K-pop as a route to Japan-South Korea reconciliation?
Japanese teenagers are very attracted by South Korean K-pop and often travel to Seoul to learn the songs, dance moves and the language. Could this help end acrimonious relations between the two countries?
It's time for K-pop
Yuuka Hasumi (17) is one of the Japanese youth who joined ACOPIA School in Seoul. It is a dance/vocal academy run under the ACOPIA Entertainment division. This division offers not only lessons on how to sing and dance like their favorite stars, but also on the Korean language and culture.
K-pop dreams
As K-pop star wannabe, Yuka has long hours of vocal and dance training. That also means no privacy, no boyfriend and no phone, but she does not mind. She says, "It will be good if Japan and South Korea will get along through music."
'Nuts about K-pop'
Hasumi and Ibuki Ito (17) are performing at an ACOPIA School party in Seoul on March 16, 2019. In an interview with Reuters Lee Soo-chul, a board member of Seoul-Tokyo Forum said, "They're nuts about BTS [a boy band from South Korea] over there in Japan."
No enemies, only friends
Yuho Wakamatsu (15) is also from Japan. Each year there are about 500 young Japanese who enroll for training in ACOPIA School. For training and board each participant has to pay up to 3,000 dollar per month. Seeing the K-pop craze among Japanese youth, Lee Soo-chul stated, “There is no Korea-Japan animosity there.”
Auditions for wannabe stars
There are also auditions held in ACOPIA School, and they also provide support and information about auditions. Nao Niitsu (19) auditioned for 10 agencies during a visit to Seoul and was accepted by five. "I’ve heard stories about no free time or not being able to do what I want. But, I think all of K-pop stars who are now performing have gone down the same road," she said.
Bye bye, politics!
Miyu Takeuchi has been taken as a trainee by K-pop agency Mystic Entertainment in March 2019. She was already a singer in a band called AKB48 in Japan, but leaving her 10-year career was not a difficult decision, she said. The popularity of K-pop and Korean culture is on the rise. Fans and artist apparently do not let them selves be bothered by diplomatic tension.
'TWICE' as fun
Three members of the South Korean girl band TWICE (picture), dubbed the second most popular in Japan after BTS, are from Japan. But officials of JYP Entertainment, the South Korean agency backing TWICE, are reluctant to give comments on their success in Japan and on the fact that three members of the band are from Japan.
Is K-pop the answer?
The popularity of K-pop has increased in thepast years with singers like BoA and top boy bands such as TVXQ and BTS (in the picture). Will K-pop be able to end the animosity between the two countries?