Jeffres'Notes: Places and Spaces on a Trip Around the World, 2016: Korea and Japan

Places and Spaces on a Trip Around the World, 2016:

Korea and Japan

I've told friends I should label my trip, "Around the World in 83 Days at 71," a reference to the film and my age at the time. And, while the years do occasionally weigh on you, for the most part it made little difference. Korea and Japan were scenes of two conferences, visits with friends, and long walks to enjoy the urban spaces in Seoul and Japan's manicured cities and the rural views getting there.

Seoul is becoming a city of apartments, but the public spaces and historic areas merit attention for the interaction they facilitate and their visual appeals. In Seoul, Digital City is an interesting experiment with its lighting and public art.

the same sculpture, night and day

...night and day

These visually delightful works of art draw people to interesting public places, particularly at night. Here are a couple shots.

Those of us attending the Urban Communication Conference in Seoul stayed in the Digital City area but traveled to the university campus for our sessions. Here are a couple shots of the campus and participants.

Another architectural achievement in playing with spaces in Seoul is the Design Center across town from Digital City. Its multiple levels weave in and out, up and down so you're never quite sure how to get to where you began. We begin with a layout of the structure.

The modern spaces are exciting, but the historic sites and monument-littered sidewalks are equally worth our attention.

The most crowded place in Seoul is the delightful Namdaemun Market, a maze of stalls and shops selling everything you can imagine.

While there are many other special places and spaces, I headed south on my Korean trip to the island of Namhae, to visit a CSU colleague now living in Korea, and enjoy the delightful sights of garlic being harvested, fish traps, a mask and film museum and the beautiful coastline.

...harvesting garlic

...Jae-won Lee

I believe they're lobster traps, if not, some other "critter."

Jae-won Lee and his dog.

Jae and his dog.

Entrance to the Mask and film museum.

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Japan

The annual conference of the International Communication Association was held in Fukuoka, Japan.

Here are a few scenes from this delightful city--its traditions, love of baseball, kimonos, a few from the bullet train to Hiroshima, the atomic bomb site, and colleagues attending the conference.

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The following shots are of the terraced side and roof garden of an ecological building in Fukuoka. Of course, I climbed to the top and back. You can see where you've walked from inside as well.

This shows the route of the walk to the top and back down. On my walk I encountered only one person, a security guard checking to see no one was lost.

Here you can see some of the levels, or terraces, on which I walked, from inside the building.

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Baseball time...Soft Bank Hawks.

draft beer....

......baseball game....

Following is the bullet train to Hiroshima, followed by shots from the train and then the site we're all familiar with, the surviving structure and today the beautiful grounds near the museum.