I thought it only fair to go for a football theme today.
This is Gwangju's World Cup Stadium, just around the corner from my house.
It's a nice little stadium, a futuristic design often likened to a UFO.

Last night saw the semi-finals of the Asia Cup, with Korea playing Japan.
This is a pretty fierce rivalry (on the Korean side of things at least), as Japan has systematically done some terrible things to Korea over the centuries, including colonisation of the peninsula that ended in 1945.

Ties have been mended since then, in the interests of peace and progress - and are now at least good whilst not being great. It is still a passionate and touchy subject for many Koreans though, especially the older generation who remember the occupation, and those from the more traditional south, where I live.
Even when I ask my young students if they like Japan, I usually get a resounding 'NO TEACHER!'
When I ask why, they are more than aware of the history that befell their country, the wounds are healed but perhaps the scars remain, handed down through generations.

As far as the game goes, it was a close and exciting affair. Korea took the lead against the run of play, Japan equalising though to make it all square at the final whistle.
In the thirty minutes of extra time, Japan won a dubious penalty - converting to lead 2-1.
The Koreans pressed forward without really looking like they'd equalise, but just as all seemed lost, and with exactly one second of normal time to play, they forced home a scrappy equalizer. The crowd, players, and all my neighbouring apartments erupted.

Alas though, there was to be no happy ending for Korea, a mixture of fantastic goalkeeping and terrible penalty taking saw them miss every one of their spot kicks, and so Japan will battle it out with Australia in the final.