Lifestyle
Artista ambiental exibirá jardim inspirado no Monte Jiri no Chelsea Flower Show
Designer de jardins e artista ambiental Hwang Ji-hae is returning to the Chelsea Flower Show after an 11-year absence with her entry titled “Land of Healing: Korean Mountain Light”.
In 2011, Hwang won the Best Artisan Award and a Gold Medal at the Chelsea Flower Show with “Hae Woo So: Emptying One’s Mind: Traditional Korean Bathroom”. The following year, she won the President’s Award and a Gold Medal for her exhibit “Moment of Silence: DMZ Forbidden Garden”.
Established in 1827, the Chelsea Flower Show is one of the world’s most prestigious horticultural events, organized by the Royal Horticultural Society of Britain.
“Chelsea consumes an absurd amount of energy. Every time I competed on the program, I fought a lonely battle overcoming language barriers, tight budget, and cultural differences,” she said during a recent interview with The Korea Times. “But at the same time, displaying a garden at Chelsea was an opportunity to hear my inner voice and develop many brilliant ideas. Although I’ve been away from the show for years due to health reasons, I always thought this is a place where I want to be.”
At the 2023 Chelsea Flower Show, which will take place in London from May 23 to 27, Hwang is set to design a garden inspired by the landscape and ecosystem of Mount Jiri, the largest national park in the country. As the show’s theme for this year is “the restorative power of gardens and gardening,” Hwang is ready to share stories about endangered endemic plant species in Korea.
Mount Jiri is extremely rich in biodiversity and packed with medicinal herbs. Hwang revealed the original title of her newest project is “A Letter from a Million Years Ago.” Through her garden, the environmental artist intends to emphasize the importance of preserving plant biodiversity in the mountainous ecosystem.
“Before we discuss aesthetics and art, I want people to connect with nature and explore ways to coexist with wildlife. What we can do for our next generation is to support reforestation efforts so that plants can return to their natural and uncultivated state without human intervention,” she said.
Hwang’s passion for plants was seeded while growing up in a rural village in Gokseong County, South Jeolla Province.
“My mother had a garden full of plants, including large-flowered skullcap, balloon flower (‘doraji’ in Korean), lettuce, and wild chrysanthemum. That was my earliest memory of plants and gardens,” she recalled.
To this day, her mother’s love and dedication are the biggest influence in her approach to garden design. As a child, she loved the smell of the earth, the scent of wild raspberries from the vines, and cabbage butterflies in the vegetable garden. Such experience opened her up to a sense of beauty and appreciation of details.
“All my thoughts, beliefs, and confidence come from my mother’s love. A garden has infinite stories. I can recreate tens of thousands of gardens based on my inspiration from Mount Jiri,” she said.
Hwang said she never planned to become a garden designer. In college, she majored in fine arts and has worked in the areas of sculpture, installation art, and environmental art.
“One day, I was taking a nap after working on a mural. I woke up with the grass tickling my face, which was mattress and pillow grass. At that moment, I was fascinated by its color and texture and realized there is nothing new under the sun. That’s when I found the joy of discovering new plant species. From there, I thought a lot about ecological rehabilitation,” she said.
Hwang shared how the COVID-19 pandemic gave her time to seriously think about sustainable environments and ecosystems affected by climate change and other stressors. “I thought about my own safety and health. It may sound like a cliché, but it was a time to think more deeply about the environment we live in,” she said.
After the 2023 show, some of the plant species from Hwang’s garden will be donated to Maggie’s Centers, where they will be enjoyed by cancer patients.
Hwang also talked about ways to make a city more sustainable and green. “There are many ways to make cities healthier. Smart farms, hanging gardens, and green walls are beneficial to the environment,” she said.
“As long as we remain committed to conservation, we can think about ways to create urban gardens in cities. But above all, be grateful for the sun, wind, and air around you. That is the beginning of the transformative journey,” she said.
Lifestyle
Myeong-dong atingido por COVID se recupera com o retorno dos turistas
Por Lee Hae-rin
O icônico distrito de compras e turismo da Coreia, Myeong-dong, está florescendo novamente com o retorno de viajantes estrangeiros motivados por seu amor pela cultura, dramas e cosméticos coreanos.
