Just one stop away from Tokyo's Shinjuku hub, in Shin-Okubo, the streets are lined with shops advertising Korean music and movies, bibimbap and the latest beauty secrets from the country next door. Young Japanese girls rolling bright suitcases behind them sift through pictures of Korean celebrities from groups like Big Bang and U-KISS.

No one in Shin-Okubo seems fazed that tensions between Japan and South Korea have increased after South Korean President Lee Myung-bak visited a pair of disputed islands, listed on global maps...