Korean Job Discussion Forums

crazylemongirl · Joined: 23 Mar 2003 Location: almost there...

would you stay in korea or flee to japan? Japan is cool, the guys are hot but I would stay in korea. Probably through sheer laziness I would stay in korea as I like being able to read the script and have enough language to get by.

katydid · Joined: 02 Feb 2003 Location: Here kitty kitty kitty...

If the money was as good and I could live as well as I do here I'd go to Japan. I've been here 2 years already would love to see other parts of Asia. I understand the whole "But I already know Hangeul" thing, but wouldn't let that stop me from going to Thailand or Mongolia or China or Japan. You can always learn how to speak the language before you can actually read it and learning another language (though fluency is also something worthwhile to strive for) can be really rewarding and a good challenge and something to look at as an accomplishment.
And the guys in Japan are hot.

kangnamdragon · Joined: 17 Jan 2003 Location: Kangnam, Seoul, Korea

Definitely Korea.

and the guys in Korea are hot. Wink

katydid · Joined: 02 Feb 2003 Location: Here kitty kitty kitty...

I'm just waiting for Matko to say "Thank you!" Wink

kiwiboy_nz_99 · Joined: 05 Jul 2003 Location: ...Enlightenment...

I'd stay here. I'm established, the chicks are hotter, the language more attractive, and it's generally more exotic and adventurous. Japan is "sanitised asia", it's just like the west but everyone looks Japanese.

crazylemongirl · Joined: 23 Mar 2003 Location: almost there...

I think that japan still has weird only in asia stuff. I saw a cat a on leash in peace park for christ sake!

kangnamdragon · Joined: 17 Jan 2003 Location: Kangnam, Seoul, Korea

Joe Thanks · Joined: 01 Oct 2003 Location: Dudleyville

desultude · Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2004 6:05 am Post subject:

Derrek · Joined: 15 Jan 2003

Went on the visa-run to osaka last week, and all of the foreigners I hooked up with were oogling over the porno-type outfits the women there wore.

Honestly, I was too, and we wished it had been warmer outside.

Tiger Beer · Joined: 07 Feb 2003

Yeah, I've seen the cats on a leash in the States as well. Even more interesting is a number of times I've even seen people put their kid on a leash.

Regarding the Japan and Korea question. I'd go to Japan.

Ilsanman · Joined: 15 Aug 2003 Location: Bucheon, Korea

I'd choose Japan if the pay and cost of living were the same. The pay is already higher.

just because · Joined: 01 Aug 2003 Location: Changwon - 4964

I lived in Japan before.

It's not that much better(if at all) than here. Guys don't forget to go somewhere on a visa run is a little different to living there.

There are still heaps of bad hagwons there, you're still discriminated against, plus the language takes years to read.

Don't get me wrong, i like Japan and plan to go there again this year(for 21st. time) but in all honesty I would live here. I do miss Maccas breakfasts and decent sushi though.

The moral is this
THE GRASS ISN'T ALWAYS GREENER ON THE OTHER SIDE

Tiger Beer · Joined: 07 Feb 2003

Good advice. I'm mixed on it.. still interested in Japan for the first hand experience.

True, vacation is A LOT different. I visited Busan recently and had a great time.. which is in direct contrast to having lived there for a year (where I couldn't wait to get out).

Just a thought about Japan. Is it only me.. but does it seem like when you look at a Japanese face, you have a lot more complexities of emotions (when they aren't being shy or giggling). But riding the subways, I noticed some really genuinely sad and lonely isolated looking people.

Korea in contrast, they are either hyper or sleepy or something like that. But I never see that deep complexity of emotion quite to that degree.

Godzilla · Joined: 06 Jun 2003

The grass is most definitely greener there... at least for me it is. I was there for 3 years from 1998 to 2001 and I absolutely loved it. Korea hasn't enthralled me as much as Japan did. Samurai, Kanji, Kyoto, Geisha, Aikido, Ninja, Fuji-san, Shinkansen... the list goes on and on. Seoul doesn't compare with Tokyo for things to do and see. People are friendly and go out of their way to help you while here they go out of their way to bump into you. There's more of a youth culture there. I'd disagree also that it's more sanitised than Korea. Seoul is pretty soulless and seems much more westernised than I thought it would be. Christianity I reckon.

BUT saying all that, if I'd have come to Korea first maybe my opinion would be just the reverse. Perhaps my love of Japan and all things Japanese is due to the fact that it was my first overseas post outside Europe. I just find it a lot more interesting, fascinating and awe-inspiring than Korea.