• LGE Nexus 5X
• Busan, South Korea
• 2016

I moved to Busan, South Korea in the summer of 2016, settling into the Saha neighborhood – a district in the city’s western part near Dong-A University in Hadan-dong. During the day, Hadan bustled with young university students and business owners running coffee houses, restaurants, and fried chicken joints. Alleyways connected neighborhoods here, serving as grungy pathways to various eateries, stores, and shops.

At night, as the main busy streets shut down, those same alleyways lit up with a different energy – neon signs blazing to advertise noraebangs (karaoke rooms), DVD bangs (mini movie rental rooms), and PC bangs. The word “bang” (방), as you may have figured out, simply means “room.”

Alleyways are everywhere in cities, making for great gritty photos capturing the urban underbelly. In movies, the dark alleyway symbolizes danger and deviant behaviors. While that seedy element rang true in certain South Korean alleys, overall the country felt quite safe on the surface despite those underlying hazards.

I wouldn’t, however, give any false impression that it’s the safest place. Just google “Burning Sun scandal” to get a sense of what I mean. Yet most of those neon-lit side streets led simply to lively restaurants, fun noraebangs for belting out tunes, or pojangmachas – tented stalls selling soju and banchan (Korean side dishes). Rarely did I feel unsafe, though a few areas set off my “spider senses” – the surroundings of Busan’s train station and pockets of my own Saha-Hadan neighborhood.

One particular Hadan alley and its side streets hosted numerous “hostess bars” – establishments where an all-male clientele could drink alongside lovely Korean women. Supposedly just a businessman enjoying conversation over drinks with a pretty lady. But everyone understood the hostess label as a loophole for prostitution- not every hostess bar of course, but… .

More than once, when I was walking at night in Busan, I had men slow their cars and roll down the window, to ask “You Russian?” Each time I replied “No,” they drove off. It made me feel bad for Russian women as I knew there was a stereotype in South Korea that Russian women were prostitutes. I don’t disparage the sex industry as long as all sex workers are there by choice, but in a country where prostitution is illegal the chances of victims of sex trafficking being in the industry increases. Never once did someone pull up beside me and ask, “you American”?

I spent 8 months in Busan and this happened to me at least four times, however over the course of 6 years in Seoul, it never happened. Not even once. Which leads me to believe, that maybe the neighborhood I was in was a known spot for hostess bars.

Regardless of the lurid realities sometimes unveiled, I loved those dark alleys most. Streams of neon signs reflected in dirty rainwater puddles, evoking the cyberpunk atmosphere of favorite films like Blade Runner. Gritty urban imagery at its most alive.

All photos taken by Adrienna Ogin, 2016