the first mall in seoul 19:48

The first department store in Seoul was the Gyeongseong Branch of Mitsukoshi (三越京成支店), built in 1930 and designed by Japanese architect Hayashi Kouhei. It is one of the few structures that actually survived the Korean War. In 1963, the Samsung group took over the building and began the Shinsegae Department Store (신세계 백화점) and in 2007, it was remodeled with escalators.

During the colonial era, this department store was one of two Western-style buildings that ordinary Koreans could enter (the other being Seoul Station). It is here that concepts such as 'modern boy' and 'modern girl' entered the vocabulary of young Korean people.

A view of it today at night

During Christmas

 In 1914, Japan opened its first Mitsukoshi in Nihonbashi in Tokyo modeled after department stores in London (Harrod's) and Paris (Le Bon Marché). Sixteen years later, the Seoul branch would open.

Harrods in London, 1898

Le Bon Marché, 1850

iwan's video 11:52

I think it's an awesome video. He should do more.

The Kingdom Invited from 1wan on Vimeo.

innovation 15:12

Nothing is ever too objective but charts and graphs give us a good picture of what is generally going on in the world. So what can this list of the fifty most innovative companies tell us?

1) US still dominates in innovation. 22 out of 50 companies are American. If one breaks down the companies by their countries, it would go something like: Japan in second with five, China and Britain with four, Germany and Korea with three, Switzerland, Canada, Italy, Brazil, Finland and Spain with one each.

2) Innovation is increasing in Asia (13 in total). Especially as China rises, the number of innovations, patents, and companies will naturally increase as well. We see this in the number of patents Asia is producing (The top three patent holders are America, Japan, and South Korea) and even in the number of gold medal counts at the Olympics.

3) Innovation is decreasing in Europe (11 in total). Although still a very affluent part of the world, many continue to wonder when and if Europe will ever be as powerful as it once was. Or perhaps, the social Marxist bent of many European governments tends not to lend itself to innovation? I personally wouldn't care to work hard to create if the government took care of all my needs. (Although with the collapse of certain economies (i.e. Greece), the E.U., especially with Germany's lead, is slowly realizing that their socialist governments were unsustainable and unrealistic. While our country, on the contrary AND unfortunately, goes the other way.)

4) Brazil is listed as well (although the one company seems to be an oil company). Will we start to see more companies from other parts of the world?