K-pop stars big in Japan bridge diplomatic divide

I LOVE KPOP! I am watching the KPOP season 3 now and find it interesting the final two are from the USA!

I love the judges also. I do not watch the American Idol as I find it boring and the judges are all about thebmoney they can get for juding. I also watch KDRAMA and find them more interesting them American drama.

I watched a Chinese music show like this and ended up feeing sad for the contestants in the end.

Is the JPOP televised?

KPOP is so far ahead of JPOP that has never grown up because it is ruled by Yaks and old men who make a lot of money speak no English and abuse the stars they create... I could create a JPOP band that would rival any KPOP junk band... because I would know how to make that band popular in English... Japanese women like KPOP and Kdrama because they like the Korean men as they are more sensitive and humble.

as well as the easier learning of the language No , just because they are Asians they can easy learn Japan language ? No, they learn hard the same way as others .

@Nenad Jovanović There are some reasons why it might be easier for Koreans to learn Japanese, then say English for example. Both Japanese and Korean have a large number of loan words that originated in Chinese, and both countries study forms of Chinese Characters. Also, the word order in Japanese and Korean is similar. Also, being geographically close does help motivate people to learn each others language, as there is a large amount of tourism between the countries.

@ryuusei

On what planet you live? Or you are from parallel universe , where people are opposite than here . Lets analise your mistakes

Sure you can look at it that way, which is a small part imo.

Nop, its a BIG part, their whole life is based on them being better than Japanese , dont forget, they are No.1 country in the world for using plastic surgery, by percentage on population .

The real reason is that Japan's music industry is the third largest behind the UK/US

Again mistake, Japan sales are second , and only with small margin they lost first place .

Korea's is very small relatively speaking, and thus it makes more sense for Korean artists to try and make it in Japan

50 milions small ? No, they are not small, their population is 26 in the world, so, there is tons of other countries that has much smaller population , but dont send all their stars to another country , as Koreans did in Japan. So, their interest in coming in Japan isnt economical, but more deeply negative cultural .

The reason why they target Japan is the proximity,

No

as well as the easier learning of the language

No , just because they are Asians they can easy learn Japan language ? No, they learn hard the same way as others .

and a common identity as Asian.

You think Koreans think Japan people are their equal ? Their comrades ? Idea of Korean cultural wave is to show how they are superior over Japanese people, and how they are No.1 culture and state in Asia , and nothing less.

It is motivated largely by money, not by cultural exchange. Nothing in the world is not motivated or affected, to a certain extent, by greed or desire to profit, whatever you call it.

Trust me,Korean are quite wain, they like people to admire them,they like to be respected and honored, and they will do everything for that , for them world public image is most important thing , and while enjoying that, they also earn some money, and if they also manage to make Japanese people bad, their happines is endless .

@Nenad Jovanović

Sure you can look at it that way, which is a small part imo. The real reason is that Japan's music industry is the third largest behind the UK/US. Korea's is very small relatively speaking, and thus it makes more sense for Korean artists to try and make it in Japan. Furthermore, if they were to try and go to the US or UK, the language barrier and the way they look wouldn't make them big hits (PSY is an outlier). The reason why they target Japan is the proximity, as well as the easier learning of the language and a common identity as Asian.

It is motivated largely by money, not by cultural exchange. Nothing in the world is not motivated or affected, to a certain extent, by greed or desire to profit, whatever you call it.

Wow, why do some people have so much need to spread hate? We all get you do not appreciate other cultures as having value. We get it, you don't have to remind us constantly. Some of us like to read a nice story to remind us not all hope is lost for these two countries to find a way to get along. Most of us prefer peace, not constant name calling. Good on the fans to pick what they like regardless of political noise.

@kickboard

It's all about the money, my friend.

They are send by Korean companies , those bands didnt decided alone to come in Japan , actually, they dont have no power in decisions, they are trained from early age and also taught to Japan language, all for the purpose to come in Japan and show how they are cooler and better than Japanese counterparts , its simple, for Koreans , showing it self better than Japanese is dream come true , and no money can replace that feeling for them.

If, as you claim, SKoreans hated all this Japan, they wouldn't perform here

It's all about the money, my friend.

