Thousands of Japanese protest against Korean Cultural Wave in Japan

Thousands of Japanese gathered at the Fuji TV headquarter to stop airing Korean dramas and TV shows (Source: http://www.newsis.com/pict_detail/view.html?cID=10600&pict_id=NISI20110808_0004944621)

Related article: Japanese march against Korean Soap Operas http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2011/08/22/2011082200679.html

Thousands of Japanese gathered at the Fuji TV headquarters at Tokyo to demonstrate against airing Korean Soap Operas and TV shows. It seems quite massive, considering that the turn out equals that of anti-nuclear protest following the accident at Fukushima nuclear power plant. Fuji TV has been the most active broadcaster of Korean dramas and TV shows, which resulted in the opposition from the extreme right wing of Japanese people. Historically, right-wing politicians in Japan contributed to a territorial dispute by claiming a part of Korean territory, Dok-do Island. They also tend to take a strong stance on Korean-Japanese relations by showing no remorse of war-related crimes (e.g. sexual slavery) and worshiping the perpetrators of war crimes during WWI at such a place as the Shrine of Yaskuni. Considering such remnants of colonialism, it is no wonder that right-wing Japanese protest against the influx of Korean culture in their country. 


Nevertheless, this protest seems like a minor movement compared to the actual craze for Korean culture in Japan nowadays. Just a month ago, in July, 45,000 fans were gathered at Tokyo Dome for K-pop Festival Music Bank in Tokyo, to attend concert by K-pop idols like Girls' Generation (SNSD), 2PM, Kara, 4minutes, Beast, Rainbow, Secret, and so forth. The concert took place as the daily temperature reached 35C in Tokyo, which shows the passionate welcome of K-pop culture by countless Japanese fans. Historically Tokyo Dome has been a special place open to only legendary Hollywood stars like Beyonce, Madonna, and Michael Jackson, yet even Beyonce could fill less than half the seats by bringing in 20,000 fans. By contrast, 50,000 fans filled the entire Tokyo Dome for a fan meeting with Lee Byung Hun in 2007, which was repeated in cases of Rain (Korean Singer), and many other Korean actors. 


What is surprising is that there is no Japanese counterpart in Korean entertainment industry. Virtually no Japanese celebrity made through Korean market up until now, after 12 years of opening the cultural trade between the two countries. The apparent triumph of Korean entertainment business over Japanese industry was never even conceived possible twelve years ago, and it was South Korea which actually opposed to allowing cultural free trade between these two countries. The only area in which Japanese industries have been successful is cartoons and animation industries, yet recent Korean cartoons are also on the steep rise (A Korean cartoon 'Pororo' for example, which has been exported to 110 countries, earning its royalty income of 12million US$ per year). 


Anyways, it seems to me that the vigorous protest against exporting Korean dramas actually becomes the counter-evidence of its enormous success in Japan. And perhaps it is true that Korean entertainment industry accomplished massive growth over the last two decades :) 

geez.. will get busy with blogging in the next couple of days

Just half an hour ago, I seriously decided to do this blogging. well, it's true that I have been thinking of 'blogging' as quite a big deal that requires a fair amount of time, attention, and energy and I have been lazy to do so for a long time. But just a while ago, I suddenly realised that I haven't had a space where I truly release and share my thoughts with different people, and I found it necessary to create one. Besides, I like expressing my thoughts by nature and definitely this blogging thing will give me pleasure as well.

There are always people who try to win argument for useless reasons and oppose to whatever I say (especially around me offline, including my housemate :P), yet if I create this online space for myself and visitors, people will take time to read and at least try to form a constructive response, rather than merely just attempting to win over.

Hope this clearly states why I want to start this blog, and really hope that this blog lasts longer than I expect! :)