Kusanagi Tsuyoshi appears in promotional content highlighting travel experiences in Busan as part of the “My First Trip to Korea” campaign. Courtesy of Korea Tourism Organization
For millions of Japanese citizens who have never ventured beyond their nation’s borders, Korea is making a direct, highly personalized pitch to become their first passport stamp — and it has enlisted one of Japan’s most enduring pop culture icons to lead the charge.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, alongside the Korea Tourism Organization, announced the launch of the “My First Trip to Korea” campaign. Running from June through December, the initiative specifically targets the large segment of the Japanese population that holds no prior travel experience abroad, aiming to lower both the economic and psychological barriers that often discourage international novice travelers.
To break through decades of insular travel habits, Seoul is relying heavily on Tsuyoshi Kusanagi. To a generation of Japanese television viewers, Kusanagi is the affable, remarkably versatile former member of SMAP, the legendary boy band that dominated J-pop for a quarter-century. Armed with an earnest, self-deprecating charm and remarkably fluent Korean, Kusanagi has long bridged the complicated cultural waters between Tokyo and Seoul under his alter ego, Chonan Kang.
