Business in Tokyo’s Koreatown is going on as usual despite tensions between Japan and South Korea.
The Nikkei reports that establishments in the area remain crowded, especially during Japan’s Bon holiday last week. Tokyo’s Koreatown was also featured in “Winter Sonata”, a South Korean TV drama aired in 2003. According to East Japan Railway Co., an average of 42,433 train passengers per day flocked to Shinjuku Ward’s Shin Okubo area.
Tokyo and Seoul is exchanging diplomatic spats over the disputed islands following South Korean President Lee Myung-bak’s visit to the Dokdo Islands, known as Takeshima in Japan. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda proposed to take the case to the International Court of Justice but South Korea refused. In the ensuing tensions, a Japanese TV company decided to suspend a South Korean drama after lead actor Song Il Guk joined the swim in a relay to the islands. Tensed air enveloped the Japan and South Korea after Mr. Lee urged Japanese Emperor Akihito to apologize for Japanese colonial rule of the Korean peninsula from 1910-1945.
