The language is unmistakably Japanese, the lyrics delivered in familiar high-pitched tones over a backdrop of electronica. But the wave of pop music sweeping Japan is not the sugar-coated homegrown variety that has long clogged the airwaves.
Japanese teens and 20-somethings who once had ears only for J-pop are now transfixed by K-pop, a phenomenon from South Korea that is taking the world’s second-biggest music market by storm.
Korean pop culture’s first foray into Japan was led almost a decade ago by Bae Yong-joon, a TV and film actor whose legions of mainly middle-aged, female devotees nicknamed him Yon-sama, or the Honorable Yon.
Photo: AFP
South Korea’s prodigious output of trendy dramas featuring actors with impossibly perfect — and possibly surgically enhanced — features and even more improbable storylines has been followed by a musical version whose popularity defies the often testy diplomatic relations between Tokyo and Seoul.
The genre has produced a steady stream of award-winning hits and fueled an assault on the Japanese pop charts that few Western artists have matched.
Its roots lie in the Tokyo debut a few years ago of Toho Shinki, a boy band that recently released its fifth album for the Japanese market.
Toho Shinki was followed by a string of girl bands, led by Girls’ Generation, a nine-member group that performed in front of more than 20,000 fans in Tokyo last summer and completed a sellout tour of Japan earlier this year.
Kara, an all-female quintet, made its Japanese debut last year and won best new artist of the year at the Japan Gold Disc Awards.
K-pop idolatry is played out daily on the streets of Shin Okubo, a Tokyo neighborhood packed with Korean restaurants and shops that sell a plethora of K-pop paraphernalia.
For Kaori Kitakata, a devotee since she was introduced to the genre by Korean friends, K-pop is a refreshing change from the overtly cute mien cultivated by popular Japanese girl bands such as Morning Musume.
“The Korean girl bands look more professional,” she says. “Japanese singers are more like the girl next door in the way they sing and dance, but Korean singers are better trained and more sophisticated.”
Korean artists, the 28-year-old office worker adds, appear less diffident than J-pop groups about their Asian identity. “J-pop female bands are cute, but in a very Japanese kawaii [cute] way,” she says. “K-pop singers have a more Asian feel to them. That appeals to me. And their fans here appreciate their attempts to learn Japanese.”
The linguistic nod to the Japanese market makes commercial sense. Japan is the second biggest music market in the world after the US, with a 22 percent global share, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. CD sales in South Korea, where broadband penetration encourages filesharing, are one 30th of those in Japan.
K-pop artists have taken localization to its natural conclusion: in its native South Korea, Toho Shinki is known as Dong Bang Shin Ki, while the rest of the world knows the group as TVXQ. Girls’ Generation perform in Japan as Shojo Jidai, and in South Korea as So Nyuh Shi Dae.
Stephen McClure, the Tokyo-based editor of McClure’s Asia Music News attributes some of K-pop’s popularity to stylistic differences with its “less sophisticated” J-pop counterpart.
Even an Asia pop novice, he says, should immediately notice the musical divide separating, say, 1!2!3!4! Yoroshiku by Japan’s girl band of the moment AKB48, and Mr Taxi by Girls’ Generation.
“The former is mindless and full-on, with no sense of dynamics,” says McClure. “They just never stop singing. The latter, though, is a beautifully constructed pop song.”
South Korean management companies invest considerable time and money in tailoring their acts to the Japanese market, McClure adds. “The bands have made an incredible effort to learn the rules of the game, they do all the right commercial endorsements and appear on the popular music shows. They have come up with a very marketable product that fits the Japanese template for idol pop.”
Having conquered Japan, China and Taiwan, the K-pop wave has spread to Thailand and Malaysia, and there are stirrings of interest in the US, Latin America and Europe. “If anyone from Asia is going to make it internationally, it will be a Korean artist,” says McClure.
May 18 to May 24 Pastor Yang Hsu’s (楊煦) congregation was shocked upon seeing the land he chose to build his orphanage. It was surrounded by mountains on three sides, and the only way to access it was to cross a river by foot. The soil was poor due to runoff, and large rocks strewn across the plot prevented much from growing. In addition, there was no running water or electricity. But it was all Yang could afford. He and his Indigenous Atayal wife Lin Feng-ying (林鳳英) had already been caring for 24 orphans in their home, and they were in
On May 2, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), at a meeting in support of Taipei city councilors at party headquarters, compared President William Lai (賴清德) to Hitler. Chu claimed that unlike any other democracy worldwide in history, no other leader was rooting out opposing parties like Lai and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). That his statements are wildly inaccurate was not the point. It was a rallying cry, not a history lesson. This was intentional to provoke the international diplomatic community into a response, which was promptly provided. Both the German and Israeli offices issued statements on Facebook
Even by the standards of Ukraine’s International Legion, which comprises volunteers from over 55 countries, Han has an unusual backstory. Born in Taichung, he grew up in Costa Rica — then one of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies — where a relative worked for the embassy. After attending an American international high school in San Jose, Costa Rica’s capital, Han — who prefers to use only his given name for OPSEC (operations security) reasons — moved to the US in his teens. He attended Penn State University before returning to Taiwan to work in the semiconductor industry in Kaohsiung, where he
President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday delivered an address marking the first anniversary of his presidency. In the speech, Lai affirmed Taiwan’s global role in technology, trade and security. He announced economic and national security initiatives, and emphasized democratic values and cross-party cooperation. The following is the full text of his speech: Yesterday, outside of Beida Elementary School in New Taipei City’s Sanxia District (三峽), there was a major traffic accident that, sadly, claimed several lives and resulted in multiple injuries. The Executive Yuan immediately formed a task force, and last night I personally visited the victims in hospital. Central government agencies and the
RSS