Korea-Japan Festival turns 20 in Tokyo with K-pop makeovers, hanbok
Visitors to the Korea-Japan Festival, held from Friday to Sunday, queue before the festival starts at the Korean Cultural Center in Tokyo, Japan, Saturday. Korea Times photo by Park Ji-won
Cultural exchanges flourish amid continuing thaw
A promotional image for the Korea-Japan Festival in Tokyo / Captured from the Korea-Japan Festival in Tokyo's website
TOKYO — Hundreds of Japanese visitors lined up outside the Korean Cultural Center in Tokyo each morning from Friday through Sunday, eager to try on hanbok (Korean traditional attire), get K-pop-inspired makeovers and meet young Koreans face-to-face at the annual Korea-Japan Festival.
Drawing visitors ranging from young adults to families, the three-day festival offered hands-on experiences designed to showcase both contemporary trends and traditional Korean culture. Visitors could speak directly with young volunteers from Korea and Japan, experience professional K-pop-style makeovers and take part in cultural activities. Organizers expect nearly 6,000 visitors across the three days of the festival.
This year marked the festival's 20th anniversary, with the event having launched in 2005 to commemorate the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Korea and Japan.
In a departure from previous years, the event moved from Hibiya Park to the Korean Cultural Center in Tokyo as organizers experimented with a new format. The indoor venue allowed the festival to place greater emphasis on the latest Korean products and trends as well as performances, while overcoming restrictions on commercial activities at public parks.
Park Young-hea, right, director of the Korean Cultural Center in Tokyo, gives a tour to visitors during the Korea-Japan Festival in Tokyo held at the center, Saturday. Korea Times photo by Park Ji-won
"With the rise of the internet and social media, young Japanese people want to engage with the Korean culture that is trending in Korea right now. In the past, it was just conceived of generally as 'Korean culture,' but now youth see Korean culture as ‘cool,’” Park Young-hea, director of the Korean Cultural Center in Tokyo, told The Korea Times on Friday.
Park noted that unlike in the past, when interest was largely focused on television and film, the current cultural boom has had a widespread effect on local lifestyles.
“It is extremely important to maintain our traditional offerings, but we learned that at a certain point we needed to present something new. That moment came this year,” she explained.
The hanbok experience drew some of the longest queues of the weekend, with young Japanese women in their 20s waiting to wear the Korean traditional clothing and take photos beneath traditional Korean lanterns. "Kawaii" — the Japanese word meaning "cute" — was a common exclamation among those who tried it on.
One Japanese man in his 20s who attended on Friday liked it so much that he returned the next day.
"I came back to pick up a missing item, but decided to enjoy the event all over again because it turned out to be surprisingly fun," he said.
Visitors wearing hanbok (traditional Korean dress) chat together during the Korea-Japan Festival at the Korean Cultural Center in Tokyo, Saturday. Korea Times photo by Park Ji-won
Volunteers for the Korea-Japan Festival laugh with participants at the Korean Cultural Center in Tokyo, Japan, Sunday. Korea Times photo by Park Ji-won
For the Korean student volunteers who flew from Korea as part of the Japanese government's Japan-East Asia Network of Exchange for Students and Youths (JENESYS) cultural exchange program, the festival offered a chance to experience a country that has long felt both close and distant.
"When I learned that more than half of the Japanese public feels positively toward Korea, it was just a statistic to me. But meeting so many people at this event who genuinely love Korea brought those numbers to life," Gwak Young-gyun, a 28-year-old graduate student who led the Korean delegation, said. "I believe Korea–Japan exchange is at its strongest when people meet face-to-face and connect on a personal level."
Lee Chae-yun, 22, the group's deputy leader, said the experience showed that people-to-people ties do not need high-level diplomacy to flourish.
"Meaningful connections between Korea and Japan can grow naturally when we experience each other's culture and find common ground," she said. "The bonds young people are building today could become the solid foundation for our shared future."
Megumi Hamada, a Japanese visitor attending the Korea-Japan Festival for the 10th year in a row, shows off a souvenir at the Korean Cultural Center, Tokyo, Japan, Saturday. Korea Times photo by Park Ji-won
For older people who remember lingering political tensions between Seoul and Tokyo, the shift in atmosphere has been striking. Megumi Hamada, attending the festival for the 10th consecutive year, said the change has been dramatic.
"There used to be anti-Japanese sentiment and some people pointed fingers at you just for traveling to Korea. Now, such hostility has vanished. Japanese youth like Korea, and Koreans increasingly like Japan, too. It feels like cultural exchange has become much happier compared to the past,” Hamada said.
"It’s wonderful to see the younger generation connecting without prejudice — something my generation struggled with. Also, fuelled by the popularity of Korean dramas and music across Japan, Korean trends are leading some cultural conversation in Japan today. I hope this relationship continues to thrive.”
Park said she sees the enthusiasm for Korean culture as more than a passing trend.
“The younger generation, who grew up enjoying K-pop, will be moving Korea-Japan relations forward from now on. Their approach will be very different from our generation's — and for that reason, I have high hopes,” Park said.