To call Nora Muramoto a fan is a huge understatement.

Since watching her first Korean drama six years ago, Muramoto has transformed her life around her new passion.

Her Pearl City home is littered with videotapes and DVDs of Korean movies and TV dramas. She's got posters, magazines and hundreds of K-pop CDs. Her closet is overflowing with K-drama memorabilia, now starting to overtake the spare bedroom.

Last year, Muramoto started taking Korean language classes at Moanalua and 'Aiea high schools — ones she helped start, incidently — and has learned to cook everything from seaweed soup to bulgogi.

Muramoto may be Japanese in ethnicity, but she's Korean at heart.

"I think maybe in my past life, I was Korean," said the 59-year-old, laughing. "And I thought I was the only one. There are people who are more fanatic than me."

Fans of every age, of every ethnicity are surfing the hallyu — Korean wave — thanks to the exposure the culture is getting from the wildly popular subtitled K-dramas that are broadcast by KBFD and reach thousands of Hawai'i households every week.

But these fans aren't just tuning in to the weekly melodramas. They're eating up everything they can about the culture — and we're talking more than just kim chee.

"You go through different phases," said Junell Lee, who operates local fan site KoreanWiz.org. "First you get attracted to the drama because it's entertaining ... Then you get curious about the culture. You see them use stainless-steel chopsticks or eat rice with a spoon. You see all the interesting foods and side dishes. You start to wonder about it."

And fans are finding ways to satisfy that craving.

Korean language classes at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa are packed. Travel agencies are getting calls about K-drama tours to South Korea. Demand is growing for more Korean festivals, more K-dramas, more concerts — more anything Korean.

"Just sitting on the bus or going to Sorabol and eavesdropping on a conversation speaks volumes about the impact Korean culture has had on the local community," said Jun Yoo, a history professor at UH who specializes in Korean history and culture. "It's no longer about poverty or the junk Hyundai sedan. It's about being hip ... Koreans are setting the trends."

UNIVERSAL THEMES

It starts with the dramas.

Muramoto saw her first K-drama — "Honesty" — in 1999 and was immediately hooked.

"I just couldn't stop watching," she said. "I was nonstop."

She borrowed tapes from fans, watching hours of episodes well past midnight. Then she started going to Korean video stores, renting dramas even without subtitles.

Like many K-drama fans, Muramoto first started watching Japanese drama series. But, she said, never like this.

"There's just no comparison," Muramoto said. "I was watching Japanese dramas for almost 10 years, then all of a sudden I started to watch Korean dramas, and they're so much better. I couldn't believe it."

South Korea is a drama-watching society. To fully appreciate K-dramas, Yoo said, you need to know the country's history, which is riddled with tragedy and suffering.

The themes in K-dramas — love, loss, pain, fear — are universal, making them appealing to non-Koreans. These dramas are popular across the world, with viewers in Turkey, Egypt and Nigeria.

And from these shows, fans are eager to learn more about the Korean culture.

For Gerrie Nakamura, 56, it was the music.

The teacher at Leilehua High School and grandmother of four listens to Korean music 24/7. At work, in her car, at home, on her iPod. She even flew to L.A. just to go to a K-pop concert.

She's excited about this Sunday's Korean music concert at the Hawai'i Theatre, headlined by Kim Bum-Soo. He's not her favorite Korean crooner, but she's going anyway, to show support.

"In the beginning there was nothing; you had to go to Korea or L.A. (for concerts)," Nakamura said. "But now they're coming to Hawai'i. This is when (fans) ... have to go. It's been a long time coming."

Muramoto is going to both shows on Sunday, setting her back $175.

"I love the music," said Muramoto, who has at least 300 CDs of Korean music, mostly from dramas. "The melodies go with the dramas. That's what makes them better."

Many fans swap information about dramas, music, even recipes online. Internet chat rooms and message boards connect fans all over the world, all of them eager to learn more about a culture not their own.

Koreanwiz.org went public in May 2001, and news of its launch spread quickly among fans.

"I don't how many people (visit the site), but I know people write to me and say they go to it every day," said site creator Lee, 49, a lawyer in Honolulu.

Lee started with Japanese dramas before switching to K-dramas in 2000. Something about these shows sparked an interest in her to learn everything she could about Korea. She listened to K-pop in her car, read books about Korean history, even took Korean language classes at UH.

"I never, even when I was watching Japanese dramas, had the desire to learn Japanese or read books about Japanese culture," said Lee, who's Chinese-American. "I didn't feel this compulsion or passion. For some reason the dramas really pulled me in. It's an addiction, an insatiable need to learn more."

K-DRAMA TOURS

When fans just can't get enough, they go right to the source: South Korea.

New Asia Tour near Ala Moana Center organized its first K-drama tour to Korea last October. About 50 Hawai'i residents signed up for the 12-day pilgrimage, which cost about $3,000. The agency has planned two for this year, with more expected in the future.

Muramoto went on another tour to South Korea last year. It was her first time there — and, she hopes, not her last.

Her group toured Jeju Island, where the drama series "All In" was filmed. They sang K-pop songs on the bus as they bounced across the countryside. They even made signs for actor Jung Jun Ho, who visited the tour group at the end of their trip — and gave him a $300 Hawaiian pendant engraved with his name.

"It was such a memorable experience," Muramoto said. "It was so fun."

Lynn Furukawa, 22, visited South Korea, too, but not because of an addiction to K-dramas. In fact, she's purposely trying not to watch them.

The few times she has caught an episode — her mom is, in her words, "infatuated" — she got sucked into the drama. Once, she even started yelling at the TV — and this was in a Korean restaurant.

"I try not to get too into them because I don't think I'd be able to do anything else," she said.

Despite her restraint, Furukawa is infatuated with Korean history and culture. So much so, in fact, that she hopes to earn a Fulbright scholarship to teach English there after graduation.

Her first exposure to Korea came in a Korean history class last semester at UH, where she's majoring in history. That led to a scholarship to attend a month-long program in South Korea this summer.

Along with 10 other Hawai'i students, Furukawa toured the country, sampling local cuisine and taking in the sights.

Furukawa was amazed by everything she saw, from their technologically advanced cell phones to their reliance on the Internet. And, of course, how much they love their dramas.

One of their stops was Nami Island, where the enormously popular drama "Winter Sonata" was filmed. Furukawa couldn't believe the island had become a tourist attraction solely because of the drama series.

Travel agencies all over Asia are touting tours to Nami Island, letting fans retrace the steps of the two lovers, even re-enact scenes from the series. There are scene markers, signs, even statues of the drama's stars Bae Yong Jun and Choi Ji Woo.

"Everywhere you go there, there were cut-outs or statues of them," Furukawa said. "My mom was so excited I was going there ... It was interesting."

KOREAN FRENZY

Three years ago, Muramoto and Nakamura started the Hawai'i K-Drama Fan Club. The two met on a message board on the KBFD Web site. The club began with just 20 fans.

Today, it boasts more than 200 members, growing every year with the popularity of K-dramas and K-pop.

Members are signing up for language classes through local community schools for adults. They're booking trips to South Korea. They're reading books and magazines, scouring the Internet and chatting on message boards to learn whatever they can about the culture they're watching.

And Koreans aren't complaining. If anything, they're enjoying the attention — and maybe even wondering what took everyone so long.

"It's been a good way to introduce a culture through media," said Jeff Chung, general manager of KBFD, which televises all of the K-dramas in Hawai'i. "I am positive that the opinion and views toward Koreans and Korean culture have changed."

Reach Catherine E. Toth at ctoth@honoluluadvertiser.com.