SUNDAY BON BONS FROM SOUTH KOREA

Day 123 of the Lower Puna Eruption, and I can't find anything worthy of report.

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South Korea is one of those modern miracles, especially when compared to North Korea.  I first traveled to Seoul about a third of a century ago, and would guess that I've landed in the country close to 50 times.  I have lectured at the major universities, worked out cooperative agreements with government officials and gotten to know a range of industry leaders.  

Somewhat similar to Singapore and Japan, all sectors of the country worked together to advance the country.  I observed how the Korean Institute of Science and Technology was upgraded and a united decision was made to focus on targets of opportunities, such as home appliances, electronics, biotechnology and entertainment.  When was the last time you bought a TV set made in the USA?  Vizio has a U.S. headquarter, but was created by a Taiwanese and manufactures products in China and Mexico.  Samsung and LG Electronics lead the world.

With success comes problems.  South Korea has the highest suicide rate among developed countries. What was once cooperation is now called corruption, and there is turmoil aplenty.  President Geun-hye Park is in jail and company heads are in varying stages of conviction.

Six years ago I tossed out Sunday Bon Bons, and the readership jumped.  Maybe those somewhat racy photos were why.  None today.  Let me start with South Korean entertainment.

Korea has never had much of a film industry until the chaebols (conglomerates like Hyundai) with government assistance became interested.  Their movies were creative and quickly overcame Japan.  

Same for soap operas and KPop.  Japan had Sukiyaki  sung by Kyu Sakamoto, but that was way back in 1963. Were you aware that earlier this summer a South Korean boy band, BTS, hit #1 on the Billboard 200 album chart with Love Yourself:Tear?  Remember Gangnam Style by PSY, also from South Korea?  That was four years ago, and his You Tube clip has now drawn 3.2 billion viewers.  

As an aside, bet you didn't know that Despacito by Luis Fonsi (featuring Daddy Yankee), now up to 5.5 billion, is currently the most-watched?  This will ruin your whole day, but click on Despacito Style, which features both Fonsi and PSY.

Changing subjects, and this gets more and more bon bon-ish, long ago when I did not even own one, street cleaners on Seoul streets were using cell phones.  Then, one day on a metro train, I noticed that, save for the very old and very, very young, everyone else was using a smart phone for one thing or another.  It was summer and I was amused to see that women mostly had colorful toenails, even though many did not apply them to their fingers.  The BTS band is typical, for the youth, and many adults, color their hair, even more so than in Japan.

Public restrooms sometimes have toilets for children.  Restaurants have buzzers for a waiter, there is no tipping, soju (an alcoholic drink) can be bought for $1, kimchi can be eaten at every meal....and so on.  

Today, there are no lines for movie theaters.  They pick their seats online and just tap their phone on a device as they enter.  Way before any movie house in the U.S., they were serving beer, wine, Jagermeister and a wide variety of popcorn tastes.  And they don't bother to separate drinkers from the general public.

NextOn is a South Korean company that vertically grows sixty types of fruits in a Pinkhouse.  The boss, Choi Jae Bin, is pictured to the left, where neon-pink lights are used to illuminate 60 type of fruits and vegetables. 

They use no pesticides nor herbicides, and feature non-GMO products.  They play classical music to stimulate healthy growth.  All this occurs in an indoor farm located in an abandoned tunnel in Okcheon, South Korea.  Depending on the plant, they can vary the temperature from 50-72 F.  They expect to compete with organic vegetables.

Why PINK?  Turns out that only red and blue wavelengths are absorbed by plants, and by using only these LEDs, energy use can be minimized.  Blue and red lights give you pink. 

For a couple of years now, several cities in South Korea have had a Pink Light campaign.  Pregnant women can use a small pink beacon to encourage people to give up their seats in the metro and bus systems, where this sign is used to alert riders:

Thought I'd do Part 2 to my posting of yesterday, where I featured BBQ'd Japanese Wagyu Beef (scroll down to next article).  This second meal had everything to do with University of Hawaii sports, which this weekend was again spectacular, as our women's volleyball and soccer teams all won.

But eating is a tradition before football games at Aloha Stadium.  Something called tailgating, and Hawaii beat Navy yesterday 59-41.

That victory in itself was incredible, but my personal "tailgate," enjoyed in front of my TV set, consisting of leftovers I was able to take home from our Friday night feast--wagyu, teriyaki mushrooms, salmon eggs, Haywood Cab, Kirin beer and sake--was enhanced with $73/pound blue-fin tuna o-toro sashimi.  The victory over Navy was indeed memorable, but I'll also long remember this wagyu / o-toro combination, which no doubt somehow spurred the win:

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Super Typhoon Jebi is now a "mere" typhoon, and still on track to make landfall over Japan later today, most probably as a Category 3.  This article called Jebi life-threatening.  Remember, Sunday Hawaii time is already Monday in Japan.  

While that above graphic showed Jebi mostly east of Osaka, other models indicate the eye passing west of Osaka and heading straight into the Sea of Japan.

Miriam is now a tropical depression and moving north.  However, Hurricane Norman is now a Category 4, with a predicted path just north of Hawaii:

Looks like another Friday-Saturday adventure, this time with Hawaii playing Rice at Aloha Stadium. Yet, I can't help but be impressed, and, therefore, confident of those scientific prognostications showing hurricanes missing our islands.

Further east of Norman is Tropical Storm Olivia, who will keep gaining strength.  The current projection, though, also shows her also easing by north of Hawaii.

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