• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
• /
• v.24 no.5
• /
• pp.467-477
• /
• 2009

This study was conducted to investigate and analyze food related and space related elements of popular Vietnamese restaurants in Hong Kong to identify restaurant images related to food, to examine how Vietnamese traditions are applied to such restaurants, and ultimately, to get their implications for us. Luxury Vietnamese restaurants in Hong Kong tended to be located in major office buildings and famous shopping malls in the downtown area; therefore, they were highly accessible to foreigners. In addition, most Vietnamese restaurants were quite formal in size or atmosphere. The food-related elements of the luxury restaurants reproduced traditional menus, but the table setting and service generally adopted a formal Western style setting. The presentation of foods was also creative and contemporary, to suit international customers' tastes. Regarding the spatial elements, restaurants serving traditional menus had interiors influenced by the French colonial period, while those serving contemporarily adapted menus had interiors with simple contemporary images emphasized by Vietnamese traditional decorations. These characteristics allowed foreigners from diverse countries to access the restaurants without a sense of rejection. Casual restaurants were primarily exposed to many people on busy roadsides, but they tended to be inferior in terms of size and quality. Apart from size and price level, food-related elements failed to reflect Vietnamese unique traditional characteristics. The outward appearance consisted of basic construction materials (glass, chassis, and bamboo) instead of those representing Vietnamese architecture. Additionally, the interior of the casual restaurants contained traditional elements or objects more frequently than luxury restaurants, but they looked rather disorderly and lacked harmony. Overall, the image of casual restaurants was degraded by the use of cheap and low quality finishing materials and furniture. The results of this study may be useful for organizations promoting the Branding of Korea or businesspeople and designers promoting the globalization of Korean foods.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
• /
• v.45 no.4
• /
• pp.11-22
• /
• 2017

A plaza represents the identity of a city, and that reveals a plaza's importance. Gwanghwamun Plaza and Seoul Plaza are two representative plazas where the citizens can freely express their opinions. Many major plazas in the center of Seoul were built under the Japanese occupation. Among these, the plaza of Joseon Bank has different characteristics than Gwanghwamun Plaza and Seoul Plaza. Even though this plaza was built in the center of the commercial, administrational, and cultural district during the Japanese colonial period, the research on this plaza has been limited. This study was conducted to verify the features of this plaza by analyzing its construction and transformation during the Japanese colonial period. The study's results outline how the plaza was constructed by the Japanese administration. The intention of the government is shown by the fact that it purchased land parcels and held a design competition. In the 1910s, the government purchased seven parcels of land during the expansion of roads as the place for the plaza. During the late 1930s, the government accepted a traffic circle to regulate the traffic and eliminate the conflict between crossing movements. In 1939, a fountain was built in the plaza's center, and its design was selected through a design competition. It was planned as a square, but gradually turned into a rotary. Furthermore, the plaza was a landmark and symbol of the power and modernity of Japan. As the main modal point of public transportation, the plaza became surrounded with largescale Western-style buildings, commercial advertising, and neon signs. The plaza became a place where people could experience the modern city. These spectacular displays showed that Japanese imperialism was perceived as a strange and peculiar landscape to the majority of Korean citizens. This study investigates the history and characteristics of the plaza, focusing on its beginning as well as the transformation of its form. As to the limitations of the study, it does not consider political and economic contexts within the transformation of Seoul and in relation to this plaza. Instead, that research remains for a future study.

• Journal of Ethics
• /
• no.88
• /
• pp.103-122
• /
• 2013

This paper aims to study on conceptual suitability or unfitness of Silhak(實學). It is general that by criticizing Chujahak(朱子學) or beyond the limitation of Seonglihak(性理學), Silhak has developed practical tendency to reforming the society in the middle and end of Chosen Dynasty, related to the context of Korean national reflection in modern times. However, it is unfortunate to be understood. As presented in Chosenwangjosillok(『朝鮮王朝實錄』), there has been a few usages in the term 'Silhak'. In short, it was different from its contemporary meaning. At that time, it was usually used to have the meaning of Gyunghak(經學), compared to Sajanghak(詞章學), or rarely, of 'the true study' or 'the practical study'. Therefore, it is to claim that its conception has been manipulated or exaggerated very seriously. Since 1930s, in particular, its conception has been misused in interpreting works of Jung Yak-Yong by some scholars, such as Jung In-Bo, Moon Il-Pyung and An Jae-Hong, who tried to apply the term to overcome the Japanese colonial era symbolised as modernity based on the future life of Korea. Even though their attempt has led to have crucial discussions on the conceptions of Silhak, it has an unnecessary result that there has been a new and totally different understanding of Silhak in South Korea, North Korea, China, Japan, etc., which means that the unsustainable conception of Silhak has been one of major problems in studying of Silhak. To give an practical solution, I would try to make sense of 'time spirit' whose scholars studied Silhak in the middle and end of Chosen Dynasty. A problem, however, is that a scholar group in the name of Bukhakpa(北學派) had certain links and bonds. This is because many scholars studying of Silhak were usually features out of the main stream, which made them it difficult to form any various groups. That is to say, it seems to be natural that they have dreamed of utopian imaginations less than of overlapping points in reality. To sum up, it would be concluded at least that any approach to human lives and thoughts in the given conceptions of Silhak, e.g. ethical thoughts of Silhak, enables us to be indifferentiated to take its true meaning and time spirit of Chosen Dynasty. To be disenchanted of its social roles in Chosen Dynasty, fundamentally, it should be escaped from the wrong net of illusions and sings in understanding Silhak in certain eclectic steps.

• Cross-Cultural Studies
• /
• v.48
• /
• pp.31-66
• /
• 2017

This study examines ways of recognizing and aspects of describing Korean modern literature revealed by each literary history from the viewpoint of 'transculturation', focusing on Lim Jeon-Hye's "History of Korean Literature in Japan until 1945", Shirakawa Yutaka's "Footsteps of Korean Modern Literature", and Saegusa Toshikatsu's "Taste of Korean Literature" from the history of Korean literature written in Japan. First, Lim Jeon-Hye periodically examines Korean literature written in Japan, focusing on literary activities of Korean students in Japan and the proletarian literature movement, and addresses points of active cultural negotiation, mutual understanding and political solidarity between Korea and Japan. Shirakawa Yutaka focuses on the concurrency and connection of Korea, China, and Japan in the process of modern literary formation, covering Japanese language literature and pro-Japanese literature with great care, and describes the middle-layer position as a mediating researcher in the conflicting boundaries between Korea and Japan. Saegusa Toshikatsu provides interesting transcultural momentum in exploring internal logic and denotation of Korean literature via comparative literature review encompassing East Asia, implementation of literary forms and themes connecting tradition and modernity, and an out-of-boundary point of view to overlook 'pro-Japanese literature', etc. Transcultural aspects in this literary history to examine are as follow. First, the history of Korean modern literature based on 'national literature history' is catabolized in the magnetic field of the 'colonial experience' and 'national nationalism' and considered in multifaceted context. Second, they provide the possibility of three-dimensional and micro-narrative description of literature that complement the narrative aspect of existing Korean literature history. Third, they provide an opportunity to expand and open the description of literature history through acceptance of comparative literary perspectives encompassing East Asia. Fourth, through discovery of Korean-Japanese literature and Japanese language literature, they contribute to broadening the history of Korean modern literature and enriching foundations.