Fantasised and fantastical Nordic imaginaries: Contextualising Nordic life vlogs by East Asian YouTube vloggers

The despondency of young East Asians towards their everyday realities is best encapsulated through popular Internet slang terms. The Japanese “中世ジャップランド” [chūsei jappurando, trans. “medieval Japanese land”] (Matsutani, 2016) and Korean 헬조선 [hell Joseon, meaning “hell-like Joseon” ⁽¹⁾ ] (Kim, 2018) are popularly used among young adults to refer to their homelands of Japan and Korea in a self-deprecating manner – the historical connotations of being medieval or from the Joseon times are pointed sarcasms about the “backwardness” of their society, being plagued with issues such as a poor awareness of social equality, labour rights, gender equity, and strict social hierarchies between the older generation and the young generation (Kim, 2018; Koo, 2015). In response, many young adults actively seek ways to “escape” these conditions, usually through immigration into the self-perceived “developed” West, projecting their postcolonial desire to the imagination of the West (Chun, 2021; Shin, 2021). The Korean neologism taljo or taljoseon [탈조(선), trans. “Escape from hell Joseon”] was created in this context to refer to the phenomenon of young adults leaving Korean society for a better future, or to a social desire to do so (Shin, 2021).

The desire for taljo is frequently lamented by frustrated young women who are critical of their sexist and patriarchal society, which in recent years has included rising cybersex trafficking crimes and cases of femicide (Baik, 2020; Koo & Kim, 2021). While there is no specific term akin to taljo in Japan, the sociopolitical context evidences a similar increase in young women's immigration to different countries, usually North America and Western Europe, for similar reasons (Kato, 2010; Sasaki, 2023). In tandem with the longstanding colonial binary of the West and the Other (Said, 1978), several “Western” white-dominant countries with strong economies and democratic regimes are idealised as “desirable places to live”, imagined as havens of civic virtue, equality, freedom, and comprehensive welfare systems, as opposed to “medieval-like” hierarchical Asian society (Shin, 2021). Amongst many, Nordic countries are the most mentioned countries in this celebration, frequently depicted in pop culture in a celebratory light for their comprehensive welfare systems and slow-living lifestyle, often epitomised by the Danish concept of Hygge (e.g., Nah, 2021; Nishio, 2022). It is under this plight that the fantasised (albeit fantastical) Nordic imaginaries appear as a utopian place for young East Asian women to seek a better life, pursue self-achievement, and find small happiness with the wholesomeness in their selfness, in line with the popular discourse of post-feminist pursuits.

Postfeminist sensibility refers to an amalgam of popularised but seemingly unrelated and even contradictory qualities regarding feminine identity that circulate in mainstream media culture (Gill, 2007). Feminist scholar Rosalind Gill (2007: 147) has outlined elements of postfeminist sensibility, which circulate through consumer culture:

the notion that femininity is a bodily property, the shift from objectification to subjectification, an emphasis upon self-surveillance with monitoring and self-discipline, a focus on individualism, choice and empowerment, the dominance of a makeover paradigm, and a resurgence of ideas about natural sexual difference.

As part of these elements, an imperative to monitor, train, and manage one's psyche – including emotions – prevails in women's popular culture through books, movies, and magazines, implicitly imposed upon young women under the guise of self-care and self-help credos (Orgad & Gill, 2021). This imperative is regulatory, redirecting women's focus on the individual rather than the social, generating positive feelings and cultivating postfeminist subjectivity aligned with the ideal psyche for the neoliberal doctrine (Binkley, 2014; Gill, 2008; Illouz, 2007). Women are called on to feel good about and confident in themselves, repudiating a whole range of feelings and experiences, which is framed “as crucial for individual selfachievement and career success and for facilitating the greater ‘revolutionary’ goals of social equality and diversity” (Orgad & Gill, 2021: 61). The consumer industry uses the self-transformation, self-care, and self-help narratives in marketing to specifically target female consumers, giving an illusion that their products can help women focus on their mindfulness and achieve the self-project.

