'Storyteller' offers tour of old Seoul
By Jon Dunbar
Jay Kim, center, poses in Mapo-gu, Seoul, with foreign touring musicians who came to Korea for the Zandari Festa, Oct. 2. / Courtesy of Jon Dunbar
Jay Kim, a travel blogger and “job nomad,” found a unique way to celebrate 40 journeys around the sun this weekend. She’s offering a free tour of the Seochon and Buam-dong area northwest of downtown Seoul.
“I want to show the neighborhood where I grew up and some thoughts about my culture and history,” she told The Korea Times.
“This country was so busy making modern infrastructure (hardware) such as expressways, nice roads, public transportation, high-rise buildings, modern government facilities that not so many people use, but we never learned how to make content (software).”
Kim, born in 1977 in Busan, spent her teens and early 20s living in Buam-dong and nearby Pyeongchang-dong. But after bad luck with university admissions, she moved to Paris to Ecole Superieure des Arts et Techniques de la Mode (ESMOD) to study fashion, beginning her new life of international adventure and language learning.
After that she went to Delhi where she studied Hindi, her fourth language, as well as spending time working in Madagascar and Singapore.
“I strongly believe the Korean education system doesn’t help studying languages at all,” she said. “Language is the tool to enter new worlds, communicating with others, finding resources in different languages and true freedom. I’m glad I didn’t believe how my society asked me to study.”
Returning to Korea, she saw her country through new eyes.
“I love my country, I love Korea’s history, nature, food, and everything all together,” she said. “I want to share our stories with others who visit Korea. I believe in the power of storytelling.”
She recently passed an exam to earn a license from Korea Tourist Guide Association (KOTGA), which is necessary to earn a living as a tour guide, especially for foreigners. That’s why the tour is free: She isn’t licensed yet and she considers it extra practice ahead of her final interview next month.
Kim doesn’t want to accept birthday gifts, instead pointing to the donation site The Bridge, where people can donate in her name to empower disadvantaged women in Nepal through business training. Donations are accepted at
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The tour starts at 4 p.m. A Facebook event page with full details including the meeting point can be found by searching “Jay’s Birthday Walking Tour.” Her lifelong journey is documented at storyofjay.com.