Kai Diaz, uma americana de 26 anos, disse ao The Korea Times, segunda-feira, em Myeong-dong, que fez uma lista de coisas que precisava fazer com base em seu drama coreano favorito e nos canais do YouTube, Facebook e Tik Tok enquanto fazia uma contagem regressiva. os dias para sua primeira viagem à Coreia durante a pandemia.
Diaz, que se apresentou como uma “grande fã de K-drama”, disse que sua série coreana favorita despertou seu interesse por K-beauty e a levou a procurar produtos para a pele para levar para casa no último dia de sua jornada de cinco dias. .
“Não há muitos bons de onde eu sou (Nevada). Mesmo se houvesse, ou é muito caro ou você tem que pedir online”, disse ela, acrescentando com entusiasmo que voltará à Coréia para explorar mais sua cultura e visitar áreas fora da capital, como Busan e Jeju.
Na segunda-feira, Myeong-dong estava lotado de turistas fazendo compras em grupos de familiares e amigos. As lojas de cosméticos e roupas que fecharam durante a pandemia de coronavírus abriram novamente e as ruas ficaram cheias de viajantes internacionais carregando sacolas de compras e comida de rua, criando um forte contraste com a atmosfera de cidade fantasma atingida pela pandemia alguns meses atrás.
A CJ Olive Young, a maior franquia de drogarias da Coreia que tem mais de 1.300 filiais em todo o país, disse, no domingo, que as vendas geradas por turistas em cinco de suas lojas em Myeong-dong deram um salto vertiginoso de 29 vezes durante o mês de março (de 1º de março a 21 de março). 1 a 17) em relação ao mesmo período do ano anterior.
Os turistas respondem por uma proporção crescente das vendas, mostram os dados da empresa. Eles respondem por 73% das vendas em cinco lojas em Myeong-dong este mês, o que representa um aumento de mais de seis vezes em relação ao ano passado. As principais nacionalidades responsáveis pelo crescimento das vendas foram do Sudeste Asiático, Japão, Américas e China, em ordem de porcentagem.
Além de Diaz, vários turistas entrevistados neste dia também disseram que sua motivação para viajar para a Coreia e visitar Myeong-dong era seu amor e interesse pela cultura coreana, incluindo dramas coreanos, K-pop e conteúdo do YouTube.
Além do crescente interesse internacional na cultura coreana, a flexibilização dos regulamentos de viagens e a suspensão dos mandatos de testes de PCR em chegadas de estrangeiros causaram um afluxo de viajantes internacionais e revitalizaram o distrito comercial, de acordo com a análise da empresa.
No entanto, os chineses do continente, que representavam a maior parte de mais de um terço dos visitantes de Myeong-dong antes da pandemia de COVID-19, ainda não compareceram, de acordo com os vendedores e empresários do distrito.
“Nós (vendedores ambulantes) sentimos que os viajantes chineses ainda não voltaram para valer”, disse Lee Kang-soo, gerente do sindicato de vendedores de Myeong-dong ao The Korea Times, na segunda-feira. “Ocasionalmente, você pode ouvir a língua chinesa falada na rua, mas eles são principalmente de Hong Kong, Cingapura ou Taiwan”, disse Lee.
A maioria dos viajantes chineses que planejam visitar a Coreia ainda espera que seus vistos de turista sejam emitidos e Myeong-dong espera ainda mais tráfego de turistas com o tempo, explicou Lee.
Enquanto isso, a Polícia Metropolitana de Seul lançou uma repressão de seis semanas contra acomodações não registradas e filmagens ilegais nessas instalações, a partir de segunda-feira, para “prevenir e regular crimes contra turistas”.
Lifestyle
‘Omurice’, comida de conforto para japoneses e coreanos, símbolo de laços mais calorosos
Almost everything about President Yoon Suk Yeol’s first summit with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo will be examined for signs of warmer bilateral ties, including a shared meal of a Tokyo classic called omurice.
The dish, whose name is a mixture of omelette and rice, has become the talk of the town since Japan’s Fuji TV reported on Monday a hushed-up plan by Kishida to treat Yoon at Rengatei, the historic, no-frills eatery that invented it.
Yoon, a self-described foodie and avid cook, reportedly had “unforgettable” memories of the omurice he ate in his youth at the 128-year-old establishment in Tokyo’s Ginza district. He made frequent trips to the Japanese capital in 1966 while his father, a university professor, spent a year there, he told the Yomiuri newspaper.
