TSUUNAMI Designs, a nonprofit academy
In South Korea, there are several locations (mentioned earlier) from which to choose:
Each location has its strengths and weaknesses, and all of them are tough choices!
Songdo City: New city, clean city, lots of shoreline, lots of land at which a campus could be built (Songo City is just a bridge-crossing from Incheon proper, and is considered part of Incheon)
Incheon: near the maritime high school, shipping, and other maritime-related historic sites
Daejeon: one of the major seats of government, research, and education. In the center of Korea, I found it inexpensive to live in for two weeks. KAIST is there, as is a maritime research facility (I spoke by phone with a researcher there, from the gate guard house)
Busan: A very major seat of naval, coast guard, and commercial maritime activity. Lots of ship building occurs there, and there is an international passenger ship terminal, a national maritime university, and the recently-opened (July 2012) National Maritime Museum (which I visited at least 4 times)
Cheonan: Cheonan City, which I visited around October of 2012, has a number of advantages in being near the center of the country, less expensive than other major cities, has a university and other education, and is the hub of almost every long-haul and other rail conveyance traversing the country. Cheonan is the namesake for the ROKS Cheonan, the corvette that was destroyed on 26 March 2010 by a torpedo attributed to North Korea. Many lives were lost on that day. I intend to present to Cheonan City one of my ship designs as a dedication/commemoration to the ROKS Cheonan.
Jinhae-gu: Jinhae-gu is a special case proposition beyond country. Currently, the USN has a base there, but, due to recent events of 2012, it is more important than ever that Korea and Japan have smooth, clear, open communications and operations as far as naval security, regional security, and interactions go, without intermediaries or administrative overhead mediators of various types. It would be interesting if, similar to in Europe, a cooperative security arrangement somehow led to Korea and Japan -- in a limited experiment to strengthen relations -- built two to 4 ships, maybe even 4 to 6 ships, of the same type, using similar or same-source equipment, and during certain exercises, cross-decked crews. smoother military operations and relations could help the region feel safer, could re-warm the travel that has somewhat waned over the past 7-11 months. Possibly, more facts about the bitter past can be reconciled. Who knows? But, if Jinhae-gu is vacated by the USN (unlikely since there are updated piers to accommodate the USN's nuclear-powered aircraft carriers), there could be enough open infrastructure for the ROKN and JMSDF to set up sister ports (Kure, Hiroshima is a sister city (as are Annapolis, Maryland, and Vina del Mar, Valparaiso, Chile), and, interestingly, the emblem of Jinhae has in it a cherry blossom, per the wikipedia page about Jinhae-gu.
Ulsan: Ulsan, on the south eastern coast, has some major academic institutions, and naval architecture study is among subjects in which students may choose to major. It is a major city and has much maritime history. (I did not yet visit Ulsan. As for sister cities, Ulsan and Kumamoto, Japan have friendship agreements.)
ACADEMICS, TOOLS, ACTIVITIES
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Trans State Unofficial, Unconventional Naval Architecture and Marine Innovators
TransState Unaccredited, Unofficial Naval Architects and Marine Innovators;
TransState Unconventional, Unofficial Naval Architects and Marine Iterlocutors
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