This week’s episode takes the long way around one deceptively simple idea: after birth, mothers need care.

We begin with Korea’s sanhujori (산후조리) and follow what happens when an old postpartum instinct of warmth, rest, and nourishment becomes a modern system: the joriwon, or postpartum care center.

Along the way, I take a quick world tour through China’s zuo yuezi (坐月子), Japan’s satogaeri bunben (里帰り分娩), and the Dutch tradition of kraamzorg — and yes, I’m spelling them out here in case my Korean tongue committed a few minor international offenses while pronouncing them out loud.

This episode also includes something I do not take lightly: a frank conversation about what pregnancy and childbirth actually cost women’s bodies, and why that conversation is so rarely had.

This week’s newsletter covers different ground, including my own story of cobbling together a Korean postpartum recovery in America.

Read that, then come listen to this. They travel different roads, but they arrive at the same question.

🎧 Understanding Korea, One Story at a Time is available wherever you get your podcasts.

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