Why Hongdae Street is changing like Japan these days?

In the area of Hapjeong and Hongik university recently, one can easily see Japanese-style buildings recently.
Japanese language covering the entire building and Japanese Traditional Wooden Architecture.
Without the occasional mixture of Korean words It's hard to tell whether this is Japan or Hongdae.

Even in Gangnam, beyond Hongdae and Hapjeong area, Japanese-style exterior and interior design Izakaya, a Japanese-style bar has been gaining popularity for many years.

According to Korea restaurant industry, the biggest reason for the popularity of Japanese style dining in Korea is that Korean traveling to Japan has been tripled in the last 5 years.
Korean tourists who ate in Japan and want to feel Japanese atmosphere are looking for Japanese style restaurants in Korea.
Japan is usually the first overseas destination for many Korean and they experienced Japanese food by finding themselves local famous restaurants while they were traveling in Japan.

Under this influence, centering on Hongdae and Yeonnam-dong, restaurants that sell Japanese homemade food are as popular as Izakaya and popping up everywhere.

The success of these Japanese-style restaurants depends on how well they implement local flavors.
Korean customers tend to prefer local taste and atmosphere to Koreanized japanese food nowadays.
That's why dishes like 'Japanese style tempura rice bowl "Tendon" and 'Omacase' where the chef provides the course, are popular in Korea.

Japanese alcohol beverage consumption in Korea is also increasing.
According to Korean customs service in 2018, compared to 2014 imports of Japanese beer have increased by 175% and import of fermented wine including sake has incresed 67.5% more than four years ago.

Instead of traveling to Japan, Why don't you head to Hongdae this weekend?