The number of Korean men hoping to marry Japanese women is increasing rapidly. These are the result ..

사진 확대 Ha Kyung-min (right) introduces that he works for an aircraft manufacturer. [Picture = TBS]

The number of Korean men hoping to marry Japanese women is increasing rapidly. These are the result of realistic concerns about marriage culture and economic burden.

On the 7th (local time), Japan’s TBS showed Ha Kyung-min (35), who is in charge of research and development at an aircraft manufacturer, visiting Tokyo to meet. Introducing himself in unfamiliar Japanese, he laughed, saying, “I also started studying Japanese for this meeting.” As a meeting place, he also chose a matcha cafe popular with Japanese women.

He also appealed, “I’m doing this,” by presenting a fighter badge he made. If the registration fee of marriage counseling center, flight ticket, and beauty fee are added together, it is well over 1 million yen (about 9.4 million won). Nevertheless, Ha said, “I will come to Japan several times a year until I find a marriage partner.”

Why is he so active in finding relationships in Japan.

Ha said, “In Korea, there is a strong perception that men should buy a newlywed house,” adding, “To buy a house without a loan, it will not be possible until the age of 40.” The reality of marriage in Korea was too harsh for Ha, who wants to get married and start a family in her 30s. On the other hand, he explained that Japanese women chose to go to Japan because they were unlikely to ask men for excessive economic burdens.

In fact, the number of Korean men’s “marriage activities” (honkatsu) in Japan is on the rise.

사진 확대 Application for meeting with Korean men to the marriage counseling center specializing in international marriage in Tokyo. [Picture = TBS]

“There are 8,000 applications for Korean men alone,” said Hongik University’s representative of Dayrie, an international marriage counseling center in Tokyo, Japan. “Korean men have already given up marriage in Korea,” he said. “But don’t Japanese women have an attitude to work together?” Analysts say that Korean culture, which is burdened by men in the marriage process, is becoming a barrier to marriage.

A Japanese woman who met a Korean man said, “Korean men seen in dramas are self-reliant and perfect images.”

Sasano Misae, a lecturer at Ibaraki University, said, “The generation that has been exposed to Hallyu content since childhood has a brilliant and sophisticated impression of Korea.”

Meanwhile, Ha, who attended the meeting party and met with eight women, did not meet her ideal type, but he strengthened his will, saying, “I will continue to be active in the future.”

TBS predicted, “Korea and Japan have narrowed their relationship through culture,” adding, “There is a possibility that cross-border marriages will increase further in the future.”