so it’s been about a year since i moved back to Seoul from NYC. i certainly miss NY from time to time for its countless variety for food, fashion, design resources/inspirations – and oh i miss you my friends 
– but i also realized Seoul has become a very interesting metropolitan herself in recent years. so many cute restaurants, coffee shops, and stores are opened, parks and biker lanes are lined up nicely for greener life in the city. so i am relieved that i didn’t end up in an unfortunate return. : )
i had a chance to travel to nearby Asian metropolitan cities, Tokyo & Hong Kong, in last few months, and i noticed when i go to some other cities, now i compare those places to NYC.
Tokyo trip was short, and despite i loved its food and hygienic environment, its culture felt more flat and stiff than what i felt on my several visits made before my days in NY. especially the ‘controlled/groomed’ attitude of people stunned me – people were almost overly nice even on casual interactions which felt awkward to me and sometimes made me even uncomfortable. most were dressed conservatively (solid black suits were the uniform for office workers) except for the funky ‘street style’ youngsters. it could be the opposite end of NYC if you put two spots on a line.
tokyo <conservative ——————————– liberal> nyc
on the other hand, Hong Kong was more interesting and diverse than what i remembered from 10 years ago. it definitely felt like a leading international city where you could notice hefty population of blue collar foreigners. i loved the soho area filled with authentic foreign food restaurants – i enjoyed a tapas place which i had hard time finding a good one in Seoul. even the local culture were influenced a lot by the western (british) culture – e.g. restaurants served tea buffet. HK just celebrated(?) its 12th year since its return to China, but my impression was that Shanghai – where I’ve visited in 2006 – was still far less international than HK. if i add HK and Seoul to the comparison line above, it would probably be like this.
tokyo <conservative ———- seoul ———— hong kong ———- liberal> nyc
after spending some years in different cultural environment, i would say though, the critical fact that only matters for life is ‘the value and the attitude you pursue and sustain wherever you are’ not letting the place to define you. altough i admit it is not possible to block out the influences coming from the environment entirely, the components of everyday life is not too different wherever you are: you eat, sleep, love, work.
for me, good people – friends and family -, and positive and active curiosity to the surroundings, *and* trips to other cities to stimulate my curiosities, then i can survive!
Filed under: scribbles, Versus , asia, city, hongkong, seoul, tokyo, travel, trip
