Fake travel finds a foothold in Japan and South Korea

In Japan, on the other hand, just one of the most well known traits amid youthful men and women is pretending to be in South Korea. They collect in accommodations featuring Korean drinks, foods and snacks. They visit pop-up merchants and rent Korean university uniforms to come to feel like they dwell there.

Acquire a “trip” with reporters from The Washington Post’s Tokyo/Seoul bureau to “Japan” and “South Korea.”

Encounter South Korea in Tokyo

TOKYO — Because Choa Onni opened in slide 2019 in the shopping district of Harajuku, it has grow to be a well-liked location for Japanese ladies to hire Korean school uniforms to wear out procuring, to cafes, to Disneyland and even to their graduations.

And of class, they like to write-up their pics on social media.

“Choa onni” is a Korean phrase for “I like this, sister.” The retailer now has places in two other towns, to accommodate the escalating curiosity throughout the pandemic. Most shoppers are elementary or significant college women who appreciate Korean culture, as properly as youthful females who really like to journey, according to shop clerk Miki Mayuzumi.

Just one girl who frequented on a the latest afternoon explained she utilised to travel to Korea when a month pre-covid. Yet another explained she and her mother overlook journeys there, so they now hire a night time in a lodge home to take in Korean snacks and observe Korean dramas to come to feel like they’re on a holiday vacation. A different stated she routinely visits Tokyo’s Koreatown, Shin-Okubo, to experience K-pop and K-dramas, which are massively popular at her university.

— Julia Mio Inuma, Tokyo correspondent who loves South Korea but has not been able to stop by in the pandemic

A taste of Japan in South Korea

DONGDUCHEON, South Korea — Nijimori’s key road looks like a market alley in Japan’s ancient money of Edo, lined with an izakaya pub, a kimono boutique and an antique store marketing Japanese porcelain. People pray at a mini-altar to a “luck-inviting cat” and shell out the evening at a ryokan-fashion inn with a hinoki cypress tub.

The Japanese-ness almost will work, other than the samurai performers greet website visitors in Korean.

“I am joyful as extended as I can get shots here that search like straight out of an anime,” claimed 22-year-outdated Kim Ga-yeon, on a date with her boyfriend who life in Dongducheon. “I really do not want to pressure over an true journey to Japan, which is no for a longer period easy with all the well being screening, quarantine and paperwork.”

Due to the fact Nijimori Studio opened in September, the theme park has witnessed as lots of as 2,000 people a working day.

— Min Joo Kim, Seoul correspondent who enjoys Japan but has not been capable to visit in the pandemic