ABSTRACT
This chapter traces the rise of K-pop in Japan, its promotional strategies, and the racist discourse that has emerged in reaction. The flow of Korean popular cultural products into Japan has produced a strong fan base but has also encouraged anti-Korean sentiments to flare. K-pop’s popularity in Japan has been engineered by collaborations between Korean and Japanese production companies who “repackage” K-pop musicians for the Japanese market. Essential to this process is the use of Japanese language: translated lyrics in K-pop songs, inclusion of original J-pop songs in performances and music releases, and advanced speaking skills acquired by most K-pop musicians. By catering to Japanese tastes and expectations in sound, movement, looks, and public behavior, K-pop musicians have built on the formula underlying Japan’s own well-established idol pop industry, producing basically the same style. As Korea has used this formula to become an important cultural powerhouse in the transnational marketplace, the longstanding “close but distant” relationship between Japan and Korea has played out in the pop culture realm. To prove these points, this chapter focuses on K-pop waves between the 1980s and 2010s and presents a history of K-pop that emphasizes moments that fans of K-pop after the 2010s might not know about.
