Waeguk is not a soup, so proclaims the banner of this real time "stranger in a strange land" chronicle from Korea. Like just a few "top of the crop" weblogs this is a fine example of perceptive writing. It is a personal perspective, but that only increases the value of this real time perspective. You can learn a lot here about Korean culture, history, and sometimes even business, and how the former explain the latter.

Also some good stuff related to a recent rambling of my own from Waeguk is not a soup -

Anti-American sentiments are on the rise in Korea once again, on the heels of the 'axis of evil' script read recently by The Little President That Could. There is a real and legitimate fear that the ill-considered bad-cop posturings of the American speechwriters could push the peninsula into another war. These fears are not ameliorated by reports that the Pentagon believes that the most likely spot for a large-scale regional war in the near future is outside my window. (Aside : Bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy, that, isn't it? Considering the inroads made towards lasting detente, if not outright peace, by President Kim in the last 4 years, gains that have been systematically knocked back by the antics of W, it's interesting that this report has been released now. By 'interesting', I mean interesting in the sense of manipulative, pernicious and propagandistic, of course.)

So there you are.. from the ground in South Korea.. a very worthwhile bookmark...