@Tartansamuri: as I said, in Italy, my country, I wouldn't say K-pop is growing fast in popularity. There are not K-drama on Tv. There's not K-pop music on the radio. Basically nobody knows something about this "Korean wave", except for a little niche of people on internet, but you can't call something like that "popular" at all, or to say it is growing fast in popularity. Only Psy's songs Gangnam Style and Gentlemen became mainstream, but just because they went viral everywhere, not because K-pop is popular. Many people don't even know Psy is Korean. In Italy, Italian, American and European music is popular. This is the current Hitlist Italia:

http://classifiche.mtv.it/classifica/hitlist-italia-classifica-singoli/hitlist-italia-singoli-5-aprile-2014/pharrell-williams-happy#pharrell-williams-happy

Tell me where you see K-pop. This article is misleading speaking about how huge K-pop is around the world. Maybe I could be wrong, but I think in the rest of Europe is the same as in Italy. If Asia is "the world" now, well the things are different. I thought the world had more than one continent.

@FizzBit: Exactly.

I just wish they would stop calling it music.

Alex 80. If you look where Kpop is spreading you will find it goes within Europe, south American and Australasia. It may not be huge but it is definitely growing fast in popularity. If you read the kpop bands web sites show the spread around the world. Even Jackie Chan has created a new Kpop band (JJCC) to do, in his words, join the Asian cultures. The band having 5 members 4 Korean and 1 Chinese/Australian. Of which I know Australia has a 24/7 Kpop music on SBS Australia radio TV station.

Yes Pop does give fans a welcome break from politics, not only Kpop in Japan and Jpop in South Korea, the culture is also growing in Europe too, Perfume recently held a concert in London, and on Friday last, The Vamps performed at KoKo (same stage as one of Prince and 3RDEYEGIRL 'secret gigs'), theirs Shonen Knife Overdrive Tour 2014 taking in dates across the whole of the UK and L’Arc~en~Ciel live 2014 at National Stadium was broadcast at the Rich Mix cinema in London on March 31st. the more the better.

Nice. Japan can share music with Taiwan and India. :)

Quite honestly, I'm always skeptical about these stories of 'culture bridging a diplomatic divide'. Most people don't care that rock 'n' roll comes from the country that invaded Iraq, or that Cubans are the best cigars despite the Castros being in charge, or that Peking duck hails from the city that ran over political dissidents with tanks.

I'm sure even Abe doesn't mind K-pop, but that won't change his feelings about WWII.

Oldman_13, you make so much sense.

Eventually people in South Korea will improve once they get more information from other sources.

China will improve once the CCP is overthrown and the whole of China becomes a giant Taiwan: A very pleasant, polite, prosperous, condiderate people to interact with.

@oldman Absolutely agree. Excellent points you made there.

What I find amusing, though, are those K-pop supporters who assume that those who are not impressed or praising the government-funded and marketed K-Pop or Korean wave are simply jealous. Those supporters that think that something as banal as pop music is a yardstick of widespread acceptance or respect for Korean culture must be grasping at straws. If any, time and again it just shows the Koreans and pro-Korean supporters desperate for outside affirmation and acknowledgment through any means possible. Only people who are insecure and suffer from inferiority complex think this way.

Like most typical Korean and Chinese, people, we pay no attention to the fighting between governments. Governments are just politicians and bureaucrats with big egos and something to prove (to their mothers?) Pay no attention to them.

Most of the other countries where KPOP is big are in Asian: Singapore, Taiwan, PI.... It is nice to see how regular people in Japan and Korea put the political crap aside and just enjoy one another's culture. My girls enjoy 2NE1 as much as they do Perfume. For them and their friends it is about what they like.

K-pop stars big in Japan bridge diplomatic divide

Like Dennis Rodman? Pop stars doing their thing are a nice plus, but a small one. The real political tensions and prejudice are too deep to make real change through entertainment. But a plus is a plus.

If not for Japanese market they'd be just wanna be looking idols.

The K-pop juggernaut has been spreading around the world with South Korean music, television and movies making a big splash in countries with few ties to Seoul.

@_@

Around the world? Where? I wonder if Italy is the only country where this isn't happening at all.

Right on the nose smithinjapan.

Good on these young men and women, and good on the fans who are not so petty as to put the bands' backgrounds before their like of the music. It beats the wingers here who huff and puff because SK is making it big around the world while few Japanese make it out of the archipelago.