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I’m among those who’ve been disillusioned.

Yes, I was aware that it would be impossible for the man to live up to the hype that brought him into office. I guess I had wanted more, and more quickly, and while it’s true I named my cat after him,  in my own defense,

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I think I said before I might show you more pictures of our trip to Japan last month. This one above here is from the window of the departure lounge at Inchon International Airport.

As always, click on any images if you want to see them a bit larger.

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We were on a high promontory, an overlook called Mangkkeut that gave us a view over the water, pretty close to the same time as of day we had arrived 24 hours before, and we could see what was very likely the same ferry boat arriving on its regular schedule and pulling in to the pier at Hwangdungpo, the single community on the island, which we could see from this vantage was only two streets with another small one connecting them.   

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We were staying in a small family-owned inn on one of the hundreds of islands scattered along the southern coast. The staff had left the premises after dinner had been served and the dishes collected and cleaned, and we were alone in the building. It was not yet late, though very dark. We’d found the small pension by random means, sans reservations or prior publicity. It was off-season, just after the summer tourist crowds and just before the autumn holiday of Chuseok where everyone travels to visit family. 

Every day, or so it seems.

As always when I talk about other photographers, I need to make it clear that the pictures on this page are mine, and she deserves no blame for them. Click on the links I’ve provided to see Keely Kernan’s work.

She’s a freelance photographer currently residing in Busan. I came across her work by way of a photo essay published in Busan Haps. 

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It’s three times the distance from there to Tokyo as it is from there to Seoul. The flight from Incheon Airport to Fukuoka takes one hour and five minutes. We spent four nights and five days, around the beginning of December.

I took some pictures.   

It’s a subject I keep coming back to, possibly because it’s a somewhat popular pastime over here …

My opinions regarding suicide probably don’t correspond with those of a lot of people. However, there is a lot of disagreement from many quarters on the subject. Here are some loosely connected thoughts, just some things that have gone through my mind from time to time.

In which the blogger expands and asserts an addendum to comments provided in the previous post.

Everyone who does this has their own reasons, some that are shared with other people doing the same thing and some reasons that are just their own. Here’s a list of reasons I’ve come up with, and there could be more that I’m forgetting.

It’s the street. The street exists also outside the frame of the shot and existed before the shutter was pushed and will continue afterwards and even now, at this moment. You’re never going to be able to see everything that’s going on there, so don’t try. Yeah I know it’s all very transcendental and stuff. Don’t let it mess your head around too much, though. . .

Waiter, another order of randomness, if you please?

ㅁ My adult student works for McDonald’s. He doesn’t make the burgers, he works in the head office down in Jongro. He was in accounting when we first met, but now he’s in resource management. I asked him how many Mickey D locations there are in Seoul. He said he didn’t know.

“Don’t you think you should?” I asked. “How can you manage resources unless you know how many restaurants you have.”

“I’ll find out. I’m still new at this job.”

He consulted a file during the break. “Seventy-eight,” he said.

Now we know. And now you know, too.

People like to have a good laugh. When the laughter targets people in positions of social and political prominence, we experience a delicious thrill, like school kids giggling when the class clown makes rude gestures behind the teacher’s back.

We usually call it satire. Juvenile? Sure. Often necessary, though.

 Got a minute? For a change, this blog won’t ask much more of your time.

Hey, I guess a lot of people do. He’s pretty popular.

Esquire published a lengthy profile of the man in its October issue. It is good writing, so it doesn’t matter if I agree with it, and I’ll recommend it on that basis alone. Fans might think it’s a hatchet job from the opening pages, but it’s a rather long piece, so don’t rush to judgment about it until you’ve given the thing a chance.

I’m a big fan of candid shots, and street photography as a genre, but all the pictures here today are posed shots.

This gentleman was part of the set I took at Namdaemun, but when I saw the shot of his market stall, I realized the lines on his face and the expression he was giving were far more interesting than what he was selling. Click below the fold to see the full shot.