Michael Mentele

Two Months in Korea and Japan

I went on a two month “recharge” and visited Japan and Korea end of November through the first week of January. In total my wife and I were traveling almost two months. We spent two weeks in Japan, staying a week in Kyoto and Tokyo respectively with excursions to Yokohama, Osaka, Uji, and Nara. We also spent 30 days in Seoul with excursions to Nami island and Pangyo Techno Valley.

We traveled there because I’ve long admired South Korea for punching so far above their weight. They are a tiny nation with no natural resources but went from poorer than many african nations in the mid 1950’s to a global cultural and technological powerhouse. It’s amazing that Korean culture is better known than chinese despite being 1/20th the population. And this was no accident, opportunity didn’t just fall into their lap. It happened because of long term vision and execution on the part of the Korean people.

My impression from travelling confirmed what I’d seen in charts – Asia is booming and in many areas of technology outpacing the US. US share of global GDP has been shrinking for 50 years and while you could say that’s expected as the world catches up post WW2 I see complacency. The world isn’t just catching up, they are passing us. Go read Ray Dalio’s work or look at the trajectory of pretty much any leading indicator you can think of.

This is a quick and dirty brain dump of impressions and a recap of the experiences in each country Bri and I loved the most.

Key impressions:

  • They are booming. I saw zero homeless and a single, extremely polite old beggar. Everyone was well dressed and upright. I could just feel the industry.
  • They can build stuff and we can’t. I was blown away by the subway system spanning all of Seoul, built in 4 years – $1 to get anywhere in Seoul. It was clean. With heated seats. By contrast the Bart is 60+ years old and disgusting. If we tried to build a system like theirs, say in the Bay or Seattle, it’d take 40 years and cost 10x as much. In Seattle they’ve been building the light rail for 20 years and it’s a tiny fraction of the transportation capacity. Mind boggling. We just can’t build stuff anymore, our infra is 150 years old in many cases.
  • There is almost no crime or signs of crime. I saw bicycles unlocked in the city, personal bicycles. In SF those would be stolen in 5 minutes. It’s crazy. Korea has a crime rate that is 1/4th of ours and only 1/270th of the police officers. Yeah, you read that right. The rule of law is in shambles in the US. Want to steal something? Go ahead, no one will stop you and it’s easier than succeeding honestly.
  • There is little to no fat people while America is sick and obese – it’s one of our many emergencies that we zombie walk through. Obesity is health debt which translates to financial debt. Every obese person you see is announcing to the nation that they are probably going to make you pay health bills on their behalf.
  • The food is real food. We ate out for every meal while we were there and I lost 5 lbs. I would eat a single meal and be full the entire day. By volume a meal was 70% veggies, 15% meat or tofu, and 15% rice. And the variety! Wow. They don’t just eat the pig, they eat the organs too. I’ve had more seafood variety in two months than 20 years here in the states. And almost everywhere I went it felt like grandma made the food. And it was cheap! You could get a solid meal for $7 bucks.
  • What annoyed me the most was walking around. People would be so polite in elevators and on escalators but once they started walking they’d stare at their phone and walk into you.
  • Team Labs: Plants – was an amazing experience, I usually think art is boring and stupid but this was a blast, so creative – you have to do this.
  • Overall, I felt that expectations were higher for people, bathrooms were always clean, no public areas were abused and destroyed. Every public bathroom here is usually disgusting and stark.

Going to Japan and Korea cemented what the data has been clear about, America is in decline on a relative basis. The rest of the world is on the rise. They are booming we are crumbling. We have inertia on our side and the best of the best is still in the US, but how long will that last?

Overall, I strongly recommend a visit to both countries though don’t go in the winter to Korea, it was freezing. I found Japan more fun overall but Korea was more on the rise.

Japan standouts:

  • Kyoto. As someone burned out on temples, I can say old Japanese architecture is beautiful. Jobs said he was influenced by the design there and I can see why. Take a walk by the central palace there. The country side nearby is beautiful, I recommend jumping on a train for 15-30 m and visiting Uji. We were walking in a park there and it surreal, a wind instrument was being played in the nearby hills, the trees were the golds and reds of autumn – I felt like I would see a samurai come walking down the path. We stayed as an onsen but I wouldn’t bother, it was meh.
  • Japanese spa/bathhouse. There is something relaxing about getting naked with a few dozen bros and doing 3-sets of the sauna circuit (10 m sauna, 1 m cold plunge, 5 m meditation). We went to a spa for 3 hours for $5 to take a bath and hang in the lounge. For $20 you can stay for 10 hours and use the co-working space. No wonder WeWork went bankrupt.
  • The Izakaya experience is amazing. People stay literally all day. We bought 13 items for $30 over a few hours. I wish we had something like that here.
  • Go to Akibara and wander around.
  • Karaoke – for a couple bucks you can do karaoke throughout tokyo, I wish I could jaunt into a booth and get some vocal reps with a real setup so easily
  • Arcades – go visit one of the six story arcades if you are a nerd, it was crazy how many slots people play, we mostly stuck to co-op video games but they are something else
  • The food is delicious. Japanese food was more focused, they have their classic dishes and they are delicious. The sushi, the curry – everything.
  • Joyopolis – every ride was a game and you got to see your rank after each one (I got 1st in 4/6 rides among 4-12 participants); even the urinal was a game of how many 200 ml cans you could fill. I got a full liter and challenged the next guy coming in. They had innovate rides too, like a couples half-pipe skate game and guitar hero + a roller coaster.
  • The Ramen Museum – this was a fun way to try a bunch of different ramen’s in short period

Korea standouts:

  • T.UM is SK Telecom’s “tomorrow land” experience and it was a lot of fun
  • Lotte sky tower was impressive – 6th tallest building in the world, best view of Seoul you can find
  • DMZ – touristy but a unique place on the planet
  • National Museum is awesome, take a walk around, it’s free
  • Garden of Morning Calm – I’m not usually a fan of xmas lights but this was breath taking
  • Pick a popular market and wander around, go to a non-tourist one like Mangwon for good eats
  • Find a dense downtown area and walk around, the sheer vertical density of shops and restaurants is crazy, a block could literally have 50 or more businesses
  • Radiant heating in the floors everywhere is amazing… I never had cold toes. I miss it.
  • skin care products – get the 10 step routine dialed and amazing quality products, Korean skin is like milk
  • the variety of food and flavors is mind boggling, there is so much to eat and I felt so satiated, if I had to pick eating one or the other for the rest of my life it’d be Korean, if I had to pick one meal it’d be japanese

Both:

  • heated toilet seats with bidets are ubiquitous even in public restrooms – and the restrooms are clean
  • I recommend doing a food tour at the fish market and one of the many markets in Seoul to sample many different foods.