For decades, relations between South Korea and Japan have been defined as much by history as by geography.
Disputes over Japan’s colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula, wartime forced labor and other historical issues have repeatedly strained diplomatic ties between two of the United States’ most important allies in Asia.
But away from government negotiations and diplomatic disputes, something quieter is happening.
More South Koreans are viewing Japan positively.
A 2026 survey found that 54.3% of South Korean respondents had a favorable impression of Japan, the highest level recorded since the survey began. The figure rose from the previous year, continuing a broader shift in public attitudes that would have been difficult to imagine during some of the countries’ most contentious periods.
The change does not mean historical disagreements have disappeared.
Instead, it points to a growing gap between political disputes and the way ordinary people — particularly younger generations — experience the neighboring country.
Travel, food, fashion, entertainment and everyday cultural exchange are increasingly shaping perceptions alongside history and diplomacy.
Japan Becomes Familiar
One of the most visible signs of change can be found at airports.
Japan has become one of the most popular international destinations for South Korean travelers. Its geographic proximity makes weekend trips possible, while extensive air connections link Korean cities with destinations across Japan.
Tokyo and Osaka remain major attractions, but Korean travelers increasingly visit smaller cities, hot spring towns and regional destinations.
The appeal extends beyond sightseeing.
Japanese restaurants, fashion brands, animation, character merchandise, music and lifestyle products have become deeply familiar to South Korean consumers.
Japanese whisky bars and ramen restaurants sit alongside Korean businesses in Seoul neighborhoods. Japanese animated films can draw large audiences in Korean cinemas. Young consumers follow Japanese fashion trends and travel specifically to visit cafés, restaurants or shops they have discovered online.
The exchange also moves in the opposite direction.
Japan has become one of the world’s largest markets for Korean popular culture. K-pop groups regularly perform in Japanese stadiums and arenas, Korean dramas are widely available through streaming services, and Korean food and beauty products have become familiar parts of Japanese consumer culture.
The result is a relationship experienced increasingly through ordinary life rather than only through politics.
A Generational Shift
Age is an important part of the story.
Older South Koreans are more likely to have personal or family memories closely connected to Japan’s colonial rule, which lasted from 1910 until the end of World War II in 1945.
For younger Koreans born decades later, history remains important, but Japan can simultaneously represent something else: a nearby destination, a source of entertainment, a place to study or work and a country encountered through social media.
Those identities do not necessarily cancel each other out.
A young Korean can strongly criticize Japan over a historical dispute while enjoying Japanese animation, traveling to Tokyo and following Japanese musicians.
That combination can appear contradictory when relations between countries are viewed only through diplomacy.
For younger consumers accustomed to moving between Korean, Japanese, American and other global cultures online, it is increasingly normal.
Digital platforms have accelerated that process.
Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and other services allow users to experience another country’s restaurants, neighborhoods, fashion and daily life without relying solely on traditional news coverage.
Japan becomes less abstract when someone watches a Japanese creator every week, follows restaurants in Osaka or plans a trip based on videos from Tokyo.
Personal experience can then reshape perceptions that were previously formed largely through textbooks, political debates and news reports.
Politics and Public Opinion Do Not Always Move Together
Relations between Seoul and Tokyo remain complicated.
Historical disputes can quickly return to the center of public debate. Questions surrounding wartime labor, historical memory, territory and official statements continue to carry considerable political sensitivity.
A change in government or a diplomatic controversy can still affect public sentiment.
Yet the expanding network of personal connections between the countries makes the relationship different from what it was a generation ago.
Millions of ordinary interactions now take place through tourism, business, entertainment and online culture.
That matters because bilateral relationships are no longer determined exclusively by political leaders.
When people regularly travel to another country, consume its products and interact with its culture, political disagreements exist alongside a much broader set of experiences.
The South Korea-Japan relationship increasingly contains both realities at once.
Why Washington Is Watching
The change also carries significance beyond Seoul and Tokyo.
South Korea and Japan are central U.S. allies in East Asia, and cooperation between the three countries has become increasingly important for regional security.
Washington has long encouraged Seoul and Tokyo to overcome bilateral tensions and cooperate more closely.
Public opinion can influence how durable that cooperation becomes.
Diplomatic agreements made by governments can be reversed when political leadership changes. Relationships supported by greater public familiarity may prove more resilient.
A South Korean public that feels more comfortable with Japan could make cooperation easier in areas ranging from trade and technology to security and cultural exchange.
That does not require Koreans to forget history.
Rather, it suggests that historical memory may increasingly coexist with practical cooperation and cultural familiarity.
Tourism Is Becoming Diplomacy From Below
The most interesting part of the transformation may be that much of it is happening without being formally organized.
A Korean tourist eating at a small restaurant in Fukuoka is not participating in an official exchange program.
Neither is a Japanese teenager watching a Korean drama or attending a K-pop concert.
Yet millions of such experiences can gradually influence how neighboring societies see each other.
This kind of informal cultural exchange has become particularly powerful in East Asia, where travel is relatively easy and digital culture crosses borders almost instantly.
South Korea and Japan provide one of the clearest examples.
Their political relationship can still become tense, sometimes quickly. Historical disputes remain unresolved in the minds of many people, and public attitudes could shift again.
But the social foundation of the relationship is changing.
For a growing number of South Koreans, Japan is no longer understood only through the history shared by the two countries.
It is also the place they visited last summer, the language they are learning, the restaurant they want to try, the film they watched or the neighborhood they discovered online.
Those everyday experiences do not erase the past.
They do, however, add something new to the relationship.
After decades in which South Korea and Japan were frequently described as neighbors divided by history, the next chapter may increasingly be shaped by a generation discovering how much the two societies have become part of each other’s everyday lives.
SOPHIA KIM
US ASIA JOURNAL
