Recently, ethnic Korean women in China get married in Korea, receive Korean citizenship, and then go to Japan as "Korean brides."

World News] The Kimchi Women of Yamagata Province

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NOVEMBER 25, 2005 08:29
by Won-Jae Park (parkwj@xxxxxxxxx)


Yamagata Prefecture is located in the northeastern mountain areas of
Japan. Its population is only 1.2 million, but it is where a heated
kimchi competition among about 10 kimchi companies is underway.

It all started when Korean women came to the region to marry
not-so-young Japanese bachelor farmers and sold kimchi on the side.

The Korean Residents Union of Yamagata Prefecture says the number of
Korean women who married Japanese men to settle there is 1,700. They
started doing so in the late 1980s, and the number is increasing every
year. Now, more than 100 women start their married lives there in the
rural villages of Yamagata every year.

Quite a number of couples happily settle in, but about 30 percent end
up in a failed marriage, so they either return to Korea or wander
around in entertainment districts in big cities like Tokyo.

The Power of Korean Women at Kimchi Factories -

Kim Mae-young (45), the president of "Umechan Kimchi," which takes
up the highest market share among total local kimchi companies, is a
member of the first generation of Korean women who came to Japan for
marriage in 1992.

Her senior in her company settled in Japan earlier than she did, and
she introduced Kim to a man five years older than her. Kim left for
Japan to live with him. Living with her parents-in-law as an ordinary
housewife, she started to teach how to make kimchi to her neighbors
eight years ago. Since then, she has run her own company.

Even long before the Korean Wave started in Japan, while Korean women
have been selling kimchi in a competitive manner, kimchi was the
locals'everyday side dish in the Yamagata Prefecture. In late autumn,
they hold "Kimchi Festivals."

Kim said, Some Korean women would just dream they would be rich in
Japan anywhere they go, but having such a dream would end up in
failure," adding, "For one, you have meet the right person, and
then you need to learn about Japanese culture and their lifestyles
before coming here."

Severe adversity; deceitful brokers, divorce and disappearances-

Korean women started to go to the Yamagata Prefecture for marriage in
the late 1980s when a village in the region held an exchange event with
a region in North Chungcheong Province in Korea, which led to
international marriages. Just like Korean women, Japanese women avoid
living in rural areas, so there are many unmarried Japanese men well
over 40.

Shortly after the 1997 financial crisis, there were increasing cases
where Korean divorced women went to Japan with their children.
Recently, ethnic Korean women in China get married in Korea, receive
Korean citizenship, and then go to Japan as "Korean brides."

As fraud cases concerning international marriages between Japanese and
Koreans increase, brokers are expanding their scope to neighboring
regions, such as Iwate and Akida. At first Japanese men preferred
Korean women who are comparatively similar-looking than other ethic
groups, but now women from China and the Philippines seem to be more
popular.

Nito Haruko (Japanese name, 55), who successfully settled in Japan 14
years ago with her Japanese husband, said, "Living in rural areas of
Japan, I realize Koreans should not look down upon brides from
southeastern countries and show warmth to them."

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