Spend large amounts of money buying skates, sticks, goalie masks, ice rinks, etc. for kids in Japan and Korea. The main barrier to entry in hockey is equipment cost and the need for ice.
The main barrier in Japan isn't necessarily the cost of those things, it's the availability (though in the case of goalie gear, it's definitely both). I helped coach a youth team on the Sea of Japan coast (Toyooka/Kinosaki), and the closest place to find a selection of sticks/gear/etc was Osaka (2.5-3 hours away by car or express train). Skates, old and crappy though they might be by our standards, definitely aren't in short supply over there. There aren't a lot of dedicated rinks outside major urban centres (think Osaka, Kobe, Nagoya, Tokyo), but there are plenty of places with public pools that convert them to skating rinks (typically with boards at least) in places with winter (like my town). More people might play if it was cheaper, but the cost isn't actually super prohibitive to families with a kid who's interested (surprising amount of disposable income tucked away in futons all around Japan, btw). It's about whether or not there's enough excuse to either insert it into the kid's roles/responsibilities, or whether it replaces something else and whether the parents would be willing, as opposed to able, to fund it.
The other thing they're lacking is people to show/teach them hockey. They spend so much time in their studies and club activities that it's hard to find time to introduce the game to them. Teachers on the JET Programme (and associated SEAs - Sports Exchange Advisors) like I was seem to be doing the most work, in my experience, when it comes to introducing the game via introducing themselves and their interests (both in school classrooms and adult conversation classes), and then by recruiting friends, etc to play pick-up games when people are available. The only time to really work hockey in there, though, is in between other responsibilities (which the Japanese, perhaps more than any other Asian population in my experience, take very, very seriously). They need very little encouragement to get out and observe/participate in the "weird" things that foreigners get up to over there (we also started one of the largest ultimate frisbee tournaments in Asia in that area - Taj Ultimate - thanks to the overwhelming interest of local/foreign friends, students, etc).
I have two friends who are doctors in Himeji and had never held a hockey stick before (but were decent skaters, as many Japanese are, believe it or not) and by the time I left they were organizing ball hockey tournaments in the summer and everything. That was the result of a couple of English teachers on the JET program working at very much a grass-roots level generating interest and providing the basics; even if it meant 10-11pm pick up games on work nights because that's when everyone was done with daily duties and available to run around for a bit, or able to make the 1 hour drive after work to come out. I also had a student take his interest all the way to playing for a high school team while on homestay in Saskatchewan (against my recommendation... sorry Saskatchewan).
There are a
lot of Canadian English teachers in Japan, and I think they're doing more to cultivate interest in hockey than, say, the Olympics, honestly, despite reaching a much smaller audience with a much lower "quality" product. Goes to show that the most important part of generating interest in any sport is having fun with friends while learning and participating.