Japanese and Korean authorities declined to confirm the plan or the location, while Rengatei, famous as the birthplace of omurice in 1900, declined to comment.
While many foreigners may associate Japanese cuisine with sushi or tempura, “yoshoku,” or Western-influenced dishes like omurice and tonkatsu (fried pork cutlet), are more common fare on Japanese dinner tables.
Yoshoku is a genre of Japanese cuisine established more than a century ago, and some made it to South Korea in the 1960s when ethnic Koreans traveled between the two countries, said Motoo Kawabata, a professor at Kwansei Gakuin University specializing in global restaurant strategy.
Kishida and Yoon are reportedly sharing a more formal sukiyaki dinner beforehand, but the real ice-breaker may be when they sit down to the omurice, said Kawabata. Japan and Korea are holding a summit for the first time in 12 years, seeking to mend severely deteriorated relations.
“It may be an effort to promote a relaxed atmosphere, through a casual dish that both Japanese and Koreans consider home food,” he said. Rengatei’s price for its omurice: 2,600 yen (US$19.57).
Kawabata said omurice in Korea typically has a thinner, firmer layer of egg, while the image of a perfectly executed egg in Japan has a fluffy, liquid, almond-shaped top that covers the ketchup-covered fried rice.
“Yoon may have been impressed by the smoothness of Japanese-style omurice,” Kawabata said.
Although Rengatei’s original dish mixed the egg mass with the rice, omurice as Japanese know it today was conceived and popularized in Juzo Itami’s 1985 film Tampopo, a critically acclaimed meditation on food and one of Japan’s most famous movies.
Hiroshi Modegi, the third-generation proprietor chef of Taimeiken, which appears in the film, said he was disappointed his restaurant was not the president’s choice but welcomed the renewed attention on omurice.
“I hope the world discovers that Japanese culinary culture also has such a dish,” he said. (Reuters)
Lifestyle
Eastar Jet planeja comprar 7 aviões
Por Lee Hae-rin
Após um hiato de três anos devido a problemas financeiros, a Eastar Jet, uma companhia aérea local de baixo custo (LCC), busca decolar mais uma vez introduzindo novos aviões e rotas internacionais ao retomar o serviço.
Ao anunciar a retomada dos voos entre Gimpo e a Ilha de Jeju, seu CEO Cho Jung-seok disse que a empresa expandirá sua frota em até 10 aviões até o final deste ano.
“Entre eles, três aviões existentes, que foram revisados regularmente durante a pandemia, e os três primeiros aviões novos serão usados para voar entre Gimpo e Jeju”, disse ele em entrevista coletiva.
Como as restrições de viagens internacionais foram suspensas, a maioria dos aviões foi usada para voos internacionais, resultando em escassez de rotas domésticas e aumento nos preços das passagens – principalmente voos para Jeju, cujo preço médio via LCC ultrapassa 60.000 won (US$ 45). em comparação com um nível pré-pandêmico de 30.000 a 40.000 won.
O CEO acredita que o plano da Eastar de fornecer 4.500 assentos diariamente acabará por reduzir os preços dos voos de Jeju de acordo com a oferta e a demanda. A companhia aérea também lançará promoções oferecendo passagens para Jeju por 9.900 won e 19.900 won a partir de quarta-feira.
No segundo semestre, o LCC lançará rotas internacionais, começando por Songshan, em Taiwan, com mais um novo avião. Depois disso, planeja fornecer rotas conectando Incheon com destinos populares do Japão e do Sudeste Asiático, incluindo Osaka, Narita, Fukuoka, Tailândia e Vietnã.
Para executar esses planos, a Eastar Jet recrutará 500 pessoas, priorizando ex-funcionários que foram demitidos durante a pandemia.
Fundada em outubro de 2007 pelo ex-deputado Lee Sang-ik, do Partido Democrata da Coreia, a Eastar Jet sofreu dificuldades financeiras com a pandemia, bem como com o problema de peculato do fundador. Cerca de 500 de seus funcionários foram despedidos quando a Jeju Air, a maior LCC do país, tentou adquirir a Eastar. Ele interrompeu todas as operações de voo em 24 de março de 2020.
A problemática transportadora de baixo custo recuperou a estabilidade financeira depois de ser adquirida pelo fundo de private equity VIG Partners no início deste ano e decidiu retomar os serviços de voo.