Against this backdrop, Nordic imaginaries emerge as a new placeholder for popular culture and consumer industries in East Asia to marketise young women by using the language of self-betterment. In fact, this trend has been in the making for almost two decades. Since the mid 2000s, there has been a growing interest in Nordic cultures in East Asia. Many associate this “Nordic boom” [北欧ブーム] with the critically acclaimed Japanese independent film titled Kamome Diner (Ogigami, 2006), which portrays short everyday episodes of a Japanese woman Sachie, who lives alone in Helsinki, Finland and runs a Japanese restaurant called Kamome Diner (e.g., Yahoo Japan, 2018). Although the restaurant has no customers, Sachie enjoys her life with a positive mindset, which is amplified through cinematographically curated mise-en-scènes, such as a clutter-free kitchen design with light-toned pastel colours in the restaurant and an exquisite view of the Old Town pier in Helsinki. In the film, Finland and the broader Nordic region are portrayed as an “almost utopia” where people find their own ways to make a living, seek small moments of happiness, and appreciate simple daily moments – all of which constitute a sharp contrast to the fast-paced, competitive, and overwork culture of East Asia (Yoo, 2016).

After the cult popularity of Kamome Diner across East Asia, Nordic vibes have become in vogue as a cultural trend and genre and have even become popularly translated as 북유럽감성 [Bug-Europe gamseong] in Korean and 北欧風 [Hokuofu] in Japanese. Various media productions and formats have borrowed from the narrative theme and mise-en-scène of Kamome Diner, including movies like Little Forrest (set in Korea with original screenwriting in Japanese), lifestyle magazines like Kinfolk (founded in Oregon, US, but inspired by Nordic aesthetics), and online businesses like the YouTube-based Japanese online shopping mall 北欧暮らしの道具店 [Hokuoh kurashi no douguten, trans. A shop for Nordic life] that introduces “Nordic-inspired” slow-paced housekeeping practices and sells minimalist-designed culinary products as “Nordic-influenced” goods.

More tellingly, as reminiscent of the postfeminist sensibilities intimated earlier, many of the popular artifacts branded with Nordic vibes are dominantly gendered. The idea of femininity is repetitively emphasised in these artifacts, with visuals of young women possessing socially desirable corporeal capital and domesticity that is traditionally associated with women. For instance, in the advertising of culinary and household items, the YouTube channel Hokuoh specifically targets the female audience by showing images of women pleasantly working on household chores (@hokuoh_kurash, n.d.). Similarly, in an article from the Korean women's magazine Singles that introduces a list of luxurious hotels in Seoul, the “Nordic influenced” design of one of the hotels is described as “a present for me who needs healing [translated]” (Singles, 2016).

In this popularisation of Nordic vibes, underlying is the amalgamation between East Asian women's postcolonial desire and Nordic-branded consumer culture. While countries in regions like North America, Western Europe, and Australia are seen as the pinnacle of the advanced Western world in East Asia (Shin, 2021), Nordic countries are particularly celebrated as a place of happiness (Fuse, 2021). This perception is evident in the media, where Nordic countries are consistently articulated as “the happiest countries”, contrasting with East Asian nations often criticised for their competitive and suppressive societies (e.g., Iwatake, 2023; Jin, 2014).

The juxtaposition between the Nordic and the East Asian perpetuates the Western colonial vestiges that link East Asia with premodern legacies such as corrupt politics, poor working conditions, and income disparities (see Ryang, 2006; Yoo, 1997). Against this backdrop, the widely renowned Nordic model – an economic model adopted in many Nordic countries combining social welfare and capitalism – is highly endorsed as a solution to the pressing East Asian issues (Nishio, 2022; Saito, 2023).

