Masan-si didn’t have to pass a “Daemado Day,” because it looks like the Koreans are taking over the place anyway. The Dong-A Ilbo reports that Japan’s Tsushima Island (official site here) is witnessing a wave of Korean real estate investment and tourism.
Prior to 2004, Korean investment and tourism in Tsushima was quite limited, despite the fact that the island is closer to Busan than the Japanese mainland and has a long history of interaction with the Korean Peninsula (not all of it pleasant). Since Japan granted a temporary short-term visa-waver in 2004, however, the number of Koreans visiting the island for business and pleasure has jumped dramatically. An official with Dae-a Express Shipping, which has exclusively run the Busan-Tsushima route since 1996, said the number of Korean tourists visiting Tsushima is nearly doubling annually, and that last year, the number of tourists for Seoul/Gyeonggi-do jumped 15 percent.
In 2005, some 36,000 Korean tourists visited Tsushima, a substantial jump from approximately 20,000 in 2004.
In fact, more than 90 percent of Tsushima’s tourists come from Korea. Because of this, more and more facilities are being built for Koreans, and Korean investment is increasing. Last year, a Korean-run tourist hotel and three guesthouses run by a Korean travel agency sprung up in the town of Izuhara.
A Japanese real estate agent said Koreans made six purchases with him last year, and he talked with some 200 Korean corporations alone about possible real estate deals.
Korean investors were pouring their money mostly into tourist facilities like villas, accommodations and golf courses, but local real estate agents say that with the island becoming a popular tourist destination and real estate prices expected to skyrocket within five to six years, some of the Korean investors were putting their money into the island for speculative purposes.
The agents say that Tsushima real estate, which thanks to the Japanese recession had fallen from 1 million won (or yen?) per pyeong 10 years ago to 100,000 won a pyeong, had significant investment value as tourism to the island increased. Kim Gyeong-nam, the president of Ocean Bay Tours, which opened up a 100-pyeong guesthouse on the Aso Bay last year, said, “Tsushima Island might be in a foreign country, but it’s close to Korea and land prices tend to be cheaper than in Jeju-do Island.”
The local authorities on Tsushima, meanwhile, are banking their existence on drawing foreign investment in order to spark the island’s economy.
In 2004, Nagasaki Prefecture, of which Tsushima Island is a part, passed a “Tsushima Island Special Zone” bill that relaxed regulations on the use and acquisition of land and allowed foreigners to purchase land on the island as long as they presented an ID. Tsushima authorities also grant tax exemptions to foreign companies investing on their island.
Needless to say, with the increase in Korean tourism, the ubiquitous “Korean Wave” is slamming hard upon the rocky island. Most restaurants and bars have Korean-language signs and menus. Moreover, from this year, all roadsigns will be simultaneously marked in Korean as well.
A TV station has sprung up playing only Korean TV programs, and Tsushima authorities have opened up Korean-language classes for the population-at-large. Most of the island’s civil servants, bar staff and restaurateurs can converse in simple Korean.
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7 Comments
I’m glad this didn’t turn out to be about what I thought it was going to be about.
I think this is cool. I think it would be a good chance to have another place where Koreans and Japanese can just be together and just be.
By the way, not only is Tsushima closer to mainland Korea than to “mainland” Japan, I think Pusan is closer to Tsushima than it is to Taegu. The boat ride from Pusan to Tsushima/Taemado is only two hours, I think.
Great work, Robert. Thanks.
That didnt turn out the way I expected either. Interesting that increasing Korean prosperity and disposable income should lift the economy of this out lying Japanese island. If my memory serves, Japanese pirates from this island raided Korea for a long time before a Korean king became offended, and attacked and occupied the island.
This will lead to even more interest in the Korea-Japan underwater tunnel that gets floated (in discussion) every now and then.
Yup, and that tunnel would be useful in theory. Although you might not be able to drive your own car to and then around Japan, because they drive on the left side of the road like the Europeans… So unless that problem gets fixed i’m not sure what the point of the tunnel would be. A high-speed railway tunnel might make much more sense…
Someday — train line from Tokyo to Singapore, another branch Tokyo to London — that’s the dream.
Wasn’t it Sejong-daewang himself who oversaw the conquest of the Japanese Tsushima Pirates, during his reign…?
Yup, and that tunnel would be useful in theory. Although you might not be able to drive your own car to and then around Japan, because they drive on the left side of the road like the Europeans… So unless that problem gets fixed i’m not sure what the point of the tunnel would be. A high-speed railway tunnel might make much more sense…
The plan (there really is a detailed plan) is for the tunnel to be for train access, with vehicles placed on the train that are removed when it arrives in Pusan and Fukuoka (and Izuhara on Tsushima).
I’ve never seen a Korea-registered car in Japan, but I’ve seen right-hand-drive Japanese cars several times in Korea. It is both legal and possible.
Some of the cars, in fact, are registered on US military bases here. It is possible to drive such a car “on the wrong side of the road,” but it takes some getting used to is all.
Someday — train line from Tokyo to Singapore, another branch Tokyo to London — that’s the dream.
I live close to Seoul Station, and there was (still is?) a big poster touting a future rail line connecting Pusan with the western and northernmost parts of Europe.
Wasn’t it Sejong-daewang himself who oversaw the conquest of the Japanese Tsushima Pirates, during his reign…?
I think that was the king.
Like the Chunnel maybe…? Brits drive their cars into France, and French into the UK… So what? I think the metric system and the imperial system is more a problem than the side of the road you are driving on… 50km/h is NOT! 50mph…
Just so we’re on the same page: while I can’t remember whether the cleanup was done under the reign of this particular king, if it was Sejong indeed, you can skip the -daewang part. Adding -daewang/-大王 was done for all kings, but only after their deaths… And whichever king ordered the cleanup of Tsushima was very alive…