SEOUL -- Diplomatic ties between South Korea and Japan may be strained at the moment, but young South Koreans' fascination with Japanese popular culture and travel may offer an unofficial route to better relations between the often prickly neighbors.
Novelist Keigo Higashino is popular in South Korea. His books hold prime shelf space in the country's bookstores. On a September day, two college students in Seoul chatted in a bookshop about Higashino's novel, "Namiya Zakkaten no Kiseki" ("Miracles of the Namiya General Store").
