2023.05.21 photo by Inseon, at Sorisomoon Books
Hello everyone!
This is the editorial team of <d design travel jeju>.
We're both back in Tokyo and Seoul after our joint assignment, and we're still feeling the effects of Jeju in our daily lives.
SHOP introduced in d mark review.
In Jeju, it was especially difficult to find a place that was <unique to Jeju>.
Honestly, there are a lot of cafes and shops, but it was not easy to find a place that is not just any place, but a place that is "unique to Jeju", a place that expresses its worries and thoughts through the eyes of d mark.
Nevertheless, we selected four places to introduce in the SHOP category.
SHOP, which we decided on later in the trip and will interview soon.
This is a bookstore that we visited several times during our research trip.
It's already a very famous bookstore, even among Koreans, though we loved the selection of Jeju-curated books you can find here.
The books I bought here and the "Jeju Life Test" I took here helped me learn more about Jeju, and get to know Jeju.
(Tested offline on July 1, 2023.
It coincides with my follow-up reporting, so I'll be there to take the test!)
I'm happy to introduce this bookstore as one of a category of SHOP where I saw many points where I wondered <why> I should go to this bookstore, and what a bookstore in <Jeju Island> could do.
The editor-in-chief must have bought a lot of books in Jeju.
Even if it's not a book in Korean, buy a photo book with Jeju's Oreum, a volcanic cone inside, a book with beautiful artwork, a comic book that depicts the experience of hunting ferns in Jeju.
Even if you don't know the language, a book about the region can be a good souvenir.
In a follow-up visit in early July, we decided to do an interview.
In the end, the book we bought at that bookstore brought us closer to Jeju, and the story was told, introduced in the interview, and included in the book.
In the end, we tell the story of category <PEOPLE> beyond space and place. For those who will be visiting Jeju Island with a time difference from the editorial team, please look forward to the stories of the places and operators in this book.
Instagram is so popular in Korea that there are photo spots everywhere, and bookstores are no exception. text by Jina
<I am Shindo, the editor-in-chief>
At the Seogwipo Healing Forest, with the D&DEPARTMENT JEJU store staff. photo by Jina
I'm back in Tokyo from coverage of Jeju and feeling a bit lonely over meals that are rarely spicy.
As the first overseas issue of "d design travel", I came back from Jeju more "colored" than ever.
Even though my daily life has returned, my desk is now lined with things I bought in Jeju.
Right now, I've just finished writing a column called "Normal in Jeju," where I introduce things that are natural to people in the area that feel "a little different" to people from other parts of the world.
As a first-time visitor to Korea, I don't know the culture, so I'm confused as to whether it's a "Jeju thing" or a "Korean thing".
In other words, everything is realized after it is translated.
Of course, I talk to Jina in the editorial team, and I also learn from books and research on my own.
But in hindsight, to some extent, it's the same thing in Japan.
For example, "Jeju people don't buy tangerines," which means they don't intentionally buy them because Jeju is a citrus-producing island and people share them on their farms.
It's only tourists who buy them at markets and souvenir shops.
This is also true in Ehime Prefecture, Japan. Ehime Prefecture is also a major citrus producer in Japan.
People may buy higher-grade ones to give as gifts to local acquaintances, but they don't buy them for themselves.
Another similarity is that there is a Jeju language.
There is something close to the dialect of Okinawa, Japan.
In particular, being an island country is similar, so there are definitely words that can only be understood in Okinawa.
When I look back on it, even though it's Korea, I think it's the same reporting I used to do in Japan. The problem is still the language barrier, but I trust my local supporters, such as Jina and the staff at D&DEPARTMENT Jeju, and rely on them when I'm unsure (laughs). Because we are in the same editorial department.
From July, I will start covering other regions, but the production of 'Jeju Issue' will continue for completion in April 2024.
Everyone who has been reading it, please continue to look forward to its completion.
I have a feeling that many tourists from Japan will visit Jeju after its completion, so I hope you will continue to talk about "Jeju" through the issue.
Our editorial department will do our best to make that happen. by Shindo
<This week's editorial team focuses on...>
Archive images of the @PONY exhibition
After returning from a work trip to Jeju, two members of the editorial staff stopped by the Hyundai Motor Studio to see the PONY exhibition and commented that this image of an advertisement, with its rapeseed flowers, sea, and horses, looked like it could have been taken in Jeju.
I also think about the things that become more visible after I've spent time researching and writing for a book.
Not long ago, a song with the same title as this car was released.
It was a song that the editors shared while working in their respective offices.
When editor-in-chief Shindo talked about "marketing that is definitely unthinkable in Japan," I, as a Korean reporter, was proud to feel the power of my country's car companies.
Korea and Japan, facing their differences.
While making a design travel book on Jeju Island, we will discover the differences first. by Jina
Planning, writing, and photography: <d design travel JEJU>
Editorial Team
Jina Lee (Calling Books)/ Hideto Shindo
Next issue is coming in July!
In the next issue, we'll share the story of our trip on Hyundai's CASPER Bijarim Khaki Matte, to Bijarim, the forest of JEJU, the beauty of Jeju's hydrangeas, and more.
