A new online community named “No No Japan” appeared on July 11 to share information about brands from Japan and provide Korean products name as alternatives to local citizens. (Image credit: Nippon)

More intense, S.Korea's online community "No No Japan" to boycott Japanese brands

The latest decision from Japan which is to restrict exports of high-tech stuff to Seoul has led to more intense boycott movement from South Korea citizens to Japanese goods.

On July 11, Korean’s new online community named “No No Japan” appeared to share information about brands from Japan and provide Korean products name as alternatives to local citizens.

Users can freely post any information related to Japanese products to this internet site and nearly 60 products have been registered right now. As the community surfaced, many users logged into the website to check out items at the same time. It caused the website was down on Thursday morning due to high traffic.

According to a local poll, 54.6 percent of the respondents said they are participants of the boycotts movement. This is an increase of 6.6. percent from the previous week.

Amid the tension between Tokyo and Seoul, #BoycottJapan hashtag has been trending. Many users post on the internet using Japan’s icon which is the red rising sun as “O” for “NO” word. An Instagram account named all_righteousness posted “ NO, Boycott Japan: Don’t go, don’t buy” to promote the movement.

The boycott is not only in products and goods but also in the travel industry. According to Yomiuri Shimbun, Korean tourists in Japan were decreasing.

Japan Traveler’s Club - the largest “travel tips on Japan” online community in South Korea with more than 1.3 million members, decided to be temporary hiatus to support the boycott of Japanese products and services. The manager of the community hoped the club’s support for the movement has a symbolic meaning.

South Korea is the third-biggest export market for Japan. According to South Korean data, the country depends on Japanese products in several industries and it is hard to find replacements fast. Last year, the trade between the two nations reached 5.79 trillion yen (US$53.4 billion).

Source: http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/tech/2019/07/694_272533.html