Edae (이대) is a

neighbourhood A neighbourhood (British English, Irish English, Australian English and Canadian English) or neighborhood (American English; see spelling differences) is a geographically localised community within a larger city, town, suburb or rural are ...

Seodaemun-gu Seodaemun District (, "Great West Gate") is one of the 25 districts of Seoul, South Korea. Seodaemun has a population of 313,814 (2010) and has a geographic area of 17.61 km2 (6.8 sq mi), and is divided into 14 '' dong'' (administrative neigh ...

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

. It is a popular shopping district for tourists and students of

Ewha Womans University Ewha Womans University () is a private women's university in Seoul founded in 1886 by Mary F. Scranton under Emperor Gojong. It was the first university founded in South Korea. Currently, Ewha is one of the world's largest female educational ins ...

(이화여자대학교). Like Hongdae, the nearby university serves as a

metonym Metonymy () is a figure of speech in which a concept is referred to by the name of something closely associated with that thing or concept. Etymology The words ''metonymy'' and ''metonym'' come from grc, μετωνυμία, 'a change of name' ...

for the area. Edae is full of budget-friendly shopping outlets and trendy clothing stores. The Edae area is accessed via the Ewha Womans University Station on the Seoul Subway Line 2, also known as the green line. Many of the shops in the area cater to Ewha's female students specifically. The neighboring Sinchon is better known for nightlife.

Attractions

Edae's popularity as a shopping district began in the 1980s. In addition to affordable shopping, the area also had trendy cafes. Korea's first Starbucks was opened in 1999 on Ewhayeodae Street, which is the main street that leads from subway station to the entrance to the university. The Ewha campus draws tourists by the thousands daily for selfies in front of The Campus Valley, which was built in 2008 and designed by Dominique Perrault. In addition to domestic tourism, Edae sees a number of international tourists, particularly women from China, "Japan, Taiwan, the United States, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, the Russian Federation, and Indonesia." Popular street food on Ewhayeodae Street includes tteokbokki, as well as Japanese snacks such as

takoyaki is a ball-shaped Japanese snack made of a wheat flour-based batter and cooked in a special molded pan. It is typically filled with minced or diced octopus An octopus ( : octopuses or octopodes, see below for variants) is a soft-bod ...

and taiyaki. In 2018, the city government cracked down on illegal street food vendors in Edae, mainly for operating without a license, but also citations of unsanitary conditions, cooking fuel hazards, boosting excessive foot-traffic, and as unfair competition to legal storefronts. Sinchon Boxquare was built as an alternate venue for street food vendors in the area.

References

{{Coord missing, South Korea Neighbourhoods of Seodaemun District Tourist attractions in Seoul Ewha Womans University