We read an article a while ago in Korean class.  It was about Korean's leisure habits, and it had been written shortly after the implementation of the five-day work week.  One of the major problems Koreans were having was that it was just too expensive to use leisure facilities, and that cheaper facilities needed to be available.

Here’s the thing, though: I’m writing this at the beach.  The beach is free.  There may well be a charge for parking; I wouldn’t know about that.  There are beaches all around the country (what with it being a peninsula and all) and they’re all free.  But people come with a full set of beach gear - towels and swimsuits, sure, but also a tent to set up their stuff, or at least a big mat; “water shoes” in addition to their regular shoes, giant inflatable boats (though you can also rent inner tubes at the beach), water wings, life vests, coolers... it’s like they go to a specialty store and ask for the complete beach set, everything one could possibly want to enjoy a day at the beach.  There’s really no reason you need anything more than a towel, some clothes to swim in and the gas to get to the beach (or public transportation, which is quite affordable here)... but they MAKE it expensive.  God forbid the Kims next to you have better each gear than you.

And they do this with EVERY hobby.  No one just goes biking; they have an entire suit, helmet, goggles, shoes, as if they were competing in the Tour de France.   It’s the same with hiking, golf, skiing...  And yeah, if you get suited up like that for every leisure activity you do, it is going to get expensive. 

Now, I like Koreans, as a whole.  While I find them annoying at times (okay, often), there are a lot of national qualities that I really respect.  But I do sometimes wish they'd learn to just relax and enjoy things.  This entire country is wound up tight, and it's no wonder the suicide rate is what it is.  A little bit of unscheduled, spontaneous fun with no equipment required would do them a world of good.