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Research Centre for East Asian Studies Groningen Blogs and Postcards
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Ikea Korea in the Korean Times

IKEA gets it wrong in Korea

Date:25 November 2014
Author:Tjalling Halbertsma

It must be your marketers worst nightmare. The opening of the first IKEA in Korea (the largest in the world, I read) drew already negative attention before the shop opened its doors and after all homework was done. Operating in different countries and...

Airmax(On!)

AirMax (ON) by Testonics! (Why we urgently need Korean studies in Groningen)

Date:25 November 2014
Author:Tjalling Halbertsma

One of the delights of visiting Korea, apart from bibimbap of course, is that there is always something brand new to catch your attention. Something so novel it has not reached the outside world yet: an idea, a product or an entire city build on land...

Jeremy Raymond

Understanding East Asia using the ‘Subway Theory’

Date:20 October 2014
Author:Jeremy Raymond

The subway theory is something that I have used many times to help begin to explain the differences and similarities between the countries within East Asia. It normally starts off with somebody asking me “How was your trip in …. (insert East Asian...

Japanese Robots

5 Signs Japanese robots are taking over the world

Date:06 October 2014
Author:Roy de Vries

You probably have seen the movie I, Robot, where Will Smith is saving the world by fighting robots that outsmarted the human race. You also probably sat way too comfortable on your big couch, thinking these things only happen in movies. Well guess what,...

A modern day tributary system is far from distinctly Chinese

Date:05 October 2014
Author:Ricardo Berentsen

Having read a glimpse of When China Rules the World, the infamous book by author Martin Jacques, I was most struck by one of the eight tenets he describes, eight characteristics of China’s return to the global field. Jacques predicts that we might very...

Remonstrance without hope in Hong Kong

Date:25 September 2014
Author:Yi-Han Wen

Dutch version (Volkskrant)

I am writing this having just returned from the Chinese University Campus of Hong Kong, where the university is brimming with students from all of Hong Kong´s Universities. This week, demonstrations will take place against Chinese...

China and Crimea (in Dutch)

Date:28 August 2014
Author:Sanne Kamerling

Ja; China is een fervent voorstander van nationale soevereiniteit en territoriale integriteit. Maarnee; China heeft opvallend genoeg geen afstand genomen van de recente Russische militaire inname van de Krim. Beijing bekritiseert bondgenoot Rusland niet,...

Law, conflict and airspace: understanding air defense identification zones

Date:17 January 2014

On November 23, 2013, a relatively obscure and benign security practice, which traces its origins to the early years of the Cold War, made global headlines with China’s declaration of an Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) over the East China Sea...

Dealing With The Past To Repair The Present: Why Transitional Justice Matters In Asia

Date:16 January 2014
Author:Chris Lamont

In Asia, from diplomatic tensions between Japan, China and South Korea, to peace agreements that have ended long-running conflicts, such as Aceh’s Helsinki Memorandum of Understanding, to on-going mediation efforts in Mindanao and southern Thailand,...

Een Oeigoer… is dat een diersoort?! (in Dutch)

Date:06 January 2014
Author:Sanne Kamerling

Aldus een woordvoerder van een niet nader te noemen instantie op de vraag van een journalist of ze meer informatie konden geven over deze minderheidsgroepering in China. Dit naar aanleiding van de grootschalige rellen die in 2009 redelijk plotseling en...