AP on the social commentary behind PSY's 'Gangnam Style'

With the ridiculous popularity of Gangnam Style, I guess it was only a matter of time before someone sat down and explained this in the English-language press.

Henceforth I shall direct people to this AP article instead if explaining it myself, though it has the potential to ruin the goofy fun associated with the ironic dance.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hLiEkr8pTwoKq_NHe_wnVn5CJHRA?docId=9c9eb9d4bdcb44958b439659376b987e

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iPhone 5 preparing for shipment

I like getting new toys, and I'm happy to be getting the new iPhone 5 that will replace my iPhone 4 (I'm not such a fanboy that I get a new phone every year; in both Korea and Hawaii I've replaced my LG handsets and Apple iPhones about every two years since my first phone in 1998).
With my status still set at "preparing," I'm not sure if they can get it from China to here (Hawaii) in just three days, if it takes the same route as other Apple products I've purchased online. My engraved iPod Shuffle went from China to Alaska to California and finally here, taking four days.

But I have faith in Apple to meet their commitments. In fact, last year "M's" iPhone 4S arrived here in Hawaii the day BEFORE the release date, despite similarly sparse information.

This isn't Apple's or FedEx's first rodeo.

I just hope it gets here soon. M's iPhone 4S was stolen and she's using her three-year-old 3Gs until I get my new phone and temporarily (until she can upgrade) lend her my two-year-old iPhone 4, for which I waited in line for four hours one chilly June morning on the day if their release at the AT&T stores. I kinda miss the camaraderie of the waiting-in-line thing. A very cool guy brought us coffee and donuts at the Los Angeles County store in California.

One thing I learned, though, was to not buy iPhones and other subsidized smartphones in California, where you're taxed at nearly 10% for the UN-subsidized price, over $50 on a $649 device. Note that in Hawaii it was about nine bucks.

China-Japan Dispute Over Islands Risks $340 Billion Trade

At some point, someone in Japan has to start being an adult. That would entail a few things, including recognition that holding on to World War II-era territorial claims that carry the stench of Imperial Japan's murderous past is costing Japan loads and loads of money.

Not to mention loads and loads of good will. 

Tokyo needs to look soberly at its claims and see where it can strike a reasonable compromise and where it should simply give up. For the good of the country and the region.

With Diaoyu/Senkaku a shared arrangement may be possible, but with the Kurile Islands held by Russia, nothing like that is likely. I've long thought Tokyo could give up its claim to Tokto (Dokdo) in exchange for promises from Seoul that it won't seek to generate an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) from the barely inhabited islands (though a 12-nautical mile territorial zone is maintained) and it gives tacit support to Japan's claim of an EEZ around Okinotorishima way out in the Pacific. 

Get this stuff behind you, Japan. If you think China, South Korea, and Russia are living in the past, it's only because you keep inviting them there.

Bloomberg News, sent from my iPad.

China-Japan Dispute Over Islands Risks $340 Billion Trade

China and Japan's worst diplomatic crisis since 2005 is putting at risk a trade relationship that's tripled in the past decade to more than $340 billion.

Toyota Motor Corp. (7203), Honda Motor Co. (7267) and Panasonic Corp. (6752) reported damage to their operations in China as thousands marched in more than a dozen cities on Sept. 16 after Japan last week said it will purchase islands claimed by both countries. Protesters called for boycotts of Japanese goods and in some instances smashed store fronts and cars.

Tensions between China and Japan further complicate policy makers' efforts to fortify growth in Asia's biggest economies as the European debt crisis saps demand for exports. Panasonic and Canon Inc. (7751) yesterday said they're shutting some plants in China through today and the China Automobile Dealers Association said the protests will hurt sellers of Toyota, Honda and Nissan Motor Co. cars in China more than Japan's March 2011 earthquake.

"The escalating dispute is adding one more layer of uncertainty," said Liu Li-Gang, a Hong Kong-based economist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. (ANZ), who previously worked at the World Bank. "Japan is now more reliant on China for economic growth than vice versa. Its already weak economic recovery may falter. China will suffer less."

In 2011, China was the largest market for Japanese exports, while Japan was the fourth-largest market for Chinese exports. China's shipments to Japan totaled $148.3 billion last year as it imported $194.6 billion of Japanese goods, according to Chinese customs data.

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Gangnam SNL-style

First it was The Today Show, and now it's Saturday Night Live. The preposterously silly Gangnam Style dance has infected the stalwart hit-and-miss comedy show of our time, SNL.



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If Psy is flying all the way to New York City for NBC's Friday morning concert series, it is hardly a surprise that he would make a surprise guest appearance on their evening show the next day.

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Korea-Japan Standoff: Why Americans Should Care

In various K-blogs, we've frequently been told the falsehood that only Koreans care about Tokto, but this writer in the Huffington Post says America should care about this issue affecting relations between two major allies.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mobileweb/alexis-dudden/koreajapan-standoff-why-a_b_1885534.html

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Old color photos of post-war Korea

I meant to post this a while ago, when I first saw it at ROK Drop, but here are some cool pictures snapped by a USFK soldier in Korea shortly after the war (some are also of Japan, presumably when the photographer was on R&R).

What I think is particularly interesting is those soldiers waving the Republic of China (today's Taiwan) flag. It appears they are soldiers of the People's Republic of China who asked to be repatriated the ROC, but at first I thought it might be evidence that the Nationalists had sent troops to fight for the South.

http://imgur.com/a/3RYz3

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South Korean rapper Psy to perform concert on NBC's Today Show

It's official: Gangnam Style is the Macarena of our times.

To get a feel for how much this moves forward the South Korea's national image, can you tell new for sure which Spanish-speaking country produced that 1994 super phenomenon?

http://toyotaconcertseries.today.com/_news/2012/09/10/13785811-south-korean-rapper-psy-joins-today-concert-lineup?lite

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Suicide Rate Climbs in South Korea

On the occasion of International Suicide Prevention Day, the WSJ points out that Siuth Korea's suicide rate -- already the world's highest -- has shot up further.

It's a significant increase in double-digit percentages, and one wonders whether it represents new methodology for reporting and/or determining suicides rather than a real increase in the actual act itself. But there's no getting around that it remains a serious problem (something I've addressed many times here).

I am a little disappointed in WSJ reporter Evan Ramstad's suggestion that Siuth Koreans wouldn't pay attention to the suicide problem were it not for this international day of recognition. Suicide is something that weighs heavily on all sectors of society, prompting the government, for example, to spend tens of millions if dollars to retrofit every subway station in Seoul with a barricade to prevent suicides or accidents when people on the platforms end up on the tracks.

My point is that much more should be done, but they certainly aren't ignoring the issue.

http://blogs.wsj.com/korearealtime/2012/09/10/south-koreas-blight-suicide-gets-worse/

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Korea Plans $5 Billion of Growth Measures as Export Cool

Largely thanks to how the Korean government restructured and reformed itself in the wake of the 1997-98 economic crisis, the ROK has done better than many other countries at riding out THIS economic downturn.

But even if Korea Inc's fundamentals are strong, any country that relies on exports to countries in recovery (e.g., the US) or panic mode (e.g., the EU) is going to be hurting.

So it seems natural that Seoul would have to employ a stimulus like this one. And I, for one, will not complain about my mortgage ticking down 25 points.

http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-10/south-korea-plans-5-billion-of-growth-measures-as-exports-cool.html

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Clinton urges cool heads in Japan-South Korea island dispute

US Secretary of State Hillary Ridham Clinton has warned Japan and Korea that if they keep fighting over Tokto she's gonna turn this car around right now.

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE88803Z20120909?irpc=932

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Violent Korean film Pieta wins prestigious Venice award

If I were a South Korean film maker, I'd fill my movie with stylized violence and/or gratuitous sex (also stylized), because it is those Korean films that seem to earn so much praise and so many statues from Western critics and audiences.

I mean, "Old Boy" was as much responsible for making the Hallyu Korean Wave a thing as Ihyori or "Winter Sonata."

It also doesn't hurt to pander to the Italian judges by giving it an Italian title. My movie, regardless of its content, will be the Italian translation of, "We're Americans, Do You Have Any Butter?"

Anyhoo, I'm not so sure how much time the Venezianos should be spending watching movies when they're city is slowly sinking into the Adriatic. But that's me.

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE8870CT20120908?irpc=932

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Hawaii Finder #2012-17

I'm actually not sure what number this is, but the question involves where I took this picture earlier today. The only hint is that I'm on a hike.

North Korea May Be Preparing Economic Changes

The NYT seems to agree with me that the upcoming rubber-stamp congress in North Korea is set to announce major economic reforms.

If this is true, it could mean that Kim Jong-un and his handlers' faction have their ducks in a row and are about to stick it to the military, despite expressions if support by KJU for his father's Son'gun ("military first") policy.

Surely even the generals can see the writing on the wall in the Middle East and back rooms of power in Beijing, and they might actually grudgingly continue to support The Young General.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/06/world/asia/north-korea-may-be-preparing-economic-reforms.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all


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