A couple to be married pose for a photobook in Tokyo, Japan. Photo by KIMIMASA MAYAMA / EPA
May 21 (Asia Today) -- A growing number of Japanese women are choosing Korean men as marriage partners, drawing attention from local media as the Korean Wave expands beyond dramas and K-pop into dating and family life.
The trend did not emerge overnight. Positive views of young Korean men in Japan were shaped in part by Lee Soo-hyun, a Korean student who died in 2001 while trying to save a Japanese man who had fallen onto the tracks at Tokyo's Shin-Okubo Station.
The image spread further in 2004, when NHK aired the Korean drama "Winter Sonata," triggering the "Yonsama" phenomenon around actor Bae Yong-joon. While the early Korean Wave created an image of Korean men as warm and romantic among middle-aged Japanese women, today's younger generation encounters Korea through K-pop, beauty, fashion, food and travel.
Japan's marriage market is shrinking overall. Government data showed 474,717 marriages in 2023, down nearly 6% from the previous year and below 500,000 for the first time since the 1930s.