The utopian image of the Nordic model resonates globally, not just in East Asia, which is easily sighted in North America and Europe (Livingston, 2021). Indeed, the Nordic model has now been reconfigured as a marketing tool in today's consumer culture. The Nordic vibes and imagery are now easily spotted across the globe, appearing in various forms of consumer goods and services, from cafes and restaurants to aesthetics like Scandinavian design and even vehicles (Livingston, 2021; Mordhorst, 2021). Moreover, the notion of “pure” whiteness in the imagination of Nordic culture (Andreassen, 2017), despite the colonial histories and Indigenous populations in the region, adds complexity to the postcolonial aspirations of East Asian women, symbolising Nordic uniqueness. In conjunction with the Nordic model, Nordic exceptionalism is central to the contemporary Nordic branding and imagery, portraying Nordic countries as fundamentally distinct from other “Western” countries, embodying characteristics of “global ‘good citizens’” such as altruism, anti-racism, a peace-loving mindset, and civic values (Loftsdóttir & Jensen, 2016: 2). This likely holds significant appeal, particularly for postcolonial subjects who, while unconsciously imitating the culture of the coloniser, strive to retrieve a sense of self by critiquing the coloniser (see Fanon, 1967). When Nordic countries stand out positively among the Western countries (Loftsdóttir & Jensen, 2016), they appear as utopian destinations for East Asian women to seek upward mobility away from the perceived backwardness of their homelands, by relocating to the imagined “West”, while retaining their subjective voice and avoiding being reduced to racialised objects by white colonisers (see Shin, 2021).

In both Japan and Korea, the neoliberal doctrine of economic competition and individualism that governs society has led to an increase in socioeconomic inequality and class polarisation. As the unemployment rate continues to rise, especially among young adults, precarity is exacerbated. This is evidenced in the longstanding social phenomena like NEETs (young people Not in Education, Employment, and Training; Genda, 2007) and freeters (young people who “have given up job hunting and thus are no longer considered part of the labour market”; Kosugi, 2004: 53) due to the economic recession (Inui, 2005).

This socioeconomic decline has resulted in extremely high suicide rates among young adults in both countries, with suicidality being a leading cause of mortality. According to a recent 2020 statistic, Korea ranks first and Japan fourth for the highest suicide rate among the OECD countries: 26 suicides for every 100,000 people in Korea, and 15.4 suicides in Japan (OECD, 2023). Suicide rates have surged due to anxiety from social isolation, financial hardships, unemployment, overwork culture, and sexism in society (Denyer & Kashiwagi, 2020; Park, 2021; Saori, 2021). Social media content titled “A day in the life of corporate slave [in Japan/Korea]” records high views and comments, portraying female employees spending more than 15 hours at work, being scolded by their bosses, often skipping meals, and being unable to take sick leave despite health conditions (@the.talk.therapy, 2023).

As we explicate later in the article, the discourse of healing has flourished in East Asian popular culture since the mid-2000s, through the terms 癒し [iyashi] in Japanese and 힐링 [an English loanword meaning “healing”] in Korean. Healing culture originates in the neoliberal context of East Asia as a kind of governmentality. In the neoliberal system, where individuals navigate precarious living conditions and ongoing economic competitions, a sociocultural imperative has been popularised that emphasises one's emotional capability of managing and tending to their affective reactions to social and economic encounters (Han, 2021; Illouz, 2007; Park, 2016).

In the US, the therapeutic culture and market has blossomed to champion the ethos of self-help and self-care through institutional help, talk shows, counselling services, and rehabilitation programmes (Illouz, 2007, 2008). By emphasising recuperation, recharging, and recovery in everyday life, the discourse advocates an aim to achieve a holistic balance of the body, mind, and soul, fostering the wholesomeness of the self (Illouz, 2008). The therapeutic culture has similarly manifested in East Asian popular culture in the name of “healing” (Park & Whang, 2018; Song, 2023), but as a more private self-project that individuals undertake by themselves, due to a negative stigma attached to mental illness and psychiatric counselling at large (Zhang et al., 2019). The focus on mindfulness and inner peace is prominent in the healing discourse, assuming that life struggles originating from external forces, such as a competitive society and economic crisis, create wounds on the self (Park & Whang, 2018; Song, 2023). Thus, selfcare and self-therapy are seen as empowering tools for recovery and resilience, and ultimately for a better tomorrow. The healing discourse acts as a kind of magic spell, redirecting individuals' focus toward the personal and private to endure and survive within challenging and competitive socioeconomic conditions.

