The Korean wave shows no signs of abating after the latest K-Drama installment, Lee Byung-Hun, made his rounds this month. Even with it being one of Japan’s longest holiday’s, an unbelievable 40,000+ fans, mostly young women, showed up to see the actor during a special appearance inside the Tokyo Dome. This came as quite a shock to Japanese media, as audiences this large are quite unusual for events such as this, even with some of Japan’s biggest superstars.
Archive for May, 2006
Speaking of the Korean invasion, word has it that plans had to be scraped for several Korean stars, including Park Yong-Ha, and members of the Korean band Shinhwa, to land at Haneda airport in Tokyo, due to security concerns. Japanese authorities decided to disallow the flight, when it was learned that the last time Park Yong-Ha tried to fly out of the more central and low-key Haneda airport, too many fans turned up, prompting a security crisis. He then required a hasty transfer to Narita International, and a quick exit out of the country–all things that Japanese authorities don’t want to happen again.
Up-and-coming Japanese artist Nana Kitade, whose “gothic cute” style has been sweeping Japanese fashion of late, is trying the Koda Kumi marketing strategy of releasing multiple singles over an extended period of time. Her plan is to release 7 downloadable singles over the next several months, and will convert these to regular CD singles if all goes well.
With copyright infringement so rampant throughout China, many western companies have been dragging their feet on moving into the market, with fear of becoming even more vulnerable to piracy being the number one concern. That’s now changing, after Chinese consumers, seeing wages steadily increase over the last several years, are beginning to seek more professional music services than what’s currently available countrywide. Larger selections of CD’s and DVD’s, more comfortable pre-listening/viewing environments, and better return policies, are among the services most desired. These types of perks have been all but non-existent in the small pirate establishments, so prevalent throughout the country. This might be the opportunity many western companies have been waiting for, as music copying seems to be on the downswing, and Chinese consumers can now better afford the higher prices common in the west.
Want to rent a pop star for the night? That’s just the idea behind the latest fad spreading throughout Japanese cities at the moment. The Host club phenomenon has been around for ages, but what’s different about the new surge of interest, has been Host clubs that cater to young Japanese females, and their unbounded enthusiasm for pop idol worship. This new breed of Host clubs are hiring young male staff that have all of the charm and charisma of real-life pop stars, but with the on demand availability that the real life stars can’t offer. All of this comes at a price, of course, but female fans don’t seem to mind paying top Yen for the privileges.
