mood

Korea is often describe as a society being governed by relationships and social order rather than law of the government. I'm sure it will change and has been changing with the newer generations, but I've noticed it with especially the older generation (those that lived through the era when Korea was a dirt-poor, war-ravaged, third world country to what they enjoy now - an industrialized, psuedo-first world one.)

After being here for a while, I noticed that Koreans seem to make irrational decisions because that's what social order prescribed. When making decisions here at work, my boss and co-workers really depend on something called bunigi, roughly translated into English as atmosphere, mood, or dynamic. If the buneuigi is off or awkward because of one student, they will change his/her class. Instead of trying to help the student out or working with him/her, they take him/her out. From a western point-of-view it may seem like Koreans are taking the easy way out. But from a Korean point-of-view (maybe even a pan-East Asian one) they are following a social norm.

This might explain why Koreans (and the Japanese) really deck out a cafe or a restaurant with as much decoration, lighting, and music as possible. They are trying to recreate say a coffee shop in Europe or a restaurant in China so that the buneuigi of a respective country can be felt. It really does feel like entering a new world when one goes to a bar, a coffee shop, hair salon, convenience store, this list can go on.