Finally, one of the most popular public discourses about Nordic imaginaries among East Asian audiences presumes that Nordic countries are a monolithic entity whose sociopolitical values and institutions are world-close. For instance, it is popularly believed that the “Nordic model”, equipped with powerful welfare systems, is globally endorsed as the utopian model to promise the social equity and well-being of citizens (Andersson & Hilson, 2009). This fantasy of a Nordic utopia is frequently discoursed in the East Asian mediascape, with an emphasis on the “high quality of life in Nordic countries”, the “welfare system”, and the “advanced education system”, to name a few (Saito, 2023). In particular, taken together with the image of a “gender equal society” where “there is no gender division” (Nah, 2021), the intersectionality of this fantasised discourse dovetails with young East Asian women's appeals for career mobility and personal wellbeing. As such, it is under these harrowing climates that young women have been leaving (or fantasising as such) their East Asian homes to seek a better life in the Nordic countries (Jin, 2014; Sasaki, 2023).

In the midst of these contrasting narratives around the imaginaries of the Nordic, the popularity of Nordic vlog content produced by East Asian women presents an interesting phenomenon. How do they build Nordic imaginaries in their vlog content in “a day in the life” content? How are these imaginaries consumed by their audience, presumably in their home countries? What does this tell us about those who casually transit into and out of these virtual in-between spaces of vlog content?

Firstly, the Nordic vibes are visually constructed through props specifically related to the Nordic region and culture, such as Viking-related souvenirs, local cuisines, fjord landscapes, and famous landmarks like Nyhavn in Denmark. The most popular channels in this genre, tanuko, for example, visit various places in Nordic countries, showcasing locations like a Royal Copenhagen flagship store (tanuko, 2022) and local markets in Sweden during the Christmas season (tanuko, 2020a). Local food items are also frequently featured, with vloggers going grocery shopping or cooking local cuisines (Karu & Siiri, 2020). These props are aesthetically placed alongside snapshots of quirky spots in the city centre and exotic locales in the countryside, as encapsulated in titles like “Walking around Göteborg, a city of history and charm” (Lingonberii, 2023) “Scandinavian life Swedish castle and autumn forest walk / Fika time” (tanuko, 2020b).

Beyond these local-specific elements, conceptual Nordic images are also highlighted as part of the Nordic vibes. These concepts are not necessarily tied to tangible objects in Nordic locales but are more concerned with what people imagine to be Nordic in relation to the popular discourse of the Nordic. This includes minimalist aesthetics, often called “Scandinavian design” (Mordhorst, 2021), captured in images of monochromatic kitchens and simple interior decorations that are found in any other countries. Also, slow-living lifestyles are metaphorically conveyed through vlog episodes, featuring soothing bath times, calm cooking videos, and idyllic gardening scenes with relaxed cats or dogs in gardens (Lingonberii, 2022; SAKTA, 2021; tanuko, 2021). This focus on mindfulness and slow living aligns with East Asian pop culture's imagination of what Nordic life entails, a concept and brand that has gained prominence with Scandinavian-related brands like IKEA and Kinfolk (Andersson & Hilson, 2009; Scheiding, 2022).

