Tall Tales From A Short Canadian

Hola,

I wasn’t really too certain about the prevalence of cosmetic surgery here in Korea, despite the rumours of fellow expats, until recently. We watched a documentary on TV (in English! Yyyes!) that discussed the current plastic surgery boom in China. It really shed some light for me on the whole, weird phenomenon. I really didn’t think it was practiced much in Korea. After all, in general, the women here are very beautiful, and I couldn’t understand why any of them would want to look more like… us (don’t get me wrong… I prefer European girls, particularly Dutch ones). Well, western noses are coveted features, as are big (European) eyes and small chins… and all of these are for sale, and are amply marketed. I wanted to take a picture or two of the plastic surgery ads in the underground mall of downtown shopping mecca, Seomyeon. After the following shots, I stopped, but there were many, many more. How prevalent is it? I’d say 60-70% of all ads I saw in Seomyeon were for plastic surgery! Unbelievable.

Koreans are so fanatically patriotic and obsessed with identity, but it almost feels like they don’t have a solid identity and are shopping for one elsewhere. The new generation shuns all things traditional. Maybe being Asian underdogs for so long has left them a little beat-up and self-conscious of their old garb? For whatever reasons, they’ve pretty much adopted Western beauty and fashion as the ideal. Nike, Adidas, North Face, and Levi’s are the norm here, more so than in Canada. I think I’ll freak them out and start dressing like a traditional Korean!

Well, like the Dead Milkmen say: “We’re all living in a fucked up world!”

Keep it real,

suteebun