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[Oricon: JPN] The demise and rebirth of the K-POP boom; established popularity and a new wave


Sunny_

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The demise and rebirth of the K-POP boom; established popularity and a new wave


 


Translated by Sunny_ onehallyu.com


 


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At one point, Kpop idols appeared on Japanese television on a daily basis. But recently those appearances have decreased and their names have disappeared from the list of appearance on Kouhaku (annual singing contest between popular female and male singers, sponsored by NHK). It can be said that the Kpop boom has declined. But has kpop really lost its popularity?


 


2014, the year of scandals and incidents; Kpop, which troubled talk and variety shows


 


The reason behind the sudden fall of the kpop boom is often said to be the rapid deterioration of the relationship between Japan and South Korea. The anti South Korean boom, which is the exact opposite of the boom of influx of South Korean pop culture into Japan, has certainly had a considerable affect. But, even without such a social movement, it can be said that since before, kpop's popularity has tended to go down.


 


After the sinking of Sewol in April last year the entire Korean society became self-restrained; concerts, releases of CDs etc. were postponed and interrupted one after another. One the other hand, not only social affairs happened, Korea's showbiz also had many scandals. Beginning with Nicole's and Jiyon's withdrawal from Kara, there were various speculations regarding the people withdrawing from popular groups, such as SNSD's Jessica and F(x)'s Sulli. Rookie boy group Exo as well, Chinese members Kris and Luhan suing the company when the group became popular. It reminded of the turmoil of once a Super Junior member Hankyung's withdrawal. In addition, the love life of top idols came to light one after another.


 


2014 was a year of negative news/gossip from beggining to end and Korea's scandals were picked up by Japan's tabloid shows so it can be said that it's evidence that the distance between South Korea and Japan has become close. 


 


However, it does not mean that there were no good news. In Korea, a comeback boom happened with groups, who were popular years ago, such as GOD or Fly To The Sky, reuniting one after another. There was also a lot of artists, who detached themselves from their groups and went solo, receiving popularity. However, Kpop group fans in Japan did not seem to have much interest in activities besides the group ones.


 


DVD sales strained; K-POP fans prefer live performances


 


If you focus on Japan, K-POP is certainly almost gone from music charts. AKB48 and groups with such systems, Arashi and Johnny's groups roughly monopolized Japan's annual CD sales for 2014. Frozen's theme song "Let it Go" is download chart's record-breaking top hit. K-POP acts were barely there.


 


But, in the sales ranking for DVDs, as usual groups from Johnny's had strong sales, TVXQ in 8th place, Big Bang taking 10th place. And TVXQ is in 5th place in the ranking of total sales for artists. Even though groups such as Arashi and AKB48 are extraordinary, TVXQ releases are still popular.


TVXQ's and Big Bang's favourable thing is DVDs of recorded lives. As always obtaining tickets to TVXQ and Big Bang dome tours is still difficult. K-POP artists fundamentally do activities in Korea and besides release events and concerts there are no opportunities to see them directly in Japan. K-POP fan's focus is oriented towards concerts, where they can see the artists up close. For the fans who could not go to the concerts, live viewings happen in film theatres.


 


Focus on EXO and Apink, new stars who created a new sensation


 


There is one group to look forward to among the new ones. EXO, especially, has received explosive popularity, to the degree that concert tickets are already difficult to obtain. Fans flooded the first solo performance in Saitama Arena last year in April and shows in Tokyo, Osaka and Fukuoka in autumn. It's a group that can expect activities if they debut in Japan.


 


In recent years there has been a tendency for girl groups to have a sexy image. Such groups as Girl's Day or AOA can be used as an example of successful conversion to a sexy image. However, the flood of similar, only sexy groups has contributed to the decline.


 


Among them, Apink, who are also called "Fairy Idols", drew a clear line between a sexy image and became popular as the fluffily cute idols. The showcase held before their debut in Japan was flooded with more than 50 000 applications, magazines and television programs that have been moderate/reserved advanced to interviews, and it became full with only reporters. They will also appear on the "Tokyo Girls Collection" stage, where many other kpop groups have performed. 


 


It is said that the boom has declined, but, for example, after 2002 when South Korea and Japan co-hosted the World Cup in Korea, idols's popularity declined, but around 2006, it has once more risen. Because the boom is transient, if there are times when the wave is high, there are times when it's low too. Even though it drew back now, a time will come when a new wave will surge. If following past examples, from next year it might visit unexpectedly early.  


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I feel like this is the year EXO debuts in Japan, or if not this year, than very early in 2016~

 

I'm excited for them to make REAL money tbh and Japan is where that would happen the fastest... I think their debut will be VERY interesting on a lot different fronts, I'm looking forward to it~

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only group that debuted after 2009 has chance in Japan is EXO and even they dont have chance of huge sales (like SNSD and KARA back in teh days) but they do have chance of having big concerts... while chances of any other kpop group being able to have arena tour are around 0

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I highly doubt exo will be as ''successful'' in Japan as they are in korea...but then again their fans will buy anything, and will probably bulk purchase their singles in japan. 

