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Japanese high school students love to take graduation trips after finishing high school, and who wouldn’t, after all of the countless hours spent studying for exams and going to cram school? It’s a worthy way to celebrate their emergence as independent young adults.
For years, Tokyo Disneyland has been the place where the most high school grads want to celebrate their graduation, especially for young women. That’s no surprise when the amusement park is affordable, easy to get to, and always full of fun parades and events. But this year, Disneyland’s reign as the top destination has been surprisingly usurped by South Korea.
As part of a recent survey by H.J. Inc, owner of the online high school student network Kokosei Lab 47, 513 graduating high school girls from all across Japan were asked where they want to go for their graduation trip, and South Korea was named as the number one spot.
The girls weren’t asked what their reasons were for choosing South Korea, but H.J. Inc has a few ideas, mainly involving social media. For starters, South Korea offers a delightful array of delicious, and unique, street food, with previous standouts including French-fry encrusted corn dogs and Pikachu-shaped fried cutlets. Street food is easy to find in even the heart of Seoul, and can be munched on while shopping and strolling around. Most importantly, however, it’s often perfectly Instagram-worthy, which, for many Japanese high school girls, is a major priority.
Overall, South Korea has major appeal on social media. There is plenty of sightseeing to do, lots of picturesque spots to see, and, of course, plenty of trendy shops and restaurants to explore. That makes for a selfie-lover’s dream come true!
But Tokyo Disneyland has all of those things and more. So why, then, are Japanese high school girls picking South Korea over Disney these days? It might have something to do with K-Pop. With superstar groups like BTS making waves all around the world, it’s hard to believe that Japanese fangirls wouldn’t relish the chance to visit the group’s native country.
On another note, Korean beauty products are also hot on the Japanese market right now. Companies like Etude House, with cute and innovative designs like Kit-Kat eye shadow, are causing waves on social media with their attractive marketing campaigns. What’s more, some Korean beauty companies have products that are only available in Korea, and they tend to be cheaper than Japanese products, so there are plenty of reasons for young beauty aficionados to want to go there.
By the way, ranking as the third “most desirable graduation trip” was Hawaii, followed by Guam, and then, sadly, by Universal Studios Japan, who, despite their constant stream of awesome anime, movie, and video game collaborations, still can’t seem to keep up with Disneyland, at least in the eyes of high school girls.
Source: PR Times via Hamster Sokuho
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- External Link
- https://soranews24.com/2019/02/26/korea-beats-disneyland-as-most-desirable-graduation-trip-for-japanese-girls-in-survey/
12 Comments
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erbaviva
never heard of this crap
Aly Rustom
Oh boy! Cue the right wingers..
alwaysspeakingwisdom
Nice story. So much for the myth that Japanese hate Koreans. However in Seoul, they are screaming death to Japan.
nanotechnology
I think it is time to do what the KOREAN GOVT is doing... sowing hatred to Japan by making it as a SUBJECT in high school.... there are also reports that when all the factors equal, those high school who attended anti-Japan rally will be admitted in the universities ahead than those who did not.
It is time to stop the yen flowing to South Korea.
Jimizo
Yep.
oldman_13
Oh really? Is that why there was a news blurb a few days ago that showed a marked rise in foreign tourists to Japan, with South Koreans coming in as second largest numbers of these foreign tourists?
nanotechnology
Since 1965, Japan was humane and nice to South Korea but the Koreans all through out these years are teaching their generations after generation of hating Japanese.
This (preference of SK as destination) really proves that Japanese (high schoolers and young generations) are more civil and humane, and instead of hatred, Japan is really teaching their kids of humanity and civility.
BackpackingNepal
The comment above is spot on!
Japan needs to build Anime Park with all the anime characters, shops, souvenirs, cafe..all at one big place. Plus one big shops at various places.
Only the Anime/Manga, Not Disney stuff.
Ex_Res
It just goes to show how much politicians can be out of touch with the young generation.
And why should young people be subjected to the bickering of older people?
At the last winter Olympics, it was lovely to see the two skaters become good friends.
Heckleberry
@alwaysspeaking**** - Very ironic that you'd dispel one myth and propagate another myth in the same post.
Japanese brands like Uniqlo are hugely popular in Korea and lines form outside stores when there are sales. Japanese novelists go to the top of the best seller chart in Korea in the same week they are released.
Talking about tourism alone, South Korea is the largest source of foreign tourists to Japan, with 779,400 visitors to Japan from South Korea in January 2019 alone, far more than Chinese visitors who are in 2nd place, with 754,400 visitors.
Don't take my word for it. See the official Japanese stats yourself:
https://statistics.jnto.go.jp/en/graph/
Pukey2
nano:
Shall we also stop the won flowing from SK to Japan too? Last time I checked the news, there was plenty of Yuan, Won, T$ and HK$ flowing to Japan.
alwaysspeakingwisdom
Really?
Australians spent most per trip with ¥242,050. Apart from Australia, average spending was highest among visitors from Europe and North America, with less spending by those from Asia.
Dude, Japan does not Asia.