Here in Korea, it is quite common to see women walking around holding hands and men with their arms around one another's waists. Even friends who have met for the first time may be spotted walking arm in arm down the street. (Having always been a kind of touchy-feely person, this is one of the aspects of Korean culture that I loved right away.)
However, in spite of the widespread display of intimate physical affection among friends here, hugs are not especially common. In fact, even within tight-knit Korean families, hugs have generally always been reserved for life's most special and emotionally charged moments.
This is perhaps changing among younger generations of Koreans, though. Interestingly, I have noticed that giving free hugs seems to be a fairly popular phenomenon around Seoul. I've gotten free hugs twice since being here, and both times brightened my day and put a big smile on my face. I LOVE to hug!
Below is a video made by a Korean in Seoul, who was inspired after watching Juan Mann's free hug video.
And here, some foreigners from Canada, Scotland, and Japan joined in on spreading the love in Korea. I adore the songs on both videos.
The simple honesty of one comment from a viewer of the video above especially touched my heart... "So nice! For Japanese, free hug in korea seems hard but I wish I could do!"
Hugs can change hearts, and changed hearts change the world. Let's free hugs! :)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment