Between the Korean Wave and the Japanese Wave— BoA and the East Asian Pop Culture Flow —

Paper Submitted to ICA 2010, Singapore

Sunyoung KwakDoctoral Student

School of Journalism and Mass CommunicationUniversity of Colorado at Boulder

ABSTRACT

This research examines Korean and Japanese media discourses and social backgrounds surrounding the success of BoA, a Korean pop singer who made success in both Korea and Japan. While Korean media, from cultural nationalist perspective, covered her story to emphasize Korean culture’s superiority, Japanese media presented her as a symbol of reconciliation between Korea and Japan. Considering historical, political, and economic backgrounds, BoA could succeed in the Japanese market at least partly because she satisfied the needs of Japanese politics and entertainment industry. In addition, the changes that BoA’s success brought to the Korean music industry may show the hierarchical relationship between these two countries’ pop culture market: Japan as core and Korea as periphery. These findings suggests that acknowledging the contexts of the international politics, economy, and cultural policies can reveal a different picture about the structure and the driving force of the international pop culture flow.

On September 10, 2008, BoA, a Korean female singer who achieved success both in Korea and

in Japan, held a press conference and introduced her plan to debut in the U.S. market. Korean

media covering this press conference emphasized her achievement in the Asian market,

especially Japan and showed high expectation about her success in the U.S.: They put headlines

such as “BoA, for whom Asia is not big enough” (Jung 2008) and quoting Soo-Man Lee, the

CEO of her management, S.M. Entertainment that “BoA, who is Asia’s number one is eligible to

be the world’s number one” (Moon, 2008; Lee 2008). Such media portrayal of BoA has not

changed much since her first Japanese album made to the top on Japanese music charts in 2002.

Very often, the media introduced BoA as “the star of Asia” and considered her success as

evidence of the superiority of Korean culture. She was even described as the pioneer of the

Korean Wave in Japan (Jung 2007).

Interestingly, the Korean media discussed her success mainly from the perspective of the

Korean market, and paid little attention to the Japanese market’s reception of her. In particular,

the political, economic, and social contexts of her activity in Japan were hardly discussed.

However, as Eva Tsai (2005) suggests, the image of transnational entertainers in Asia is

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influenced by the environments surrounding local markets, including historical background and

ideologies affecting the popular culture sphere. Therefore, examining BoA’s success in relation

to the context of the Korea-Japan relationship will give a more comprehensive understanding of

both the significance of her success and the structure of the cultural flow in Asia, especially the

Korean Wave.

Actually, the Korean discourse about BoA is not very different from the discourses about

the Korean Wave, the Korean popular culture boom in East Asia. Many scholars have discussed

the meaning of the Korean Wave, but not many of them paid attention to the political and

economic background and their influence which affected the inception of the Korean Wave.

Keehyeung Lee (2005) argues that there are three types of the Korean Wave discourses in Korea:

neoliberal thinking, cultural nationalism and culturalist. Neoliberal discourse understands the

Korean wave in terms of Korean media content’s competitiveness in the international media

market and the benefit that such content creates. Cultural nationalism pays attention to the

contents of Korean media products and considers the Korean Wave as “demonstrat[ing] the

‘superiority’ of modern Korean popular culture” (Lee 2005, 12). In the culturalist approach,

Korean cultural products are “hybrid in [their] very nature” (14) and the Korean Wave has

created “multiple audiences … in different geographical regions and sites who consume, receive,

use, and interact with South Korean cultural products differentially” (16). In discussing the

culturalist approach, Lee is aware of the external conditions that enabled the Korean Wave to

emerge, noting that the Korean Wave “is regarded as an accidental event that came to emerge due

to the unexpected convergence of multiple — institutional, cultural, and political — factors and

conditions” (15). However, to date, not many studies have paid attention to these conditions’

effect on the cultural flow itself. Still, the main concern of the culturalist position is how

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different cultural background lead audiences to produce different meanings from the Korean

Wave content.

However, in discussing the Korean Wave in Japan, political and economic factors

affecting the cultural flow should not be ignored. Japanese colonial rule over Korea (1910-1945)

had a huge influence to the two countries’ postcolonial societies and cultures. The colonial

history also affected each government’s cultural policy. In Korea, Japanese popular culture had

been illegal until the Korean government started to revise regulations in 1998. The Japanese

government has tried to use popular culture to erase its colonizer image in Asia. Very often,

conflicts arose between the two countries in relation to their colonial history, such as the issues

of comfort women, Japan’s history textbooks, and recently the territorial conflict over

Dokdo/Takeshima Island. Nevertheless, when the two countries were selected as the co-hosts of

the 2002 FIFA World Cup Soccer Tournament, the tension between the two countries seem to be

ameliorated. There was a shared feeling among both countries’ people that they have to

understand and respect each other. In this context, BoA achieved a great success in the Japanese

market, and considering that she made a debut when both countries were opening their doors to

each other, the timing of her breakthrough cannot be irrelevant. By analyzing the media

discourse and social background surrounding BoA’s success in Japan, this paper aims to examine

how social factors, such as political, economic, and historical background affect the cultural flow

in East Asia. The research questions can be listed as the following:

▪ How did the media portray BoA’s success in Korea and Japan?▪ What social factors affected her success?▪ What was her influence in the Korean pop music industry?▪ What does her success imply about the pop culture flow in East Asia?

