This domain name for this blog comes from a small collection of links on Korean studies called “Yuldo.net” that I started in 1999. The introduction stated that “Yuldo is the name of the utopian kingdom that appeared in the The Tale of Hong Kildong (Hong Kildong chon). It was described as an island somewhere south of the Korean peninsula. I thought that it would be an appropriate name for a virtual space on Korean studies that includes a number of Korean and Japanese references in addition to the standard collection of links in Western languages.”
I was teaching in Kumamoto in 1999 and static websites were new and trendy, but have since become museum pieces. Instead of updating it as a Korean studies site, I decided to change it into a site for my writing about Korea, Japan, and other things that come to mind.
In the 1990s and early 2000s, I wrote a number of articles about art and culture in Korea and Japan, and many of these were in publications that no longer exist or that are not on the Web. I plan on posting them on this blog, but will make minor corrections. I will also add an introductory comment about each article. I do not hold the copyright to images in most of the articles, but will provide links to images and information on other websites.
The background image was taken when I lived in Chebu-dong in Seochon neighborhood to the west of Gyeongbokgung Palace. The neighborhood was the center of my life in Seoul and will always have a special place in my heart.
