About 4 hours by high-speed rail and bus from Seoul, Kowloonpo Japanese House Road in Pohang City in the southeast was quiet during the summer vacation in August.
It is an old Japanese town created by fishermen in western Japan from the Meiji to Taisho eras, and it has the most Japanese-style houses in Korea, including those just before the start of Japanese rule. Japanese signboards such as “Hinode Shokudo” and “Kajiya” were placed on both sides of the cobblestone street, and it was crowded with about 4,000 tourists a day on weekends.
However, when the Japanese government started the first export control to Korea in July, the number of visitors decreased. At one time, it fell to “1/10” (residents).
Lined up candy and souvenirs in this town ...
