Surrounded by signs in Hangul, a group of three female high schoolers munch on the South Korean version of a hot dog.

The enticing aroma of Korean barbecue wafts from nearby restaurants and signboards of K-pop idols attract attention in front of cosmetics shops. 

Although a typical scene in Seoul, this is an increasingly common sight in Koreatown in Tokyo's Shin-Okubo district in Shinjuku Ward.

“We hang out in Shibuya and here with the same frequency,” said one of the high school students. “I hear about historical issues between Japan and South Korea, but they have nothing to do with the fact that I love South Korea.”

TWO DECADES SINCE 'WINTER SONATA' BOOM

Koreatown was once packed with middle-aged women won over by South Korean romance TV dramas, but those in their teens and 20s are now flocking there.

As April marks the 20th anniversary of the airing in Japan of “Winter Sonata,” which sparked the Korean boom in its Asian neighbor, new attractions are luring in young people who see South Korea from a fresh point of view.

On a February evening, an area in front of JR Shin-Okubo Station was seen swamped with youngsters on a weekday.

High schoolers in uniforms and female college students adorned with vivid red lipstick were heading for Koreatown.

Relaxing at a cafe, a pair of girls clad in high school wear were talking with each other about something that “pissed me off” in young people’s language in South Korea.

They study at an educational institute in Tokyo and became fans of the male K-pop group BTS while in their junior high days. The two, who visit Shin-Okubo twice a month, said they enjoy trying out Korean phrases they have learned through social media and dramas.

“I want to become fluent in Korean, too,” said one of the students.

At an intersection, a woman was looking out over the town with a suitcase beside her. The second-year high school girl traveled by herself from Ishikawa Prefecture on her day off and said she was content that she could be immersed in the world of Korean dramas.

The difference in trends between today and 20 years ago lies in the visitors’ ages.

“An increasing number of junior and senior high schoolers are showing up, with many visitors turning up with small children as well,” said Kazuyoshi Takeda, secretary-general of the Shin-Okubo Shopping District Promotion Association.

Takeda said the district saw a huge influx of “middle-aged women” when Japan Broadcasting Corp. (NHK) broadcast “Winter Sonata” on its BS channel in April 2003 to herald the arrival of the first Korean wave.

The second Korean boom came around 2010 as twentysomething women accounted for a considerable part of fans, after the TVXQ male group, as well as women’s bands such as Girls’ Generation and Kara, became huge hits.

The landscape changed in 2012. The then South Korean president landed on the disputed Takeshima islets, which Seoul claims and calls Dokdo. The Japanese-South Korean bilateral relationship then nosedived.

“This area was deserted night and day,” said Takeda.

Circumstances, however, dramatically improved around 2016: the town was thronged with women in their teens and 20s. This was triggered by not only BTS but the Twice female group that was emerging as a global success to lead the third wave.

Shin-Okubo is now in the midst of the fourth Korean boom. “Crash Landing on You,” a South Korean romance drama distributed by U.S. video streaming service Netflix in 2020, and other titles thrilled the hearts of viewers worldwide.

“People from a range of generations--mainly teens and twentysomethings--turn out nowadays here for cosmetics and food,” said Takeda.

According to the findings of a survey by the Shinjuku Korean Merchant Association, the number of stores in the Koreatown in Shin-Okubo rose 1.6 times to 634 last year from six years earlier.

SOUTH KOREA AS A FOREIGN LAND

What is behind the largest-ever Korean boom?

Kan Kimura, a comparative political science professor at Kobe University, who has studied the Japan-South Korea relations for nearly three decades, said a reason is that South Korea has become a “foreign land in a real sense” for Japanese.

Kimura argued there were “many who did not see Japan and South Korea as equals” among middle-aged women who were the leading force in the first Korean wave 20 years ago.

“Their idea is that South Korea lags behind Japan in economic growth,” said Kimura. “They deem it as a nation that Japan must care for even following the end of Japan’s colonial rule. For that reason, they cannot tolerate the nation having a differing view of history.”

In the meantime, the fourth boom is driven primarily by young consumers. They have far more opportunities for learning directly about the opinions of their South Korean counterparts through social media.

“They regard Japan and South Korea as different nations,” stated Kimura. “Due to that, they think of Korean culture and politics as separate elements.”

Kimura likened this to the situation of Tokyo and Washington, affirming that Japanese who questioned the policies of former President Donald Trump have not come to hate U.S. films.

Kimura said it is “hard” for different countries to have the same historical view, whereas he described it as the “best undoubtedly” for Tokyo and Seoul to understand their politics and share their perception of history for maintaining better bilateral ties.

“A real problem was that the Japanese-South Korean ties were discussed in an emotional fashion, though the difference in historical perception with nations other than South Korea is tolerated calmly,” he insisted.

“This went as far as to stifle smooth cultural exchanges. The current view of South Korea is healthier than one that can be affected by politics.”

What is the take on the South Korean side?

“Young Japanese current interest in South Korea has nothing to do with the political and diplomatic issues between the two countries,” said Kong Hyung-sik, director of the Korean Cultural Center in Tokyo.

Kong, as head of the governmental body to promote South Korea’s culture in Japan, said he is trying to be as careful as possible in presenting the appeal of Korean culture to the neighboring state.

“We expect culture itself to be enjoyed for bilateral interactions,” he said.

(This article was written by Erina Ito, Natsuki Edogawa and Eriko Noda.)