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K-pop stardom lures Japanese youth to Korea despite diplomatic chill

33 Comments
By Ju-min Park

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33 Comments
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S. Korea and Japan would have great relations if it were not for Politicians.

8 ( +14 / -6 )

Well an article about kidz pursuing a long shot...

Good luck

3 ( +6 / -3 )

Good on this article! It just goes to show that one aspect of a country's ties does not reflect the entirety of their relations. Good luck to these girls making it into the business!

0 ( +3 / -3 )

With no guarantee of a job after all the training and spent money, there are going to be a lot of broken hearted ‘hopefuls’ out there.

4 ( +7 / -3 )

Finish high school. At least get a skill or a two year college degree. Work on your craft in your off time.

This “dance” craze is like the healthy version of opioid epedemic in the west. Parents should be smarter.

10 ( +10 / -0 )

The younger generation in Japan really like Korea. They love the food, beauty tour, and K-pop song and dance. The future relations can be bright.

-1 ( +4 / -5 )

With no guarantee of a job after all the training and spent money, there are going to be a lot of broken hearted ‘hopefuls’ out there.

Well, no risk no reward. People who never risk getting their hearts broken never really live. Great to see kids with dreams - as long as they are not too exploited.

-4 ( +3 / -7 )

Don't forget the plastic surgery and facial/ body enhancements! Many of the current K-Pop idols, male and female, spent a lot on it whilst they were training; going under the knife and/ or having botox, skin and lip fillers. Rumour has it that some agencies require potential idols to have it before they will even handle them, and the Korean media has many before/ after images of their idols.

10 ( +11 / -1 )

I hope Japanese idols in Korea do not fall to the temptation of reconstructive surgery. Their bodies and their faces are fine as-is.

Only their teeth need (if not major...) reconstruction and whitening.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

Waste of Daddy's money.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

To put it plainly : they don't study any relevant skills (outside Korean language) and will be a waste in later years, spending parents' money only. No even considering losing what makes life (make g or b friends, discussing long time when you want how to change the world...).

K-pop, what is awesome about it ? It is all the same, no saveur.

Of course it is making more links between Korea and Japan. But no sure there will be no resentment in the future when some realized they were lured (3000€ a month !!!).

By the way, is 15 only the limit age of compulsory education in Japan ?

PS : I have been a manager for our Korean branch

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Sorry $ 3,000/month.

Not cheap for learning how to dance and sing while one can learn those skilss on his free time indeed.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

K pop wouldn't exist without J-pop.

Good luck to the girl, you will need excessive makeup and surgeries to make it in that kpop industry, sexual assaults, scandals are high in that industry as well. Especially recently.

Some only learn the hard way.. I'm sure being Japanese with the amount of resentment against Japanese in Korea, will work wonders for your career.

3 ( +8 / -5 )

I don’t know much about the J-Pop Industry but the K-Pop industry is not something I wouldn’t want my teenage daughter going into. Many of these girls are forced into prostitution for high paying executives and politicians.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Well, this article appeared also in The Korea Times

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/dr/653_268167.html

The same newspaper that thinks that a manufactured kpop boyband can be compared to the Beatles...

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/art/2019/05/732_268054.html

...despite basically nobody in the West knows it, except for their fans (little girls). Beatles were known also by your average person of any age.

I think Korea is making kpop look bigger than it is, also in Japan.

Kpop is very politicized, see

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/art/2019/05/732_268095.html

it has nothing to do with true music and art, it's just an effort to estabilish some kind of soft power, by imiting the most popular western musical genres, withouot understanding the actual background (see the ossession of kpop with rap/hip hop, born in the Afro-American community. The Koreans copy it becase they think it's cool, without understanding the historical reasons behind it).

1 ( +5 / -4 )

Tells you about the taste of young Japanese girls who love K-pop They absolutely adore them.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

They absolutely adore them.

In my opinion, these articles exagerate the things. Sure, Kpop has its fanbase in Japan, but if you watch the actual data, Japanese artists are still the most popular in the Japanese market:

https://aramajapan.com/aramaexclusive/featured/oricon-releases-its-year-end-charts-for-2018/93992/

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Waste of Daddy's money.

