Monday, September 17, 2012

I May Have Attended a Cult Function.

A friend of mine does a lot of work with Mannam Volunteer Association. They were having a huge party up in Seoul and were offering free transportation to and from the thing. I figured I'd go check it out because it was supposed to be a cultural/world peace festival. I thought it would be a good chance to see some Korean culture performances and maybe meet some people, etc. Well...let me tell you that was far from what happened.

Besides the fact that they tried to fit 100,000+ people in a stadium built for about 80,000 and didn't have enough seats for everyone they bused in. Well after getting seated in the stadium, some nice Koreans gave us their seats and moved to where they couldn't see, we sat down and proceeded to listen to about two hours of speeches. It was a pretty auspicious start to a world peace festival (but not out of the ordinary for stuff in Korea). After that the show started with about a 30 minute mass games (think north Korea mass games). As soon as they announced the show was going to be about the 6000 year history of the bible I knew something was up. Throughout the whole show I thought it was pretty funny that at a multicultural world peace event where you have bused in foreign people from all different countries (Thailand, Pakistan, China, Indonesia, India, Nepal, Cambodia, Vietnam, etc) you start with a strict creationist show stating that the world is 6000 years old and only through the bible can evil be defeated.

Following the show our guides (babysitters) gave us a coupon for 4,000 won at the food court area (international foods) and asked if they would mind if they (the babysitters) went and got us food. Well, I needed to get up and stretch my legs because I'd been seated for about three hours and was cramping. So I told them it's ok I'll go get my own food. To which they basically said, no we have to go together. After walking down to the food court area a couple of the girls I was with had to go to the bathroom, and the guides had to escort them to and from the bathroom. It was at this point that I decided that I was going to leave after lunch. I can handle the religious message, but being escorted around like this made me feel like I was being watched and had to be accounted for at all times. After talking with the other foreigners I was there with (three teachers from Seosan) we decided just to tell them we were leaving. They felt the same way that I did and everything just felt off about the day. Our guides were sad but understood. We basically left as soon as we said goodbye.

It wasn't until yesterday when I started talking to my friend that I finally understood what was going on. She asked me what I thought of the day and I started telling her how I thought Mannam made several mistakes. I told her basically everything I just wrote and her response was that Mannam is a secular organization and is not allowed to be religious. However, she told me that the reason for the religious message was that the "honorary" chairman of Mannam just happens to be Lee Man Hee who is the founder and leader of Shinchonji Church of Jesus, the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony. This church happens to more or less be a cult with about 100,000 followers in Korea. It's not a kool-aid drinking end of the world type, but more of the we're the only enlightened ones type.

Mannam was co-hosting their event with the Shinchonji religious Olympiad which just happens to be held a day after the dear leader's birthday every 4 years. It's funny, because Mannam has come out saying they're not associated with the church. And then the biggest party Mannam has put on happens to be co-hosted by the church and the honorary chairman of the organization is the damned leader of the church. Moreover there are several reports coming out in the news that Mannam is just a front organization for the church and is actively recruiting for the church. It's to the point where Korean universities are warning their foreign students not to attend functions hosted by the organization.

At this point I started doing some digging online and found a lot of disconcerting stuff concerning the church, their association with Mannam, and the event which I unwittingly attended.  Well, I guess this just goes into that life experiences category. 

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Nara and Osaka

It's taken me a bit but here is the last part of my Japan trip.  After John and I left Kyoto we headed down to the first capital of Japan, Nara.  Nara is a about 45 minutes from Kyoto and Osaka respectfully.   There are two reasons why people go to Nara.  First, because it is the original capital of Japan and has some pretty cool sights to see.  The second, is because there are deer there.  Not only are there deer there but tradition states that they are heavenly animals and are to be protected.  What does this mean, you might ask.  Well quite simply, in Nara Park (where all the cool old buildings are) there are tame deer.  Not only are they tame, they're quite friendly/forceful when they are hungry.  You can pet, take pictures with, and generally do things to deer that most people can only do once they're stuffed and mounted.  These deer lounge around the park waiting for tourists to pay about two dollars to feed them flour biscuits.  Once a tourist has purchased a set of biscuits the deer descend and jockey for position to get food.  Some have been trained to bow, others gently nibble at your clothes, and some just straight up headbutt you.  These deer want their biscuits.

Everything to see in Nara is centralized in Nara park.  Nara park is home to numerous shrines, temples and the world's "largest" wooden structure.  There is some dispute as to whether this is in Kyoto or Nara and both cities claim to have the biggest.  These structures are almost overrun with deer.  Which gives the entire place the smell of a petting zoo.  It's not overpowering but the smell of urine and feces is definitely noticeable.  After wandering around the town John and I went back to the park to see it all lit up at night.  Apparently there was some type of lantern festival going on while we were there.  All throughout the park were thousands of little paper lanterns arranged in various shapes and designs.  It gave the park a surreal feeling.  Nara for most tourists is done on a day trip only, but John and I spent the night.  We had time and I didn't feel like rushing.  After that night we headed to Osaka for our last two nights in Japan.

The first day in Osaka we went off and explored Osaka Castle.  Osaka Castle is a traditional Japanese style castle.  It was rebuilt after World War Two and offers excellent views of Osaka as well as housing a museum about the history of the castle and the local history surrounding the castle and the families that built it.  After the castle John and I ran off to a very famous restaurant to eat expensive but awesome crab.  Everything had crab in it and even though it was expensive it was pretty delicious.  Following lunch we explored a giant shopping neighborhood in Osaka and then wandered into America-mura.  America-mura is a counter-culture  center for Osaka.  It was interesting to walk the streets here because it truly felt like walking the streets of a beach boardwalk (without the beach or the boardwalk).  However, the people there were very much the type of people you would find wandering around Ocean Beach.  The next day we explored Osaka a bit more and then went to one of the greatest sporting events I've ever been to.  I went and saw a Japanese League baseball game.  The game was the Hanshin Tigers versus the Hiroshima Toyo Carp.  The game itself wasn't that great of a game, but what was amazing was the organized cheering by the home fans.  The home fans chanted the entire game when their team was at bat.  I have been to a couple of games in Korea and the chanting is quite common, the main difference was that the amount of chanting and the amount of people engaged in the activity.  It was endless, and everyone who was a fan of the home team chanted the whole game.  If this wasn't enough the team also has a tradition called jet balloons.  This tradition is done during the middle of the 7th inning, much like the 7th inning stretch back home, but it involves everyone in the stadium blowing up two or three six feet long, hot dog shaped, balloons and then releasing them at the same time.  These balloons have an adapter on the end that makes the balloons fly up in the air as the air inside them expelled.  They also whistle as they do it.  Now this might seem rather juvenile, but when there are 30-40,000 people doing this and close to 80,000 balloons being fired off at one point it is quite awesome.

The following day John and I boarded the ferry back for Korea and back for work.  The ferry ride again provided a nice bookend for the trip.  It was a chance to relax and decompress after travelling for 8 days straight.  The peacefulness of the ocean and the beer probably helped to make the trip go quite well.