SEOUL: A Japan-South Korea cultural exchange festival was held in Seoul on Sunday, attracting a large number of visitors amid improving relations between the two East Asian neighbors.

The event came at a time when travel to Japan is unprecedentedly popular among South Koreans also on the back of the depreciation of the Japanese yen.

By country or region, the number of South Korean travelers to Japan is largest, and similarly, Japanese people top the list of foreign visitors to South Korea, Iwao Horii, Japanese state minister for foreign affairs, said in a speech at the event.

Horii also said that he wants South Koreans to pay attention to attractions of regional areas in Japan and visit such places.

At the festival venue, booths introducing Japanese local specialties and sightseeing spots were set up. A long line was formed at Miyagi Prefecture’s booth, where visitors can taste Kenkonichi, a sake brand from the northeastern Japan prefecture.

Shu Ichikawa, head of Miyagi’s office in Seoul, promoted trekking routes in the prefecture, saying, “You can trek and enjoy drinking sake.”

The festival also featured traditional performing arts of Japan and South Korea, and a chorus performance.

Shu Akahori, a 23-year-old actor from Shizuoka Prefecture, central Japan, appeared in a stage performance themed on Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first shogun of the Tokugawa Shogunate in Japan’s Edo era, and Korean missions that visited Japan in the Edo and other eras.

“I felt I was welcomed more warmly in South Korea despite a language barrier,” Akahori said. “We can communicate with each other although we speak different languages,” he added.

A 24-year-old visitor from Suwon, near Seoul, who has visited Japan four times, voiced hopes to visit Hokkaido, northernmost Japan, and the Tohoku northeastern region.

JIJI Press