Japan-S. Korea Exchange Festival Held in Seoul

Seoul, Sept. 22 (Jiji Press)--A Japan-South Korea exchange festival was held in Seoul on Sunday, bringing together a number of South Koreans interested in Japanese culture and food.

The event came at a time when more and more South Koreans are visiting Japan on the back of improving relations between the two East Asian neighbors and the yen's weakening.

Booths set up by Japanese local governments to introduce regional tourist spots and specialties were crowded with visitors hoping to find hints for deciding destinations for their future trips to Japan.

A long line was formed at a booth of an association in Seoul of people from Fukushima Prefecture, which allowed visitors to taste Hiroki and Sharaku, both sake from the northeastern Japan prefecture.

Before the March 2011 powerful earthquake and tsunami, which mainly struck northeastern Japan, South Koreans accounted for about half of foreign tourists visiting Fukushima, Koshiro Nagai, head of the association, said. The number of South Korean tourists to Fukushima "has not recovered yet," he said.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]