I’ve been collecting art for more than 25 years. Like many things in life, it was a stroke of luck that led to the purchase of my first significant painting in 1997. I was living in Tokyo when a colleague alerted me that a Japanese institution was looking to unload a number of paintings. Through…
Gentle Monster is everywhere. Arguably the biggest luxury brand to launch from the peninsula, this Korean eyewear company has a turnover of hundreds of millions of dollars every year and can be found in over 450 retailers in 30 countries. You should expect long lines before walking into any of their 41 (and counting) flagship…
Imagine if you could live in a city that has all the awesome hustle and bustle of New York City but has virtually no crime, is immaculately clean, and most things cost about 30% less than in the US. That city exists now, and it’s called Seoul, Korea. This past April, I had a chance…
Chopsticks Feed Billions but Also Prevent Assassinations and Train Olympians Sometimes when I’m waiting in a coffee line, an odd annoyance pops into my head. It bothers me that my 10-year-old son does not know how to use chopsticks properly. It’s not a top-tier concern, up there with climate disasters or hate crimes, but it…
Buying gifts for finicky teens and young adults is a difficult task! One thing you can count on, however, is the fact that it is very cool to be Korean right now. From personalized name chops to finger heart neon signs and even a cutting edge virtual reality headset, check out our top picks for…
Based on your encounter with Korean names, you might have been wondering if all Koreans share the same handful of last names—Kim, Lee, Park, or Choi. Diving deeper into the anatomy and conventions around Korean names, there’s a lot more that a Korean name can tell you than you think. Korean last names or family…
If you’re married to someone with a Korean family, you’ve probably realized by now that you didn’t just make a commitment to your significant other … you married into a way of life. But notwithstanding all the K-dramas you’ve binge watched, do you still feel sorely out of place and awkward when trying to navigate those…
H Mart was my saving grace during Covid-19 because while the grocery store literally across the street had massive lines 24/7, I could breeze into H Mart, like any Asian restaurant at this time, and it would be almost empty except for fellow Asians, all excellently masked. I could be in and out in 15…
2021 has been another banner year for Korean American writing with many standout novels, memoirs, and short story collections put out by both major and independent publishers, many of them appearing on ‘best of the year’ lists and one, Grace Cho’s Tastes Like War, becoming a finalist for the National Book Award. This is not…
Sometime in the 1990s, Chinese journalists coined the word “hallyu” to describe the wave of Korean pop culture and entertainment that was gaining popularity outside of Korea. Almost thirty years later in 2021, hallyu along with 25 other Korean words, have officially found their way into the Oxford English Dictionary, the reference book that is…