“Asian Review 048” ― Seoul part9
Yongsan Area Development and YP Book Store
Seoul had been established at the very best location on Feng Shui, not only along the Han River, but also surrounded by mountains such as Baegaksan on the north, Inwangsan on the west, Naksan on the east and Namsan on the south. They utilized these mountains to build the fortress wall for protection.
Seoul City Fortress Wall surrounds the area from Sanqing Park in the north, Namsan Park in the south, Dongdaemun in the east to Xidaemun in the west. This unique Fortress Wall combining the elements of a mountain castle and a flatland castle has a total length of 18.2 km, and the inner area of the wall is about 20 square kilometers, almost the same size as the Minato Ward of Tokyo. Seoul is a compact city centered in this area and within 4 km around the wall, and although the population increased and the residential area expanded in the 19th century, the urban structure has not changed fundamentally.
The interior of Hanyang Metropolitan Castle was originally covered with low-rise buildings, since the height of the buildings was also limited. However among them, CBD was formed around Jongno and Euljiro. In recent years, business districts have become visible with the increase in office demand, but they are formed as satellites in places slightly away from the old city area, such as Yeoksam in the “Gangnam” area.
The Yongsan area is also one of such new development areas, the area centered on the Korean Railway Corporation (KORAIL) Yongsan Station, and it is also known as “Akihabara” in Seoul because of the accumulation of those electric related shops.
Yongsan Station is the last station north of Han River when you go down south from the Seoul Station. A shopping center named Shinra I Park Mall directly connected to the station has opened on December 2015. YP Book Store (YOUNG POONG BOOKS) occupies one corner of it, which is a branch of a large bookstore chain that has branches all over the country. A café, Hollies coffee is adjacent to the bookstore, so you can spend a leisurely time drinking coffee while choosing a book. It is a style reminiscent to the TSUTAYA bookstore in Japan and Eslite Book Store in Taiwan. Korea also had such a culture.
Seoul Dragon City Yongsan, which opened in October 2017, is a complex of three high-rise towers connected to each other. Other than offices and convention facility, there are four hotels operated by Accor, including Grand Mercure. One of the tower has a hole in the middle, and I suppose this hole must be created because of Feng Shui reason, a way for dragons to pass through.
