Tag: 부산

Book Talk: “The Narrowing Sea: Fukuoka, Pusan, and the Rise and Fall of an Imperial Region” (2025) by Dr. Hannah Shepherd, 9am Tuesday May 5 (KST)

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes.

As a 23-year resident of Busan, who can often see Japan from his apartment, how could I not attend this book talk tomorrow?

Alternatively, maybe you’re a fan of the Pachinko novel or TV series? Their story begins on Yeong Island, which I once used to see the sun rising over as my (yes) 7am English class in Nampo-dong began. And which means now you have to attend the talk too.

Did I mention tomorrow is a holiday in Korea? ;)

From the event page (register):

Presenter: Hannah Shepherd, Assistant Professor, Yale University (homepage)

Discussant: Tessa Morris-Suzuki, Professor Emerita of Japanese History, Australian National University

Moderator: Joseph Seeley, Associate Professor of History, University of Virginia

The Modern Japan History Association invites the wider community to a conversation with Hannah Shepherd, who will be speaking about her new book The Narrowing Sea: Fukuoka, Pusan, and the Rise and Fall of an Imperial Region (University of California Press, 2025). This book examines the shared histories of Pusan and Fukuoka over the eight decades from Japan’s forced opening of Korea’s ports in 1876 to the end of the Korean War in 1953. One city was Korean, the other Japanese; one was a burgeoning colonial port, the other a provincial city buoyed by imperial expansion. Wars, colonization, and capitalist industrialization forged intimate connections between the two, knitting together an imperial region that transcended its maritime boundaries. Drawing on both Japanese and Korean archives, and emphasizing the concept of imperial urbanization, Shepherd challenges traditional views of empire and urban growth and shows how local networks, migration, and capital flows shaped the region’s exploitative and uneven geographies. The waters between Fukuoka and Pusan narrowed through intensified interactions that continued even after the end of empire, creating enduring legacies for the postwar and postcolonial eras. Tessa Morris-Suzuki (ANU) will serve as interlocutor.

By coincidence, which admittedly tends to happen very often when it comes to my blog, just last week I was giving a lecture on a favorite topic of mine: the “new women” (shinyeoseong/신여성) of the Japanese colonial period that spans most of the period of the book talk. Careful to impress upon my students that despite my passion for them (new women I mean), and despite their huge impact on the Korean popular imagination, their numbers were actually extremely small, I show the following map of Busan to try to convey just how small the city actually was then:

See here for a high-quality version. It comes from the blog Gusts of Popular Feeling, which I highly recommend for more historical maps, long descriptions, and a potted history of the period. Young Island is in the center-bottom.

Alas, in preparing the lecture I did have to account for the fact that I’ve lived in Busan longer than any of my students, let alone that few would ever share my fetish for maps. So, in the next slide, I superimposed it on a modern map of Busan:

And if that didn’t have any impact on them, my last resort was a picture of where they probably went drinking the night before. I have them try to guess where it is before I make the caption appear:

“Seaside Village, Busan, 1952” by Kenneth H. Lehr. Source: m20wc51 (used with permission).

See you tomorrow! :)

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If you reside in South Korea, you can donate via wire transfer: Turnbull James Edward (Kookmin Bank/국민은행, 563401-01-214324)

Life Imitates Fantasy Art

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A rare perspective of Haeundae in Busan, where photographers usually focus on the often million plus people on the beach rather than all the rapid construction at its Southern end towards Gwanganli.

Indeed, probably the most affluent area of the city at the moment, as you can see as many tall apartment buildings seem to be getting crammed in there as possible. The newest ones especially loom so high over the beach that they seem to be almost overhanging it.

So much so in fact, that the very first thing the photo reminded me of was this concept art by Dutch artist Jesse Van Dijk:

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Concept art of what exactly? Probably the last thing you’d expect(!), and with 350,000 visitors to his site in 3 months because of it, you won’t be alone in being intrigued by it: see interviews at Max3D and Dark Wolf’s Fantasy Reviews for more information, and on his work in general.

Update – If you’d like to see the area in more detail, here are some stunning images of it from last March by photographer Kim Jae-ha:

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Judging by his website, unfortunately Kim no longer seems to be active. But he has changed the attribution license on his photos  since I last checked at least, so feel free to share them!

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The Vagina Monologues in Busan: Sunday, April 25th

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Very surprised to hear that this will be not only be playing in Busan, but just 10 minutes away in my local drinking district of Kyungsung and Pukyong university, I’m glad to finally get a chance to see this. With all proceeds going to shelters that help victims of sex trafficking in Korea, check out the Facebook page for the details, including about the after party: am looking forward to meeting some readers there!

Update 1: Lest the poster above give you the wrong impression however, which is actually for a Korean performance in Bucheon, please note that the performance is in English, and you can hear an interview of the cast on Koreabridge here if you like.

Update 2: You need to be logged on to see the Facebook page, so alternatively you can see here for the details instead, and I’ve also added a map below.

Update 3: See here for an article in Busan Haps.

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