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Culture Capsules: People, Places, and Processes Stephano Kim and Shigeru Iwamoto Please listen to our message.

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World Cup Stadiums in Korea
Stephano Kim

(1)

On May 31st, 2002, Korea and Japan held the World Cup 2002 together. It was the first time that the World Cup was held in two countries. So, there were many differences with the World Cup in the past. Especially, the stadiums for this World Cup were very unique, and different than before. Generally, the stadiums symbolize each country’s culture, tradition, and vision. So stadiums for this World Cup have two types for each country. We will compare stadiums in Korea and Japan, and I will tell you about stadiums in Korea.

Korea has built 10 stadiums for this World Cup. All of they have characteristic motif. Half of they represent traditional images and the others represent the images of cities. They can be divided in two types of shape.

The first type of stadiums represent Korean traditional image. For example, Sangam Stadium(2) represents “Bang Pea Yoen,”(3) which is a traditional Korean kite that has square shape and a hole in the center. The “Bang Pea Yeon” is the kite that is usually flown on New Year’s Day, which is the most important traditional holiday. Likewise, the other first type stadiums represent Korean traditional image. Sangam, Junju, Kwangju, Deagu and Jeju stadiums represent Korean traditional image.
On the other hand, the second type of stadium represents hopeful future or the image of the Korean city where it is located. For example, Ulsan stadium(4) represents a mechanical industrial city. Ulsan is the most important industrial city in Korea. So Ulsan stadium has many straight lines to represent their mechanical image. Incheon, Suwon, Deajeon, Pusan, and Ulsan stadiums are like that too.

Eventhough the two types of stadiums are very different, both types of stadiums share some of the same features. For example, every stadium has smooth curves in their shape, because the beauty of Korean has been represented by curves. Koreans prefer curves rather than straight lines. This was expressed in old cultural buildings. So even, the second type of stadiums contain curves in their shape.

The World Cup 2002 in Korea and Japan ended last month, but the stadiums will remain for a long time. They cost lots of money. We should take care of to hand over these stadiums to our descendants. The stadiums will symbolize the great expansion of Korean and Japaness soccer.

RESOURCES

(1) http://msrv.yahoo.co.kr/enc/image/07/1607.jpg

(2) http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/fifa/ven/all/seoul.jpg

(3) http://msrv.yahoo.co.kr/enc/image/76/30176.jpg

(4) http://worldcup.metro.ulsan.kr/image/munsu6-2.jpg

(1)

From May 31, 2002 to June 30, 2002, the 17th World Cup soccer tournament was played in Korea and Japan because Korea and Japan were picked as the sites by the Federation International de Football Assn (FIFA) This world Cup was very important to Asia because it was held in Asia for the first time. Moreover, this World Cup was hosted by Korea and Japan. This idea was also for the first time, so I put my focus on the stadiums in Japan. There are a lot of facilities in these stadiums, so I am going to explain and show you them.

In Japan, there are 10 stadiums for this World Cup soccer, such as Sapporo(2), Miyagi(3), Niigata(4), Ibaraki(5), Saitama(6), Yokohama(7), Shizuoka(8), and Oita(9). All of the stadiums’ building size is over 35,000 square meters and the capacity of the stadiums is over 60,000 individual seats. Moreover, each stadium has over two giant screens. Therefore, the audience can see the game very comfortably and watch replays on video. The stadiums have tracks, so now that the World Cup soccer is finished, the stadiums will be used for other sports, such as track and field, rugby, American football, and so on. The cost was over $8 billion for the new stadiums.

There are many behind-the-scenes facilities in the world Cup soccer stadiums in Japan. All of the stadiums have barrier-free designs, their own water supply, and enough equipment for mass media. Each stadium always has over 100 exclusive wheelchair person’s space and exclusive elevator. Moreover, each stair has a handrail. Therefore, disabled people could also enjoy the games. Second, the stadiums’ water supply uses rainwater off the roof, and the stadiums use drainage of near the factories. Therefore, the stadiums always had enough water. Third, in the space for mass media, there are a lot of devices such as coaxial and optical fiber cables, parabolic antenna site, and so on. Therefore, the mass media could always broadcast the thrilling games.

In conclusion, during the World Cup, there were wonderful facilities for a lot of spectators such as visitors to Japan, internal and overseas TV watchers, and so on. The final result, during the World Cup soccer time, there were no problems in any of the Japanese stadiums. I think these facilities helped make this World Cup soccer tournament a great success.

RESOURCES

(1) http://img.airspider.com/image//670/7164_2.jpg

(2) http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/fifa/ven/all/sapporo.jpg

(3) http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/fifa/ven/all/miyagi.jpg

(4) http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/fifa/ven/all/niigata.jpg

(5) http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/fifa/ven/all/ibaraki.jpg

(6) http://www.2002saitama.com/e_file/e_gif/photo-air04032.JPG

(7) http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/fifa/ven/all/yokohama.jpg

(8) http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/fifa/ven/all/shizuoka.jpg

(9) http://www.pref.oita.jp/10200/stadium/bigeye.jpg

From May 31 to June 30, the FIFA World Cup 2002 Korea Japan was held in Korea and Japan. For that event, the Korean and Japanese governments built many huge and beautiful stadiums. Those stadiums gave us great fever and excitement. Now, the World Cup is over, but these stadiums remain. So, utilization of these stadiums is important because these stadiums cost a lot of money. Therefore, we will show how Korea and Japan have similar plans for the usage for these national properties, and that the stadiums have similar characteristics.

First, all of the stadiums are extremely huge. Every stadium’s building size is over 35,000m2 and capacity of stadiums is over 60,000 people. It means that it cost much money to run these stadiums. There can be difficulty using these stadiums after the World Cup, but also there is unlimited possibility.

Second, every stadium has modernized devices. For example, every stadium has barrier-free designs. Barrier-free means it is designed for easy to use and safety for disabled people. For the disabled people, every stadium has over 100 exclusive wheelchair person’s space, several exclusive elevators, and handrails on each stair way. Also, every stadium has good mass media facilities. There are a lot of devices such as coaxial and optical fiber cables, parabolic antenna site, and so on. These facts mean the stadiums can be used for any events. For example, Pusan stadium will be used 14th Asian game.

Third, almost all the stadiums were built for multi-purpose use. Most stadiums have tracks, so after the World Cup, these stadiums can be used for athletic sports, rugby, and so on. Of course, these stadiums can be soccer fields. Actually most of the stadiums will be used for pro-soccer league. These stadiums are respected to improve Korea and Japan soccer league player’s skill because every stadium has natural grass field, which provides more safety for players.

Finally, the World Cup is over. There are an unlimited number of possibilities with these nice stadiums. We can use these for football field, athletic field, and so on. Whatever it used for, we should take care of these historical structures to memorialize the success of the World Cup 2002 Korea Japan.

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