Yep, mums & dads aka suckers. 2-3 grand a month lol.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Alex80: "it has nothing to do with true music and art, it's just an effort to estabilish some kind of soft power,"

As with anything Korean, you are looking far too deeply into this and are bitter about Korea's success in Japan. Your opinion is just that -- your opinion. I don't like J-pop or K-pop (with exceptions in both cases) in general, but to say it has nothing to do with music or art is simply ludicrous, and quite frankly, bias and worse.

What I would say to these young people is, beware of what you wish for. There is a reason that many K-poppers come over to Japan to continue their success, and it's because the contracting agencies in Korea are, believe it or not, WORSE than Johnnies or others here. They are brutal. And even if these young kids think they can live up to it, I don't think they should want to.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

Alexbecu: "K pop wouldn't exist without J-pop."

And J-pop wouldn't exist without Western music. What's your point?

0 ( +5 / -5 )

@Smith: if kpop was real music and art, I wouldn't have any problem to admit it. South Korea made some excellent movies for example. I am objective, despite what you think. But kpop is everything except "true music". A product manufactured by agencies, strongly based on visuals and dancing, not on music. If you think that BTS can be compared to the Beatles, it's just your opinion, but I doubt they will be remembered like the new Beatles. They can be compared to Backstreet Boys or Take That, but what have they in common with The Beatles or Queen, for example? Nothing. And in Japan kpop is popular but objectively not more than Japanese music. So I don't know what I said that you can consider really wrong.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

@Smith: at least jpop never introduced itself as a "new genre" worldwide. Pop music is simply western music. But South Korea is promoting this kpop thing everywhere like some kind of Revolution (see the comparison with the Beatles). I don't see any Revolution in terms of music in kpop. The Koreans like to show off the fact that also some White people listen to kpop. So, it's more about some kind of ethnic pride than "music". It's about how Koreans can be seen around the world, not about some kind of revolution in music, like the Beatles did. Basically it's about soft power and nationalism, as I said.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

K-pop stardom lures Japanese youth to Korea despite diplomatic chill

One thing many people in the world don't realize, is that the stances taken between two nations are very often not the same stances taken by the people. There are plenty of Koreans (and Chinese) who love Japan and/or Japanese people, and vice versa as well. They know their countries have problems between them, but they also understand that the people are not the government. It's like me - I'm very against many of the policies of the American government over the past century or so, and yet I have very close American friends, I enjoy visiting the country, and I think that the overwhelming majority of Americans are good people.

The idea that all Koreans hate (or should hate) Japanese, or vice-versa, ignores the reality that most people are able to distinguish a person from their country, unless the person in question is a mouthpiece for the government. And even then they can still be a good person.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

kpop is everything except "true music".

It's music, whether you like it or not. I certainly don't - I'm not a fan of pop music from any country. But that doesn't change the fact that it is music. There is no such thing as 'true music', that's just some word people have made up to justify their being snotty about a type of music they don't like.

A product manufactured by agencies, strongly based on visuals and dancing, not on music.

The visuals and dancing definitely go hand in hand with it. But try doing those dances and using those visuals without the music, and see how long people watch that. Not very long I assure you. It's all based on the music, with the visuals and dancing adding a strong compliment to it.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

No freedom, no boyfriend, no phone: it sounds just like the rules imposed by the Japanese pop group manufacturers. There's no money in it either, which makes me wonder why anyone wants to do it. It's a far cry from the sex and drugs and rock and roll lifestyle that used to be associated with bands.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Korean boy-band BTS is creating big waves in the US Billboard Charts:

"BTS Lands a Third No. 1 on the Album Chart in Less Than a Year"

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/22/arts/music/bts-map-of-the-soul-persona-billboard-chart.html

With its latest EP, “Map of the Soul: Persona,” the Korean pop group BTS has matched a chart feat last reached by another foreign-born boy band: the Beatles.

The seven-song “Map of the Soul: Persona” (Big Hit), sung mostly in Korean, opened at No. 1 on the latest Billboard album chart, with the equivalent of 230,000 sales in the United States, including 196,000 copies sold as a full album and 37 million streams, according to Nielsen.