To analyze the media portrayal of her success, both newspaper articles and TV programs were

analyzed. Korean newspapers were collected through KINDS (Korean Integrated Newspaper

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Database System, http://www.kinds.or.kr) and Japanese newspapers through Factiva

(http://global.factiva.com). TV programs were collected through sources on the Web such as

Youtube (http://www.youtube.com) and Naver (http://www.naver.com). Past versions of BoA’s

official Japanese website in 2001 and 2002 and her debut showcase in Japan were found through

the Internet Archive (http://www.archive.org).

II. Background: Cultural Policies in the Postwar Korea and Japan

1. Korea’s Ban on Japanese Popular Culture

After liberation from Japanese colonial rule in 1945, the Korean government struggled

to erase Japanese cultural influence in Korean society. From liberation to the normalization of

the relationship in 1965, there was no official political and economic relationship between the

two countries, and Japanese popular culture was banned until 1998.

Beginning in January 1946, even Japanese citizens’ entrance to South Korea was

forbidden by the U.S. army, which occupied South Korea after the war, and it was only after the

1964 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo that Japanese citizens could travel freely to Korea

(Yamamoto 2003). The normalization of the diplomatic relationship between Korea and Japan in

1965 enabled economic and cultural exchange between the two countries. For instance, student

exchange and Korean students’ study in Japanese universities were allowed, and the Japan

Cultural Center was established in 1971. As for Japanese language education in Korean schools,

which was stopped after the liberation, Hankook University of Foreign Studies opened Korea’s

first Japanese language department in 1961, and in 1973 Japanese was included in high school

curriculum as one of the second foreign language electives. However, Koreans still felt anxieties

about the influence of Japanese culture. Chosun Ilbo expressed this anxiety in its editorial about

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the Japan Cultural Center:

Considering that contacts between Korea and Japan have diversified, we cannot reject the influx of Japanese culture. However, culture can be used as a propaganda tool to oppress and infringe the partner country’s authentic culture and limit the benefit of cultural exchange. Therefore, we need to establish strict guidelines about Korean and Japanese culture lest the (Korean) citizens’ consciousness should be paralyzed. (cited in Yamamoto 2003, 13)

Although economic and cultural exchange increased after the normalization, Japanese

popular culture was still banned. After the normalization, Japan wanted Korea to legalize import

of Japanese films, but Korea resisted, fearing possible harmful effects on Korean national

identity (Yamamoto 2003). As for popular music, from 1965 to 1987, Korea banned not only

Japanese songs but also Korean songs that were accused to be “too Japanese” (waesaek) (Jung

2007).

However, in the 1980s, as the political relationship between the two countries improved,

debate over the ban on Japanese popular culture grew. Even Korean politicians, including

presidents, joined the discussion. This discussion was incited by social change in Korea since the

late 1980s including democratization, 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, an increase of Korean

citizens’ travel to Japan, and opening trade barriers (Yamamoto 2003). Moreover, the 1997 Asian

economic crisis added pressure to lift the ban. To restore its economy, Korea had to open its

market to foreign economic forces, including Japan, and build cooperative relationships with

them. (Yamamoto 2003; Jung 2007). In October 1998, Korean president Dae-Jung Kim and

Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi announced “New Korea-Japan Partnership for the

Twenty-first Century,” in which Korea agreed to lift the ban on Japanese popular culture. After

this joint declaration Japan’s investment in Korea drastically increased from $265 million US in

1997 to $1.75 billion US in 1999 and $2.448 billion US in 2000 (Jung 2007).

The Korean government enacted ban-lifting, called the Open-Door Policy, in

four stages: the first stage in 1998, the second in 1999, the third in 2000. After the third stage was

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enacted, many expected the fourth stage would be in effect before Korea and Japan co-host the

FIFA World Cup Soccer Tournament in 2002. Table 1 shows the summary of each stage.

