Lee Hyo-sik
Four years before the Korean TV drama “Winter Sonata” ignited the first Korean wave in Japan in 2002, this reporter went to Tohoku University in Sendai, northeastern Japan, as an exchange student to study environmental engineering.
Japan’s education ministry offered a 100,000 yen ($664) monthly living allowance, a fair amount of money at a time when the prices of goods and services were much lower than they are now, while the city of Sendai provided a heavily subsidized bus pass. The university and local community centers also gave out various household items for free and ran a wide range of support programs for international students residing in the city.
My academic supervisor, Professor Omura, even told me not to pay my share of the bill when the research team under his wing went out for food and drinks, which is very unusual in a country where even couples split bills to the last penny. He also often got me well-paying, but easy, part-time jobs on weekends. He even regularly invited me to his house and fed me traditional Japanese meals. There were also countless other occasions that evoked fond memories. Perhaps, I was treated better because of my engineering background.
Japan, which has struggled to cope with falling birthrates and its aging population long before Korea, has been very proactive in attracting not only foreign laborers, but also engineers, IT developers and designers to prop up its mature economy. This need for extra manpower from outside the country has created........