According to Billboard, the Beatles were the last group with three top sellers in such quick succession.

"Inside the Unrelenting Power of K-Pop: Your Guide to Everything From BTS and Beyond"

https://www.eonline.com/news/1036090/inside-the-unrelenting-power-of-k-pop-your-guide-to-everything-from-bts-and-beyond

For the last two years, fans have watched as the Billboard Music Awards—an award show dictated by the venerated music publication's iconic charts, themselves dictated by (ostensibly) American music tastes—as the trophy for Top Social Artist has been handed over to an act that's recorded hardly anything in English.

A fan-voted category that once belonged to Justin Bieber, who won six straight years in a row, now seems to be firmly in the clutches of a septet out of South Korea who have been on the forefront of a global music revolution. We're talking, of course, about BTS.

Whatever happens with the Top Social Artist award on Wednesday, one thing is certain: BTS has helped usher in a global celebration of K-Pop, reminding everyone that music is a universal language that transcends all borders.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

BTS, Justin Bieber, One Direction, Backstreet Boys ...whatever. They are all the same thing, and in my opinion it's not true music. To me, true music = artistic Freedom, and it can't be realized by manufactured "idols".

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Again, there's not anything of revolutionary in BTS music. Their success can be considered "revolutionary" under two different points of view: 1 - It shows the Power of social media. Indeed, their popularity was created especially thanks to the strong passion of their young fanbase, and fueled by the marketing strategy of the idol system, based on interactions between the fans and the audience thanks to social media.

2 - It was "revolutionary" because of the fact that despite being sung in an Asian language, It was welcome to the US.

Both the things have nothing to do with "a Revolution in music", like the Beatles brought in their age. We are in an Age where rap/hip hop/elettronic music are dominating the global markets, and kpop is included in this music styles. I am hoping for a new wave of great artists that can break this trend, because I really dislike today music, overall.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

It's about how Koreans can be seen around the world, not about some kind of revolution in music, like the Beatles did

Setting a bit of a high bar there. The Beatles were the biggest and one of the most influential bands of all time with two of the greatest songwriters in popular music history along with another very good one.

Incidentally, the Beatles were manufactured by their manager early on. The leathers, drunkenness on stage and punch-ups with the audience gave way to sharp suits and smiles. Many of the great Motown artists like Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye found their own direction later on. Maybe some of these people will find their own direction in future, and even if they don’t, good luck to them anyway and let people enjoy the music.

There’s no problem here.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

@Jimizo: I wasn't the one who compared these BTS guys to the Beatles, but the article in The Korea Times tried to do it. I think it's a bit embarassing, honestly, and you can't even compare the level of "manufactured" in kpop to whatever was a bit manufactured in a Western band like the Beatles. If you know how the Idol system works, you should understand what I mean.

I think also the BTS showed another thing: here in the West, people thought the boyband Age was dead, more or less, but they were wrong. Teenagers are never tired of this kind of thing. BTS became popular also in UK and the US because, actually, currently there'not any western boyband. The last western boyband were the One Direction...and they were pathetic enough, like these Korean guys, but it's just my opinion.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

@Alex80

Well, you did use the Beatles as an example of ‘true music’ compared to this.

I don’t think bands like this should be compared to the Beatles like the Korean media did as they aren’t really comparable. I’m a huge Beatles fan by the way.

I just don’t get the ire from people concerning this music or comparisons to the Beatles. Let it be.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Again, I never meant to compare BTS to the Beatles musically, I used the comparison that a Korean newspaper did to confirm my thesis about the fact that kpop is more about getting worldwide appreciation (= gaining soft power) than about music.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I noticed BTS popularity is often the main news in the Korean newspapers, these guys aren't only under the pressure of their agency, but also under the pressure of their government. I don't think this is the healthy environment to develop a personal music style. In the US, if a popular artist is involved in a scandal, it's not a shame for the whole Country. I can't even imagine what these guys would face if they ruined their reputation with some bad behaviour, because they would be considered a National ruin and shame for S. Korea worldwide. Completely different mindset.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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