Korean music promotion in Japan: the social and cultural impact of K-Pop consumption

From SM idols, such as BoA and TVXQ to Big Hit’s BTS, Japanese promotion of K-pop has been highly successful with K-pop idols selling millions of copies of their Japanese-language albums. K-pop is generally viewed as part of a larger Korean Wave, which in turn has been described as a transcultural flow. In academic terms, a transcultural flow is a movement of products from one country to another that has diverse cultural connotations linked with the country of origin. Existing studies of K-pop have focused on the production and distribution of K-pop at local and global level, the sociocultural impact of K-pop consumption within specific communities of fans and the effect of new media and consumption habits on K-pop’s promotion, distribution, and consumption. However, less attention has been paid to the ways in which K-pop has been promoted in Japan, and how that compares with other markets. This research offers a comprehensive analysis of K-pop promotion and its consumption in Japan as a transcultural flow in its own right. It addresses three main aspects to: explore the structure and localisation strategies of Japanese promotion; examine the difference between Japanese, American and Chinese promotion of K-pop; and understand Japanese consumption habits. This thesis adopts a framework which combines Iwabuchi’s conceptualisation of a transcultural flow and Appadurai’s notion of mediascapes. It draws on interviews and focus groups conducted during fieldwork in Japan and South Korea, alongside a visual analysis of online and offline promotional materials from the four most successful K-pop companies: SM, JYP and YG Entertainment, and Big Hit. It also provides a comparative analysis of K-pop promotion in China and America with that of Japan to highlight differences in the domestic music industries, K-pop’s interconnectivity level and the different impact of familiarity, hybridity and odourlessness on K-pop consumption. Through an analysis of the unique approach to the Japanese market, this thesis demonstrates that K-pop can be viewed as a transcultural flow alongside that of the Korean Wave.