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Sunja in Busan vs. Osaka

 I think the main difference between Sunja's life in Busan and Osaka is a comparison between community and individuality. In Busan, Sunja was cared for and connected to everyone around her. While she did have struggles and individuality, a lot of her life was based around a sense of community. Sunja was deeply connected and close to her mother and family, and I think a lot of that was the pinnacle of her happiness and security. Furthermore, Sunja was largely dependent on her family for happiness, connection, and security. 

In Osaka, Sunja no longer had her existing community and family to fall back on. She was on her own and had to establish her own path. She was cut off from everything she knew and the way of life that she had lived up until this point. She was essentially placed somewhere she knew nothing about, with people she didn't know, and a culture that was different than her own. In the beginning, this stark change was detrimental to Sunja—she was lonely, confused, anxious, and missing the life she had left in Busan. However, as time went on, the lack of an established support system forced Sunja to become more independent. She was now influenced by a new way of life, which broadened her horizons and made her more capable of thriving on her own.  

Comments

  1. Andrew BautistaFebruary 27, 2023 at 11:49 PM

    Hi Noah! Good analysis, I'd have to agree with you there. Busan felt a lot more homely in the sense that she knew many people around town and could reasonably trust them. Of course she wasn't completely safe at all (as seen with the encounter with the teenagers), but we are quickly told in Osaka not to show any leeway to the neighbors, and to not even interact with the citizens if they can help it, Korean or not.

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  2. Paulos HabtewoldMarch 1, 2023 at 12:15 AM

    Hi Noah, I agree that Sunja had a safe community in Busan. She had her mother and almost everyone was Korean and was living in a similar situation as it was a village. While there were still gender norms, it was impossible to escape them in all of Japan or Korea at the time. Osaka, though was completely foreign to Sunja and she lost her community and mother. While she gained companionship in Kyunghee, she still had to learn to grow alone.

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