From cutting steak to showing affection: Japanese-born professor on charms of Korean men

Hosaka Yuji, a Japanese-born naturalized Korean and special professor at Korea University’s Graduate School of Public Administration, has identified what Japanese women find attractive about Korean men. The growing number of marriages between Korean men and Japanese women, he said, reflects the popularity of Korean men’s affectionate expressions and thoughtfulness among Japanese women. He also suggested that images of Korean men shaped by Korean dramas have played a role.

“Matchmaking agencies specializing in Korea-Japan marriages have opened in Tokyo,” he noted.

Hosaka made the remarks during an appearance on the YouTube channel Woongdal Bookstore on Sunday. He described this as a clear indication that Japanese women have developed a strong preference for Korean men.

Hosaka cited two main reasons Korean men are increasingly sought after as marriage partners by Japanese women: their direct expressions of affection and their attentiveness.

While Japanese men rarely say “I love you” in everyday life, Korean men tend to express their feelings more openly, he said.

“Japanese women are deeply touched by gestures such as a man walking on the side of the traffic when accompanying a woman on the sidewalk, or cutting up an entire steak for her,” Hosaka explained.

Hosaka also pointed to the influence of K-dramas in boosting Japanese women’s favorable perceptions of Korean men.

“Korean men in Korean dramas are portrayed as people who risk their lives to protect women,” he said. “The image of a man willing to devote everything he has to the woman he loves has become the ideal type for many Japanese women.”

Another factor Japanese women reportedly appreciate is that, unlike in Japan, where wives traditionally take their husbands’ surnames after marriage, women in Korea retain their own family names.

“Quite a few Japanese women feel that Korea is actually a place where they can preserve their own identities,” Hosaka said.

What do Japanese women offer that Korean men find attractive?

Hosaka pointed to their attentive listening and tendency not to immediately express disagreement.

“Japanese women have a strong image of treating what men say as important and not immediately contradicting them. They don’t start by saying, ‘No, that’s not right,’” he said.

He added that this tendency is largely shaped by childhood upbringing, with Japanese women often taught from an early age not to immediately reject what another person says.

Marriages between Korean men and Japanese women totaled 1,494 last year, up 306, or 25.8 percent, from the previous year. This was the highest figure since statistics began being compiled in 2008. The annual increase was the second-largest on record, following a rise of 340 marriages in 2024.

The trend contrasts with a decline in international marriages between Korean men and women from Vietnam, China and Thailand, which have traditionally accounted for a large share of international marriages in Korea.

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.