Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Take on Korean immigration

Explain something to me like I am an American business traveler to Korea for the first time.   When you arrive at Incheon airport you land in the middle of the night, are then put through a combination of mazes until finally you arrive at Immigration where you stand on line for an hour waiting to be let it after a facial recognition picture and finger-print scan.   Obviously Korea isn't the only country which does this but you gotta give them some credit for their attempt to make you, the white guy, feel comfortable. 
The funny thing is that as you stand on that line trying to make some sense of the fact it's 4am although your body tells you it's 12 hours earlier you realize that even if this line takes forever they really have you, The American Businessman, in mind.    They  have these huge posters which give travelers instructions to the immigration process and all the cartoon pictures are of white folks.   The traveler, the immigration officer, the family dog all have distinct white features like pale white faces, huge noses and flowing blond hair including the dog and in the drawings they are all smiling which is a far cry from the sleepless misery you see surrounding you on line
I guess it's a nice attempt to make you feel at home which is a nice when you consider you will be sh!tting in a hole in the floor for a week.  



Sent from my iPhone

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