The entertainment value of these vlog videos is added by the aesthetically pleasing displays of visualised Nordic imaginaries. This invites the audience to feel the ambience as pseudo-experience by watching the vlog content. The extent of pseudo-experience is maximised, as the subjects are largely absent in the content. In most of our data corpus, the vloggers' identifiable factors, including their faces and voices, are intentionally cut out from the camera angle and muted by the calm background music. According to the popularised principle of camera movements in film theories, the absence of subjects in camera movements invites the audience to become the beholder of the eyes who are seeing the images of the video and occupy the subject position (Branigan, 2013). Seen in this light, the audience of the Nordic vlog content can virtually enjoy the real moments and lives in Nordic countries. This format has gained popularity, especially since the Covid-19 pandemic, when watching influencer content in different countries was considered “a kind of travel” that people could experience during lockdowns and border closures (Abidin et al., 2020). Indeed, many channels in our data gained popularity during the Covid-19 pandemic, and comments express gratitude to the vloggers for providing “travel-like experiences” (Luca, 2021a; Mina Lim, 2020a).

In setting the scene to convey Nordic imaginaries, it is important to note that these endeavours are characterised by middle-class affluence, emphasised through Nordic-specific materials like Scandinavian interior designs and local cooking devices, as well as the privilege of pursuing a relaxed, slow-paced life. Although the vlog content on “small happiness” (tanuko, 2023) may seem to counter a luxurious lifestyle and the culture of excessive consumption driven by capitalist culture, it implicitly builds on “pecuniary taste” – a class distinction based on cultural taste signified through objects surrounding a person, exclusive to a particular class stratum in line with their wealth (Abidin, 2014). While luxury brand items may not be prominent in these videos, architecture bearing Scandinavian design is commonly considered a middle-class aesthetic (see Scheiding, 2022). The local goods and items shown in the vlogs also accentuate the middle-class positionality of the vloggers, regardless of their actual class status, due to the economic affluence associated with Nordic countries in relation to the “Nordic model” (Andersson & Hilson, 2009). Thus, while the idyllic sceneries and non-materialist images of the Nordic vlog content may lead the audience to momentarily forget about fast-paced conspicuous consumer culture in East Asia, the Nordic imaginaries here continue to reinscribe a classed lifestyle, based on culinary extravagance, aesthetic tastes in house designs, and affluence to enjoy a nomadic life and mobility, creating a fantasised vision of Nordic countries.

In contrast to the fast-paced competitive work-life in East Asia, the fantasised Nordic imaginaries serve as a locus where the audience, presumably living in home countries, develop and project their utopian fantasies onto Nordic countries and cultures. The slow-living lifestyles and beautiful nature portrayed in an aesthetically pleasing manner resonate widely, especially within the context of healing culture in East Asia. Exemplary comments below posted on these Nordic vlogs illustrate the continuous fuelling of Nordic fantasies through serene images with a calm and pastoral ambience:

I was healed by the beautiful scenery and the beautiful lake in the video. It's like a scene from the Ghibli film Howl's Moving Castle. I envy you and your life surrounded by Finland's great nature [translated].

In a similar way that the Western therapeutic discourse often presumes Asia as a land of spirituality and therapy based on long-standing Orientalism (Islam, 2012), the healing discourse of East Asia, as found in our data corpus, subscribes to Occidentalism, with a postcolonial psyche of desiring what is believed to be Western values. The healing discourse here touches on a colonial premise that Nordic cultural values prioritise well-being, with Western culture's enhanced awareness and advanced welfare system for wellness, happiness, and prosperity (Nah, 2021; Nishio, 2022; for East Asian (post)colonial history, see also Ryang, 2006; Yoo, 1997). In the articulation of the healing discourse with Nordic fantasies, the East–West binary is constantly reinforced, as reflected in the following comments expressing a longing for the relaxed and cherished life portrayed in the Nordic life vlog content:

In your videos, people are so relaxed and really cherish every moment of their life, which I guess is the basic thing for happiness in our life. I'm longing for this kind of life. I'm pressed for time by busy work here in Korea. But I feel healed by watching your daily life in Finland.

