“Love Letter” was among the movies that enjoyed some measure of popularity here after the country partly opened its door to Japanese popular culture in 1998. Some fear that a “Japanese Wave” to rival the Korean Wave elsewhere in Asia -- not least in Japan itself -- could sweep the country’s cinemas.

Not yet, movie critics say. The fact that some Japanese movies are now drawing the crowds does not mean all movies from the island countries will. But they do point to a change in Korean tastes. Thus “La Maison de Himiko”, which opened in a mere five cinemas nationwide, has attracted as many as 70,000 viewers by word of mouth alone despite the fact it is an art film and there have been no extra promotional efforts. The same is true of “We Shall Overcome Someday”, which has seen 90 percent of seats occupied, an equally unexpected success.

Takaoka Sosuke, Sawajiri Erika and the director Izutsu Kazuyuki (from left), pose at a press conference to promote “We Shall Overcome Someday” in Seoul on Sunday. The film tells the story of young ethnic Koreans in Japan in the late 1960s.

The Japanese movies that have drawn crowds in Korea recently have one thing in common: they are good at mixing serious themes and as social issues with a zesty, original imagination. The film critic Shim Young-seop says until a few years ago it was melodramas appealing to a feminine sensibility like those of director Iwai Shunji or philosophical anime movies, most of them produced by Miyajaki Hayao, that were popular here. But today young Korean people favor Japanese movies that exhibit a kind of cheerfully bizarre view of the world not unlike comic books. “These movies are on the same wavelength with the young generation in the country, who are allergic to overt emotions and can’t stand anything ordinary,” he adds.

While “La Maison de Himiko” deals with the taboo topic du jour, homosexuality, it succeeds in making viewers laugh by offering a fresh look at the issue. “We Shall Overcome Someday” tells a serious political story about ethnic Koreans in Japan in the 1960s but lightens the tone with its depiction of the stumbling efforts of young people. Both are pointedly non-mainstream.

This newfound affection for Japanese films has not gone unnoticed by their makers, who are trying to have more contact with Korean fans. Korea has become an important test market for them. “Japanese movie producers pay a lot of attention to promoting their movies in Korea. They themselves take care of schedules of Japanese actors or actresses visiting Korea. It seems that they want to take reverse advantage of the Korean Wave,” said a staffer with the distributor of “Swing Girls”, a Japanese film scheduled to be released next week. Lee Ae-suk of Cine Qua Non Korea said, “The Korean market isn’t big, but as Korean movies improve in quality, so do the tastes of the nation’s moviegoers.” As a result, she adds, the market is becoming more important to Japanese filmmakers.

(englishnews@chosun.com )