"In one day, three times the traffic of all of 1965" — Japan's ambassador on Korea-Japan exchange

At a reception held in Seoul in June 2025 to mark 60 years of normalized Korea-Japan relations, Ambassador Koichi Mizushima noted that travel between the two countries, "only about 10,000 people a year in 1965, passed 12 million last year — an all-time high." He added: "Today, in a single day, three times as many people cross between our countries as in all of 1965." ("Last year" in his remarks refers to 2024.)

Investment tells the same story. Japanese investment in Korea, "a mere $500,000 in 1965, grew to $6.12 billion last year — the largest of any country," the ambassador said, again referring to 2024. Whatever the political season, the flow of people and capital has moved in one direction for decades.

Between two countries with 30,000 daily crossings, what is still scarce is not flights but depth of encounter. Japanese visitors have Korea's highest revisit rate — and having already seen Seoul and Busan, what they need next is not another city but someone who knows one. It is also why this paper's first traveler edition will be in Japanese.