June 21 (Asia Today) — Korean-language signs are among the first things visitors see after passing through the ticket gates at JR Shin-Okubo Station in Tokyo.

Turning right from the station, visitors encounter shops advertising gimbap, fried chicken, cosmetics and K-pop merchandise in Korean along a roughly 1.2-mile stretch of streets and alleys.

The district becomes so crowded with young Japanese people and tourists on weekday evenings as well as weekends that pedestrians can barely make their way through.

Korean-language notices and Japanese menus displayed side by side are no longer unusual. The scene shows how relations that began with the signing of the Treaty on Basic Relations between Japan and South Korea on June 22, 1965, have become part of everyday life in Tokyo.

Japan and South Korea signed the treaty in Tokyo and normalized diplomatic relations by exchanging ratification documents on Dec. 18 that year.

The two countries opened diplomatic relations while confronting difficult issues arising from Japan’s colonial rule of Korea and World War II, including property claims, the legal status of Korean residents in Japan and fishing rights.

Sixty-one years later, the relationship is no longer confined to treaty documents and diplomatic records.

It is visible on the streets of Shin-Okubo, on flights to South Korea from Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, in exchanges between young people and at summit meetings addressing economic and security cooperation.

People-to-people exchanges have already reached unprecedented levels.

Japan’s Foreign Ministry said more than 12 million people traveled between Japan and South Korea in 2024, the highest annual total on record.

Korean food, K-pop and Korean cosmetics have become ordinary parts of life in central Tokyo rather than attractions reserved for special cultural events.

Young Japanese people take photographs in front of Korean-language storefronts while South Korean tourists follow Tokyo subway routes to restaurants and shopping districts. Those everyday interactions have broadened the foundation of bilateral relations.

New connections are also forming among the next generation.

The Korea-Japan Youth Partnership, established by Japanese students at Waseda University, will hold its 19th student discussion program from Aug. 8 through Aug. 11 at a community center in Mitaka, western Tokyo.

About 70 people are expected to participate, including 20 South Korean university students, 25 Japanese students and 25 staff members.

Masaki Ikariya, president of the youth partnership, said in event materials that the program began with the goal of creating a civic space for communication that would not be disrupted by political conditions.

The event is more than a social gathering.

It began in 2020, when relations between Seoul and Tokyo had sharply deteriorated, and has drawn more than 1,000 young participants from the two countries through its previous 18 sessions.

This year’s discussion topics include history and cultural heritage, economics, social media, education, cultural content and regional issues.

Rather than avoiding disagreements, participants are expected to confront differences in how the two countries view major issues and attempt to address them through dialogue.

Shin-Okubo’s Korean-language streets represent the consumer and cultural side of the relationship. The student discussions in Mitaka represent an effort to build its next generation.

The Korean Wave and growing tourism show how much closer the two countries have become. The youth program asks whether those connections can survive periods of political tension.

Relations have moved beyond an era in which they depended almost entirely on agreements between governments. They are increasingly sustained through daily life and networks between citizens.

In 2026, however, the center of gravity in the bilateral relationship extends beyond cultural exchange.

During a May 19 summit, the leaders of Japan and South Korea discussed stronger cooperation on supply chains, including energy security, as well as bilateral and trilateral security cooperation with the United States and responses to North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats.

If diplomatic normalization 61 years ago opened the relationship, today’s partnership is being tested by disruptions to supply chains involving China, instability in the Middle East and threats from North Korea.

The language used by the Japanese government to describe relations with South Korea has also changed.

In the past, officials frequently emphasized exchange, reconciliation and a future-oriented relationship. More recently, they have focused on critical minerals, energy security, supply chains, deterrence and trilateral cooperation with the United States.

Securing materials required for semiconductors, batteries and electric vehicles is directly connected to the industrial competitiveness of both countries.

Instability in the Middle East could simultaneously threaten their dependence on imported energy. North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missiles are testing the effectiveness of security cooperation among Seoul, Tokyo and Washington.

Major sources of conflict remain.

Disputes over wartime forced labor, women forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military, the Dokdo islets and Japanese history textbooks could again inflame public opinion in both countries.

Within Japanese politics, some view expanded cooperation with South Korea as an economic and security necessity. Others are wary that compromise could be seen as yielding on historical disputes.

Expanded cooperation with Japan also remains subject to intense public scrutiny in South Korea.

Despite those divisions, the two countries are under growing pressure to prevent another deterioration in relations.

China’s export restrictions and changes in global supply chains affect manufacturers in both countries. A Middle East crisis could raise their oil and shipping costs at the same time.

North Korea’s military threat has also become a test not only for Japan and South Korea but for the broader deterrence structure involving the United States.

Delaying economic and security cooperation could impose costs on both countries.

As the 61st anniversary of the treaty signing approaches, the condition of Japan-South Korea relations is more clearly visible in streets, student exchanges, industry and security cooperation than in ceremonial speeches.

Shin-Okubo shows how closely connected the two societies have become. The Mitaka discussions show young people attempting to overcome conflict through dialogue.

Building on the foundation created by the 1965 treaty, relations in 2026 are entering a phase that combines everyday exchanges, economic security and strategic cooperation.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

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