Shimonoseki’s Koreantown isn’t like Tokyo’s or Osaka’s, but it has a retro atmosphere all its own

We stumble upon a small Korean area in Yamaguchi Prefecture in the city connected to Busan, Korea by ferry.

When our travel-loving, Japanese-language reporter Ikuna Kamezawa arrived at Shimonoseki Station in Yamaguchi Prefecture on November 22, she spotted a poster for the 22nd Little Busan Festival to be held the following day in an area of the city called Shimonoseki Koreantown Green Mall. She’d had no idea that this event was about to take place, and while she unfortunately wouldn’t be able to attend, she was curious to check out the area where it would be held.

Ikuna was curious to see what Shimonoseki’s Koreantown (yes, the spelling is different from the usual “Koreatown”), nicknamed “Little Busan,” was like. After all, the major port cities of Shimonoseki, Japan and Busan, Korea are only about 200 kilometers (124.3 miles) apart and are official sister cities.

▼ A one-way ferry ride between the two cities/countries was being advertised for 6,300 yen (US$41).

Luckily, when she exited Shimonoseki Station, she was greeted by a big welcome sign to the city on the left.

When she squinted just a little bit farther away, however, she saw something that piqued her curiosity even more.

It was Busan Gate–a gateway that pays homage to traditional Korean aesthetics.

In fact, it strongly resembles the entrance to the Ikuno Koreatown in Osaka which Ikuna has previously visited.

▼ The entrance to Osaka’s Ikuno Koreatown

The gateway also serves as the entrance to the Shimonoseki Koreantown Green Mall shopping area that extends from the station and would host the Little Busan Festival the next day. It was time for Ikuna to get walking.

At first, it didn’t give off much of a Korean vibe, but there were also a good number of shops that were still shuttered.

Just as she was beginning to wonder if this were truly Koreantown, she began to glimpse some eateries popping up here and there. None of them were open, however, likely because it was around 3 p.m., a time when many restaurants close between the lunch and the dinner rush.

Only the red poles supporting the awning indicated that she was still in the designated Green Mall area. The people she occasionally passed also had the look not of tourists, but of locals.

It was easy to guess from the slightly retro atmosphere that this area had been around for a while and was probably past its heyday. It probably wouldn’t draw many of the younger crowds hooked on K-pop and other Korean pop culture, but it was intriguing in a different way for someone with an interest in local histories like Ikuna.

At one point she came across a large sign with a map of the Green Mall area. Thank goodness–she was still in the right place after all.

Unfortunately, a potted plant was growing right against the map, obscuring part of it from view. She figured this kind of thing wouldn’t happen in more bustling Korea-centric areas of Japan such as Tokyo’s Shin-Okubo neighborhood or Osaka’s Tsuruhashi, but here, it somehow didn’t seem out of place.

Finally she arrived at a place that seemed to signal the end of the shopping street. From the station to this point, it had taken about 20 minutes of walking.

She decided to make the return trip on the other side of the road for some slightly different scenery. From afar, this side had seemed abandoned. However, she now noticed that there were indeed signs showing that businesses were open, but she lacked the courage to go in because there were so few people around.

One discovery that she was glad to make was the presence of several small grocery stores, each staffed by a single elderly man or woman. They all sold plenty of tasty Korean snacks and other foodstuffs. In commemoration, she went inside one and purchased a pack of Shin Ramyun for later.

All in all, Shimonoseki’s Koreantown is a far cry from the Korean cosmetics, K-pop goods, and street food mecca of other Koreatowns in Japan. This is not a place where you’ll see throngs of teenagers walking down the street while eating a spicy batch of tteokbboki or a piping-hot hotteok.

Instead, the neighborhood gave Ikuna the feeling that it’s the last vestiges of a once bustling town from the past. It has historical charm in a different kind of way from the cosmopolitan streets of other cities. In any case, the next time she’s craving some Korean street food, it would be easy enough to cook up some trending recipes at home.

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