I have been to Korea. I'm not Asian and was born & raised in the US. I'll just say: I think this is an odd take. I don't agree w/most of his conclusions.
In the very first line, he says "Seoul is not a pretty town." I live in San Francisco, conventionally thought of as a pretty place, and I would say: I think Seoul was pretty. It wouldn't have occurred to me to say it wasn't.
Go back and look at the article again. The first few photos, showing commercial and chintzy/cheap shop districts - that's as ugly as Seoul gets. That's what passes for 'urban blight' there. Now go to your city, and take a few photos of urban blight, the ugliest city areas you can find. I'll bet you, easily, that in terms of beauty, Seoul wins that competition hands down.
As an American, what really strikes you about Seoul is how clean and well-run it is. Related, you also notice how polite and pleasant it is: no one screaming, either randomly at nothing, or at you, to get in line or do things a certain way or whatever (something I noticed when I flew from Seoul airport back to USA airport, and immediately some worker was yelling at us to get in the baggage line). There's no piles of trash that have been forgotten for weeks, there's no neglected areas that are just falling into worse and worse disrepair.
The overall feeling is this. Have you ever thought, "Why can't everyone just be reasonable and nice?" Seoul is a place where it feels like that came true; if you want to know what that would be like, go there. So it's 'pretty' (without question, to me) in the way that a building or an office is pretty, that people work to keep clean and crisp and well-organized. That's a form of beauty which Seoul has in spades.
Also: the thing about "but there's no religion" is a cheap shot, and apparently untrue, as someone else has pointed out (Seoul has the largest churches in the world by attendance). There are more cute things, but that's neither here nor there; I totally disagree that Hello Kitty has replaced Jesus, if that's the implication. People like Hello Kitty type images & toys there, but it's an overstretch to pretend like Hello Kitty is their God, or something equally ridiculous.
> Have you ever thought, "Why can't everyone just be reasonable and nice?" Seoul is a place where it feels like that came true;
I haven't spent much time in Seoul but that sentence describes by feeling of Japan and Singapore where I have spent > 10 years. I know American's (and Europeans) get defensive about this and try to start pointing out the negatives of both places of which there are plenty but, it's hard to come back to the USA after being away so long and just see how much everyone is only out for themselves, being dicks in one way or another. Some are small (I see people not waiting their turn at the signal and blocking people's who's turn it is), Some less (saw some guy eating a bowl of chicken, pulling the lettuce out and just throwing it on the sidewalk), (Seeing people blaring their stereos to what showoff? not really sure what's up with that one except to show you have power over others by showing you can do something, blair your stereo, and they can't do anything about it), Some awful (all the car break ins and packages stolen and the attitude that it's the victim's fault)
This comes at the price of an insane amount of pressure, to know your place and shut up and do what you're being told.
This is why westerners love these countries because they get to enjoy the orderliness while benefitting of their foreigner status which exclude them from any expectations.
If they were held by locals to the same expectations they'd have a different opinion of these societies.
After living in Japan for three years I just have a hard time taking western interpretations of Asian countries seriously (not directed at you but the article)
In the very first line, he says "Seoul is not a pretty town." I live in San Francisco, conventionally thought of as a pretty place, and I would say: I think Seoul was pretty. It wouldn't have occurred to me to say it wasn't.
Go back and look at the article again. The first few photos, showing commercial and chintzy/cheap shop districts - that's as ugly as Seoul gets. That's what passes for 'urban blight' there. Now go to your city, and take a few photos of urban blight, the ugliest city areas you can find. I'll bet you, easily, that in terms of beauty, Seoul wins that competition hands down.
As an American, what really strikes you about Seoul is how clean and well-run it is. Related, you also notice how polite and pleasant it is: no one screaming, either randomly at nothing, or at you, to get in line or do things a certain way or whatever (something I noticed when I flew from Seoul airport back to USA airport, and immediately some worker was yelling at us to get in the baggage line). There's no piles of trash that have been forgotten for weeks, there's no neglected areas that are just falling into worse and worse disrepair.
The overall feeling is this. Have you ever thought, "Why can't everyone just be reasonable and nice?" Seoul is a place where it feels like that came true; if you want to know what that would be like, go there. So it's 'pretty' (without question, to me) in the way that a building or an office is pretty, that people work to keep clean and crisp and well-organized. That's a form of beauty which Seoul has in spades.
Also: the thing about "but there's no religion" is a cheap shot, and apparently untrue, as someone else has pointed out (Seoul has the largest churches in the world by attendance). There are more cute things, but that's neither here nor there; I totally disagree that Hello Kitty has replaced Jesus, if that's the implication. People like Hello Kitty type images & toys there, but it's an overstretch to pretend like Hello Kitty is their God, or something equally ridiculous.