The account above evidences how the audience of the Nordic life vlogs appropriates Nordic imaginaries as a place of recuperation, where individuals believe they can be healed from societal wounds experienced in the neoliberal East Asian system (see Han, 2021; Park, 2016). A moment when they are captivated and mesmerised by the Nordic spectacles of the content allows the audience to detach themselves from the physical space (East Asia) and the real-life conditions surrounding them (overworking culture, competitive economic precarity, social roles and responsibilities). Thus, although the moment when the audience consumes and engages in the Nordic life vlog content may be temporary in their busy daily lives, it offers a virtual space for them to casually come in and out of for healing and a wholesome sense of selfhood and individuality.

The healing function further facilitates community building between the audience members and the vloggers. In producing and consuming the content, both the audience members and the vloggers continue to check in with each other casually with some extent of intimacy. Many vloggers employ intimacy in their content, as if they are speaking to their audiences privately, “hello friends, how are you doing?” [translated] (Mina Lim, 2022b). In the comment sections, audiences and subscribers of these vlog channels also post their casual hello messages, mentioning recent changes that the vloggers made a note of in the content, for example, “It's always good to see you. Your child has grown up so fast!” [translated] (Life with kamome, 2023). While this kind of imaginary intimate relationship between content creators and subscribers is commonly found in the current climate of influencer culture (Abidin, 2015), the extent of intimacy is built in a more pleasant manner in the Nordic life vlogs. The calm and slow-living content that was filmed inside and outside someone's house and neighbourhood becomes a virtual communal village where people can freely come and go and feel a sense of comfort. This further builds a circuit of more private intimacy throughout the channels, amplified through parasociality presented by the vloggers and the vloggers' private domain depicted in content (home, private parties). For example, the following “thank you for inviting me” comments were posted to a video by Japanese vlogger Karu & Siiri (2022) showing a traditional Finnish dinner in the countryside of Finland with their close friends:

A fun to be invited to your dinner I've been healed by your videos [translated].

Although individual subscribers and audience members do not necessarily feel connected to each other, the idyllic atmosphere resonating within the content helps them occupy the virtual space in their own ways, as a place for “healing”, “virtual traveling”, and even “online diaspora”, especially for expats or those in similar situations. Indeed, frequently sighted are comments such as “Hi! Studying abroad in Sweden! So good to meet someone in the neighbouring country” [translated] (DiscoverNara, 2019a). The online diaspora manifested strongly in videos where the vloggers share personal struggles living as expats, garnering supportive comments from the audience who have similar experiences – although these types of videos were a few in our data corpus. For example, when Mina Lim posted a video of her getting a surgery in Finland, many people posted worrying comments with sympathy:

Oh no, sorry to hear you've been sick. Staying healthy is the most important thing for expats. I get you, as an expat in Germany. I do think we need to be strong and resilient in order to live in these [European countries] as East Asian women [translated].

Sometimes, the intimate connection is built more strongly via other social media functions and technologies, such as group chat messengers that are popular in their home countries (e.g., LINE, KakaoTalk) and live-streaming. Live-streaming affords instant and more intimate connections with the audiences and vloggers, as both can immediately communicate with each other and find a sense of copresence using the YouTube live-chat function. This not only helps the audience find a sense of intimacy, but also allows the vloggers to feel connected to their home cultures and people through interactive engagements, which ultimately constitutes an online diasporic village (Ponzanesi, 2020; Ponzanesi & Leurs, 2014).

Mina Lim, for instance, emphasised how communicating with her audience helped her combat nostalgia and loneliness during lockdowns in Finland due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In an interview, she stated:

I get some views from outside Korea; students who are studying abroad and expats watch my channel because they think I share hardships about living abroad [...]. Here in Finland, there's no Korean communities. And I don't even live in the capital city, so there's nothing related to Korea here. But since I started a YouTube channel, I feel it has given me a new Korean community. I get lots of support and it has impacted me positively. Although I can't go to Korea now because of Covid-19, I have lots of Koreans to talk to. A definite plus point for me [translated].

