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I recently watched a korean series, it reminded me of JakeHam, the title is coffee prince...very reminiscent of YA in terms of Jake & Ham's relationship.
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Fasicnating. I wish I'd read this thread earlier.
The Wikipedia article on "Coffee Prince" is
here.
An English translation of the original Manhwa (Korean Xanga) version of "Coffee Prince" is online
here.
The Korean (MBC) TV version with English subtitles (17 episodes, aired in 2007), is online
here. This series seems to have been a huge hit in Korea.
"Coffee Prince" is, in its externals, remarkably similar to the J/H story-line in
Young Americans; a straight guy falls in love with a cross-dressing but straight girl while believing her to be a guy. An episode-by-episode plot summary is available
here.
However, it does not so clearly use cross-dresssing as a "test of true love" in the "Frog Prince" or "Beauty and the Beast" tradition; perhaps the Western notion that "true love" must be "for soul, despite body" may be rooted in mind-body dualism and a religious denigration of sex that lack equivalents in East Asian culture. In both the comic and the TV series, the guy's commitment to heterosexuality is questionable. Furthermore, when the guy first kisses thre cross-dressing girl, she doesn't reveal her true gender, partly because she's his employee, he hires only men, and doesn't trust him not to fire her.
"Coffee Prince" also is more comedic and less concerned with moral edification than YA. The serious tone that
YA derives in part from Finn's classes and Krudsky's voice-overs is largely absent. Seoul in
CP is just the real Seoul, not an idealization like Rawley.