Young generation chasing 'small but certain happiness'

Lee Hyori, right, iconic K-pop singer who leads a makeup free, slow life on Jeju Island, and her husband are seen in this promotional photo for popular reality TV show "Hyori's Bed & Breakfast." / Courtesy of JTBC

By Park Jin-hai

Kim Sung-soo, 39, a programmer at a local IT firm, says his happiest moment in the day is after he comes home from work. "I clean up the house and light a candle. Smelling the sweet scent, I sit on a comfy sofa and play games. The small daily routine gives immense coziness that money can't buy," said Kim, adding that his biggest attention is not given to fat salaries, but to these repeated small daily activities.

Kim Hyun-jung, an office worker in her mid-30s, has been into tea tasting. Her happiest moment during the day is after work, when she opens a tea set and wonders what to taste for the day. "I taste various teas and post reviews on my blog. That relaxing moment is the gem of the day," she said.

The trend known by the Danish word "Hygge," or in Swedish "Lagom," began to emerge in Korean society last year among youngsters who find happiness in "being ordinary" and "small things," and is gaining more followers in a society where success thus far had meant climbing the social ladder by making material wealth or academic achievements.

Comedian Lee Kyung-kyu told an elementary school girl he met on the street to "be a great person," when asked what kind of person she wanted to be in the future. Lee Hyori, iconic K-pop singer who leads a makeup-free, slow life on Jeju Island, snapped "Just be anybody." Viewers hailed her remark, saying they felt "unlimited freedom" and "unforeseen catharsis."

The "small but certain happiness" concept, borrowed from famous Japanese writer Haruki Murakami in his essay "Afternoon in the Islets of Langerhans." He described a small piece of happiness as eating a freshly-baked loaf of bread with one's hands, seeing neatly folded underwear in a drawer, wearing a new shirt that smells like clean cotton and letting a cat enter into a bed with a rustling sound.

Unlike the "YOLO" (You Only Live Once) motto that encouraged people to live life as they want regardless of what others may think, and had been represented by people posting photos of exciting experiences during travel, the "small but certain happiness" trend values who they travel with more, according to Lee Hyang-eun, professor of service design engineering at Sungshin Women's University and co-author of "Trend Korea 2018."

From learning art to acts as trivial as tea-testing or driving, people living in the "small but certain happiness" mantra do things that can give them sure happiness regardless of what others think.

Popular reality TV shows "Hyori's Bed & Breakfast" and "Youn's Kitchen" all depicted the daily lives of the cast, the former spending winter time with an invited guest at Lee Hyori's Jeju home and the latter opening a Korean restaurant in Garachico, a town on the Spanish island of Tenerife, and showing how locals visit the place, exchange greetings and appreciate food and life.

"Hyori's Bed & Breakfast" producer Ma Gun-young said, "I think Hyori's is popular because this is a generation where everyone in society is tired. In a situation where they can't escape their own daily life, I think they gain satisfaction with the fantasy that people like them are invited to Lee Hyori's home."

It is in this context that small-budget films "Little Forest" and "A Little Princess" made big surprises at local box office. "Little Forest," an adaptation of the same name Japanese film, tells the story of a young woman who fails to find a teaching job in the city and returns to her rural hometown. This 1.5 million won-budget film, depicting its female character growing vegetables, cooking and sharing them with her childhood friends, has attracted over 1.4 million people since its Feb. 28 release and is still showing in theaters _ a meaningful feat competing against the big-budget blockbusters. In "A Little Princess," the protagonist who works as a housekeeper, earning 45,000 won per day, finds her happiness from a sip of whisky and a puff on a cigarette.

Kim Nan-do, a professor at Seoul National University, picked up this trend and said it will be mega-trend that will continue throughout this year.

Experts say this renewed focus on small things come from the fatigue that young Koreans feel from chasing big money and big success.

Kim Heon-sik, culture critic, says, "People who had long chased after fortunes have grown disenchanted and frustrated. This trend, trying to find happiness from acts individuals can control, has arisen as a reaction."

The younger generation in their 20s and 30s dub themselves the "n-Po" Generation, the combination of "n" being a variable of exponential growth and "Po" tapped from the Korean word meaning "give-up."

Under the increasingly hostile and competitive job market for youth, they feel they have to give up dating, marrying, and having children, and many more.

Factoring in jobseekers in these preparation stages brings the youth unemployment rate up to 20 percent, well above last year's officially recognized figure of 9.9 percent.

"When the society cannot expect quantitative expansion, having it as a stimulus for heading toward a qualitative improvement is noteworthy," said Yeo Jun-sang, a professor of consumer studies at Dongguk University. "But at the same time, it poses a risk that our society could turn into a Japanese-style 'small society' where individualism can bring up a contraction of the whole society."