The shared experiences as migrants living in other countries and the conversations in their native languages build a diasporic community, akin to Cabalquinto and Soriano's (2020) concept of “online sisterhood” – that is, “the networked, affective, feminine and postcolonial dimension of online engagement” among migrant women who share similar identities located in similar social situations (Cabalquinto & Soriano, 2020: 894). Online sisterhood, built on the shared appreciation for Nordic vlog content, manifests via communicative exchanges that are not just relatable but also aspirational among the communal village members, particularly in a strong manner in tandem with the particular context of postfeminist-related taljo in East Asia.

The Nordic vlog content also functions as a locus for aspiration, particularly among many young women seeking to pursue a better life with a professional career and work–life balance. Many Nordic vloggers in our data indicate their occupations in their channel descriptions or content, ranging from postgraduate students to marketers, IT engineers, and flight attendants. In sharing their everyday life in Nordic countries, some try to depict “the realities” of living as an East Asian expat and provide a balanced viewpoint about the pros and cons of Nordic life, evidenced in some titles like Mina Lim's (2020b) “Studying Abroad in Finland: Culture Shock as a Korean”, DiscoverNara's (2019b) “The reason I decide not to move to Finland permanently”, and Luca's (2021b) “Reality: to those who want to move to Sweden on working holiday visa” [【現実】スウェーデンワーホリに憧れている人へ]. In these videos, they address topics such as cold weather, kaamos (Finnish for Polar night)-related depression, anti-Asian racism, and the lack of metropolitan city structures.

Despite addressing these challenges, the beautiful, calm, and peaceful images of Nordic life portrayed in the genre likely overshadow the struggles shared by some of the vloggers. Consequently, the nomadic lifestyles of these vloggers are perceived as “successful” rather than “struggling”. This perception, aligning with the discourse of Nordic fantasies, presents them as “successful women” who were able to attend to a sense of self and afford intercontinental moves for self-betterment – be this career development, life improvement, and so on – and thus ultimately attaining self-achievement.

Mina Lim's content exemplifies this case. Having worked as a middle-school teacher in Korea, she moved to Finland for her master's degree and now works as a marketer for an IT company. Her journey of leaving one of the most stable jobs in Korea and pursuing a new life experience in a foreign country as a single young woman appears as a life model among many audience members experiencing stress due to the competitive working environment and overwork culture in Korea. Together with the Nordic fantasy that one's well-being is prioritised by the social system, Lim's accomplishments over the past three years – including obtaining a master's degree, securing a stable job, and purchasing her own house – are viewed as a “lifestyle dream”. Many comments intimately refer to her as unnie [언니] – a Korean term of endearment used by women to refer to an older woman as a “big sister” – as a compliment for her courage and maturity. For instance:

I'm in my mid-20s, but I already feel tired of living in Korea. I began to watch your YouTube videos and they are so interesting. And it suddenly occurred to me, would it be possible for me to live in Finland? So I watched your video “If you're this kind of person, welcome to Finland”, and [the lifestyle depicted] suited me perfectly. So, I vaguely have a big dream of developing my English skill till my 30s, moving to Finland and working or running a business there. It's vague, but I really want to achieve the dream. So far, I've only worked part-time for a living, but I'm wondering what skills and jobs are required to work in Finland, especially as a foreigner. It's a bit scary to make a living by working part-time in a foreign country. So, is there any advice you can give, please unnie? [translated]

For those facing societal pressures in the neoliberal doctrine of East Asia, the culture and working conditions in Nordic countries portrayed in Mina's content – where employees can take their leave anytime, work from home, and go home after 8 hours of work without their boss's permission – appear utopian. Despite the everyday difficulties of being an East Asian female expat, as outlined by Lim, the portrayal of the possibilities offered by the “Nordic life” in her content fuels a postfeminist fantasy of self-care and self-achievement, which greatly resonates with the audience's desire for taljo and a reality fulfilled with work–life balance.