Great Moments in Journalism: Comforted Women
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Today's Moment comes from a Washington Post article on the recent (if by recent we mean, "five years or so") trend of Asian women lusting after Korean men. The story has already been covered by a number of publications, which leaves the Post with the challenge of making their piece distinctive. Are they up to the task? With lines like, "[F]or thousands of smitten Japanese women like Yoshimura, collecting the odd poster or DVD is no longer enough. They've set their sights far higher — settling for nothing less than a real Seoulmate," you'd think no, but fear not:
The lovelorn Yoshimura signed up last year with Rakuen Korea, a Japanese-Korean matchmaking service, to find her own Korean bachelor. And she is hardly alone. More than 6,400 female clients have signed up with the company, which says its popularity has skyrocketed since 2004, when "Winter Sonata" became the first of many hot Korean television dramas to hit Japan. Even in Shinjuku ni-chome, Tokyo's biggest gay district, niche bars with names such as Seoul Man have sprouted like sprigs of ginseng in a Pusan autumn.
And if you're scoring at home, yes, kimchi makes an appearance.