answered several scripted questions. But she also sat down for about five minutes with members of the press and new maturity was apparent. The Valley girl is still there — "like, you know, I mean, like" — but the previous distant, bored looks were replaced by eye contact, depth and even humor.

Life is good. She has won twice on the LPGA Tour and was on her way back to Stanford, where she matriculates for about half a year in the two quarters that the tour is most quiet.

"It's nice to win tournaments," she said. "I was sitting there when they were introducing me and they said, 'Two-time winner,' and I was looking around, wondering who that was. Then, I thought, oh, that's me."

College has suited her well. Her major is communications, but not the kind her occasional tormentors — the people sitting around her during the interview —- took in school.

"I'm focused more on the new digital media," she said. "I like the psychology part of that."

She said she likes that many Stanford students seem to have no idea who she is.

That last sentence: whiskey tango foxtrot?!

Anyway, I remember back in the day Jodi of the now defunct and disappeared Asia Pages would rail against Michelle Wie's popularity despite no real record. Though it did sound a tad borne of jealousy, she did have a point. I, for one, am glad to see her doing well.