As seen on standard YouTube channels that includes comfortable {couples} in addition to heartwarming drama collection like “Eye Love You,” Korean males and Japanese ladies are more and more discovering love.
In 2023, there have been 840 marriages registered right here between Korean males and Japanese ladies, marking a 40.1 % surge from the 599 recorded in 2022, based on Statistics Korea.
While such marriages nonetheless solely represent a small portion of the whole variety of marriages of Korean nationals to a partner of international nationality — 19,700 in 2023 — the rise is notable because it outpaced the rise fee of marriages to companions from different international locations.
Korean content material trade insiders say the development is partly being fueled by the rise of standard YouTube channels that includes {couples} made up of Korean males and Japanese ladies.
These channels, corresponding to Tomo Tomo with 1.03 million subscribers, Jeju-Couple with 537,000 subscribers and Kuki Couple with 350,000 subscribers as of Tuesday, supply optimistic portrayals of Korean-Japanese relationships.
Recent Japanese drama collection “Eye Love You,” which started airing on TBS in January and can be accessible on Netflix, has additional contributed to this development. The 10-episode collection ranked among the many high 10 on Netflix in Japan for 5 weeks.
The current enchancment within the notion of South Korea in Japan, coinciding with the enhancement of diplomatic relations, is one other issue. According to a February survey carried out by Japan’s Nikkei monetary newspaper amongst 1,607 Japanese adults, 37 % expressed a good view of South Korea, marking a big improve from the 14 % recorded in the course of the earlier Moon Jae-in administration.
Marriages between Korean ladies and Japanese males, nevertheless, stay comparatively uncommon. In 2023, there have been 143 such marriages registered, rating them the seventh most typical of all worldwide marriages involving a Korean lady. This quantity represents a slight improve from 2022’s 125, however is just like 2021’s 140.
Meanwhile, Korean males marrying Vietnamese ladies remained the commonest kind of worldwide marriage involving a Korean nationwide.
In 2023, such marriages elevated by 48.3 %, or 1,604, adopted by Korean males marrying Japanese ladies. Marriages of Korean males with Filipina ladies, the third most typical worldwide marriage involving a Korean nationwide, noticed a rise of 23.6 %, at 120.