UCLA
Center for East Asian Studies
Korean Youth and Popular Culture
January 25, 1999
Nikkei Weekly || Korean Youth Culture || News File Index
South Korea takes a taste of Japanese pop culture;
Teen-Age Singers Appear On TV; Art Films ShownBy Masato Ishizawa, Staff writer
SEOUL - Ayako Ogawa was a typical Japanese teen-ager with a dream of becoming a pop star when she went to a talent agency in Tokyo for a singing audition two years ago.
Today, the 16-year-old has achieved her dream - and then some.
She sings in Circle, a group formed by South Korean and Japanese talent agencies to take advantage of a new willingness on the part of the South Korean government to accept Japanese popular culture.
The South Korean government banned imports of Japanese movies, pop music and other cultural products when World War II ended. It did so to help the nation, under Japanese colonial rule from 1910 until the war's end in 1945, rebuild its own cultural identity.
But President Kim Dae-jung softened his country's stance last April when he implied that the ban was no longer necessary. "We do not have to worry about accepting Japanese culture," he said. "Our culture will still be able to maintain its originality."
The South Korean government recently estimated the effects of completely lifting the ban on Japanese pop culture products, estimating that Japanese films would grab 7-10% of the market. The government estimates that Japanese compact discs would take 5-10%, videotapes 15% and animated films 78.5% of their respective markets. Annual imports of these products from Japan would total 170 billion yen (1.49 dollars billion).
Circle, formed last May, has been able to flourish in South Korea because it sings there in Korean and its five singers are a mix of nationalities: two Japanese, two South Koreans and one Chinese. Cross-cultural groups are allowed if they sing in Korean.
Circle did not find immediate success, however. South Korean TV and radio stations at first were reluctant to air shows with Japanese singers. But now Circle appears often on South Korean TV. The group even sang a song in Japanese that received airplay on South Korean radio stations, and government authorities took no action even though the law still prohibits singing in Japanese.
South Korean music fans looking for Japanese pop music still can buy compact discs and videotapes only on the black market, but recent steps of cultural access point to possible further warming between the two societies.
"I did not know I was supposed to sing in South Korea when I auditioned, but I am glad to play a part in the new group because I am able to have new friends and to find out that we are all alike," Ogawa said. "Japan and South Korea did not get along well for a long time. At first, I was a bit nervous because of that. But I would like to be a bridge between the two nations."
A group called S.E.S, made up of three South Korean teen-age girls, is also becoming something of a cross-cultural sensation. The group, which debuted in November 1997, consists of Shoo, born in Japan; Eugene, raised in the U.S.; and Sea, of South Korea.
The group sold more than 1 million copies in South Korea of its first single, "I'm Your Girl," in just two months after it was released at the end of 1997.
Two Japanese films were shown in South Korea in December. One was "Hana-bi," directed by Takeshi Kitano, the story of a man trying to extract himself from the violent world of organized crime. The other was "Kagemu-sha," the 1980 story by director Akira Kurosawa of a petty thief in feudal Japan who impersonates a recently killed warlord.
Nonchalant response
The films played in theaters nationwide for several weeks to surprisingly little fanfare. Some entertainment industry officials said the nonchalant response has several possible explanations: The economic downturn is keeping film fans at home; many film fans have already seen the movies on bootleg videos; and South Korean culture has become strong enough to withstand Japanese cultural imports.
A South Korean movie magazine editor said: "There is strong demand among South Korean audiences for films that have been banned a long time. But I am not sure whether Japanese movies will attract audiences for a long time if the government allows only prize-winning films."
The South Korean movie industry generates sales of 30-40 billion yen a year. The Japanese industry has annual sales of about 80 billion yen. Moviegoers in both countries flock more to Hollywood films than to domestic pictures.
The South Korean government requires movie theaters to show domestic films 146 days a year. Despite the rule, the biggest hit in 1998 was "Titanic," which attracted 3.2 million viewers in Seoul alone. The biggest draw among domestic films was the love story "Letter," which attracted 820,000 in the capital.
One way for Japanese films to enter South Korea is for South Koreans to finance the making of them. Asia Film Development & Finance Inc., a joint venture involving Bodysonic Co. in Tokyo and some Hyundai Group members, funds production of Japanese films.