 

It will be one of those situations where no in japan knows them, but they sell a lot.

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Why to J-pop fans say this as if Japanese people don't do their own gimmicks?

Because most of Kpop fans (I'm one, but this isn't me) always brag how Japanese market is full of gimmicks while their artists do it too, especially the most recent Kpop acts. :imstupid:

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The Sewol incident reminded me a lot of the Cheonan incident in regards to how the entertainment industry reacted to it. There was this massive shutdown. It was weird to me because when 3/11 happened in Japan, the industry didn't take that long of a break, even though 3/11 was a much bigger deal than Sewol and Cheonan combined.

 

KPop fans worldwide do seem to only care about groups, leading the creation of even more groups. Hopefully some day they'll get over this.

 

Yeah, it's rare to see a KPop song do well digitally these past few years.

 

Yeah, I didn't get the part about not being able to see KPop acts in Japan. If anything, they do more concerts in Japan than in Korea. This is something Korean fans often complain about.

 

 

Why to J-pop fans say this as if Japanese people don't do their own gimmicks?

 

 

Because most of Kpop fans (I'm one, but this isn't me) always brag how Japanese market is full of gimmicks while their artists do it too, especially the most recent Kpop acts. :imstupid:

 

Japanese acts do gimmicks, but it's very much an idol thing. Artists don't really do this. JPop fans who are into artists call out J-idols for their gimmicks too. It's not just a thing of bashing KPop.

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Yeah, I didn't get the part about not being able to see KPop acts in Japan. If anything, they do more concerts in Japan than in Korea. This is something Korean fans often complain about.

I think the article is talking about TV appearances and stuff like that, since kpop groups, besides TVXQ and sometimes Big Bang, don't usually appear on television. So the only way fans can see groups is concerts. 

 

if thhey want a group to do well in japan as boa and tvxq did, they will have to spend more time there and work from the bottom.

 

instead of just flying in doing a concert, release 1 song then leaving.

I feel most companies forget that. They seem to think that Japan is a conquered market and they don't need to put that much work in anymore. SM of all companies should know how much work and time it takes to gain recognition from Japan. 

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I think the article is talking about TV appearances and stuff like that, since kpop groups, besides TVXQ and sometimes Big Bang, don't usually appear on television. So the only way fans can see groups is concerts. 

 

I feel most companies forget that. They seem to think that Japan is a conquered market and they don't need to put that much work in anymore. SM of all companies should know how much work and time it takes to gain recognition from Japan. 

 

This lie has been killed multiple times over the years. I post nearly a dozen Japanese music shows weekly and KPop acts are on all the time.

 

From this year off the top of my head:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVBCz8PaWzo

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMn_VSYpMkg

 

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2g0o7m

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqejaJ07aIs

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This lie has been killed multiple times over the years. I post nearly a dozen Japanese music shows weekly and KPop acts are on all the time.

 

From this year off the top of my head:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVBCz8PaWzo

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMn_VSYpMkg

 

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2g0o7m

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqejaJ07aIs

Oh, then I don't know what the author meant. 

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Exo doesn't need to debut in Japan to sell tickets. I'd rather they didn't. It's unnecessary and Japanese fans will still see them and buy their albums if they release a Japan exclusive.

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Exo doesn't need to debut in Japan to sell tickets. I'd rather they didn't. It's unnecessary and Japanese fans will still see them and buy their albums if they release a Japan exclusive.

 

EXO does pretty well in Japan already for just selling import releases. It's not as if them releasing in Japanese will result in a big bump in their numbers. They would have to make something that catches the attention of the general public / people who aren't KPop fans for that to happen. It's not as if them releasing in Japanese would suddenly see this big bump in sales.

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The Sewol incident reminded me a lot of the Cheonan incident in regards to how the entertainment industry reacted to it. There was this massive shutdown. It was weird to me because when 3/11 happened in Japan, the industry didn't take that long of a break, even though 3/11 was a much bigger deal than Sewol and Cheonan combined.

 

KPop fans worldwide do seem to only care about groups, leading the creation of even more groups. Hopefully some day they'll get over this.

 

Yeah, it's rare to see a KPop song do well digitally these past few years.

 

Yeah, I didn't get the part about not being able to see KPop acts in Japan. If anything, they do more concerts in Japan than in Korea. This is something Korean fans often complain about.

 

 

 

 

 

Japanese acts do gimmicks, but it's very much an idol thing. Artists don't really do this. JPop fans who are into artists call out J-idols for their gimmicks too. It's not just a thing of bashing KPop.

Well, you should know the kind of people who are like 'I'm into artists but I don't call out idols' exist because I'm apart of it. Probably because I like both. :lol:

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