AFDF President Chon Tae-sub said that while both "Hana-bi" and "Kagemu -sha" are good movies, they "won't be big hits in South Korea because such artistic films attract a limited audience. We need to bring in much more entertaining films. That's why we focused on the government standard of classifying films with more than 20% Korean funding as domestic films. We are investing about 300 million yen in six Japanese films in order to sell commercially successful Japanese movies in South Korea."
Bigger audience
He added: "Japanese films can benefit from our funding because producers can sell the films in a bigger area. The South Korean market is about one-fourth the Japanese market. Sales in South Korea will add 25% more revenue."
The company is planning to introduce South Korean audiences in February to a new film based on the Japanese horror novel, "Ring."
Gene H. Yoo, president of the Seoul-based foreign-film importer and distributor Hana Media, which imported "Hana-bi," promises to bring in the best of Japanese cinema. "We bring in Japanese movies not because they are Japanese but because they are good," he said. "In the 1990s, the appearance of independent-minded directors, including Masayuki Suo, Yoshimitsu Morita and Takeshi Kitano, improved the quality of Japanese movies."
Suo is best known for "Shall We Dance," a popular 1997 comedy about company employees who take social dance lessons. Morita directed "Shitsu-rakuen," a steamy love story popular in Japan in 1997 and released in the U.S. as "Paradise Lost."
Japanese pops
South Korean consumers have shown a strong interest in some Japanese cultural products. Many young people listen to music played by such Japanese artists as Namie Amuro, X-Japan, Mr. Children, L'Arc-en-Ciel and Glay - all of whom have had multimillion sales in Japan of rock or pop albums. Many South Korean college students watch Japanese movies such as "Love Letter," a love story directed by Shunji Iwai, on bootleg videotapes. Students sing Japanese pop songs at karaoke studios.
Compact discs and cassette tapes of Japanese pop music can easily be bought in Seoul from vendors and shops. Many of these shops also sell photos of Japanese idols and other merchandise from Japan. Japanese comics and video games are also popular.
"Almost all South Korean college students have seen Japanese films and listened to Japanese popular music," Kang Shin-young, a 20-year-old college student in Seoul, said. "We can get illegal copies of what we like on the street. Many South Koreans do not like Japan but we do not act on that anti-Japanese sentiment."
"Because young people in South Korea grew up with Japanese cartoons and comics translated into Korean, they have not been sheltered from Japanese content," said Hwang Kyung-tae, president of Haksan Publishing Co., which publishes three Korean comic magazines that contain some material translated from Japanese originals. "South Korean and Japanese readers have very similar preferences. They share the same feeling about friendship, love and sadness."
Chon of AFDF said: "Many Korean young people are learning Japanese in order to understand Japanese songs and read manuals for Japanese video-game software. Young people buy what they think is interesting. What becomes popular in Japan will be popular in South Korea."
The latest efforts at cultural exchange face some challenges. For one, copyright piracy in South Korea is widespread. Illegal copies of compact discs can be bought for about 10,000 won (8.50 dollars), about one-third the price in Japan. A CD-ROM containing an animation movie from Japan also sells for about 10,000 won.
Surprise visits
Some shop owners in South Korea say the government is beginning to crack down, making frequent, surprise visits. They say the checks have forced them to sell bootlegs only on the weekends, when the police rarely stop in.
"I estimate that 100,000 to 500,000 people already watched 'Hana-bi' on bootleg videotapes," Yoo of Hana Media said.
Another problem is indifference in Japan toward South Korean culture, some people in the entertainment industry said.
Shin Yun-bin, president of Cho Sun Music Co., which manages the group Circle in South Korea, complained about a lack of effort to promote Circle in Japan.
"If Japanese music is allowed in South Korea, the Korean rock music industry will be ruined," Shin said. "South Korea still has strong dance-music artists, but the entry of Japanese dance music will undermine the market strength of South Koreans. I think the Japanese should do more to import South Korean popular music. What they are engaging in is not cultural exchange. They are indifferent to South Korean culture and are just talking about exports of Japanese music."
It's true that no South Korean song has made it big in Japan in recent memory, but neither has a song in any other Asian language. Many English songs are big hits in Japan, performed often with a heavy accent.Copyright 1999 Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Inc.