Table 1. Four Stages of the Open-Door Plan

Category 1st stage(Oct 20, 1998)

2nd stage(Sept 10, 1999)

3rd stage(June 27, 2000)

4th stage(Jan 1, 2004)

Movie Award winners of four international film festivals

G-rated films among award winners in renowned international film festivals

All but ones rated 18 or above

Films rated 18 or above

Video Films screened in Korea

Films screened in Korea

Films screened in Korea

Films screened in Korea

Animation No lift No lift Award winners of international film festivals

Postponed

Live Performance

No lift Indoor performance with 2,000 seats or less

No restrictions

Music No lift No lift All but songs with Japanese lyrics

Songs with Japanese lyrics

Game No lift No lift All but console games

Console games

Broadcasting No lift No lift Sports, news, documentaries (all media)Films screened in Korea (new media only)

Postponed

(Source: Choi 2004, 14)

The Open-Door Policy proceeded as planned until, due to tensions related to history

issues, the Korean government announced that there would be no further relaxation of the ban.

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The third-stage ban-lifting and the expected co-hosting of the 2002 World Cup Soccer had

fostered the friendly relationship between Korea and Japan, and people in the industry expected

that the ban would be completely lifted before the World Cup (Choi 2004). However, in July

2001, the Japanese government refused the Korean government’s demand to revise a right-wing

history textbook published in Japan, and on July 12, the Korean government declared that it

would not lift the remaining bans unless the history textbook issue was resolved. Moreover, on

August 15, which is Victory over Japan Day and Korean Liberation Day, Japanese Prime

Minister Junichiro Koizumi officially visited the Yasukuni Shrine where class-A World War II

criminals are honored. Koizumi’s visit to Yasukuni enraged many Korean people and further

deteriorated the Korea-Japan relationship. In 2002, part of the remaining bans was temporarily

lifted during the World Cup Soccer in June, but the official announcement about the next stage of

the lift was not made until September 2003. The fourth stage of the lift became effective in

January 2004, opening Korean market to songs with Japanese vocals, and the ban was

completely lifted in January 2006.

2. Japan’s Cultural Diplomacy

Japan’s colonialism and militarism over Asian countries during World War II and issues

related to this history have been huge obstacles to Japan’s international relationships in Asia.

Bhubhindar Singh (2002) observes that in its relationship with the members of the Association of

Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Japan has been favorably accepted in economic affairs but

not in political or security matters because “its involvement in the political/security affairs of

Southeast Asia has consistently been viewed with suspicion and distrust” (277). Peng Er Lam

(2007) points out that Japan’s “failure to overcome its burden of history” undermines the good

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international image which the country seeks to create with its cultural products (350). To

overcome these obstacles, Japan has taken advantage of culture to improve its image in

international relations, which is called “cultural diplomacy”1

Cultural diplomacy is the Japanese government’s use of “the potential for popular

culture to improve Japan’s reputation and sooth—even suppress—the bitter memory of the

Japanese invasion of Asia” (Iwabuchi 2002, 75), and therefore “make smooth Japan’s historical

reconciliation with other East and Southeast Asian countries” (Iwabuchi 2008, 250). In this

context, the Japanese government exported Japanese TV programs in Asian countries to build a

better image of Japan. Iwabuchi (2002) introduces Oshin, a Japanese TV drama series depicting

a women’s life story in modern Japan, as a successful case of this strategy.

First exported to Singapore in 1984, Oshin has been well received in forty-six countries throughout the world. Its ratings in many non-Western countries were much better than those of American TV dramas such as Dallas or Dynasty (Singhal and Udornpim 1997; Lull 1991). The main recipient countries are those of East, Southeast, and South Asia, the Middle East, and South America, where the series has been in most cases distributed for free under the cultural exchange program of the Japan Foundation, an extradepartmental organization of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. (Iwabuchi 2002, 75)

Exported to the world under the government’s financial support, Oshin was appreciated to have

created a positive change in the image of Japan in Asian countries. Iwabuchi also pays attention

to the fact that the drama depicted Japan’s postwar experience from a “pacifist” women’s

perspective. According to him, “this representation of Japan’s gendered past proves to be useful

for the purpose of rendering more troublesome aspects of Japanese modern history irrelevant”

(77).

The idea of cultural diplomacy was reproduced in Japanese discourse on the cultural

1 Using the term “public diplomacy,” Lam (2007) extends the concept of cultural diplomacy by including other support programs by the Japan Foundation, such as the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program, Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteer program and Official Development Assistance. According to Lam, these programs “encourag[e] foreign students to study in Japan” so that they will “return home as cultural ambassadors and build friendship between their countries and Japan” (355).

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exchange between Korea and Japan as well. In August 2000, about two months after the third

stage of the Open-Door Policy allowed Japanese entertainers’ performances in Korea with no

restrictions, a popular Japanese pop duo Chage & Aska held a concert in Seoul. Having given

previous concerts in Asian markets such as China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore, the duo

was “quite conscious about their role in overcoming Japanese history” (Iwabuchi 2008, 250), and

Japanese media covered the concert in Seoul in similar ways. Japanese media was “enthusiastic”

in covering “a historic concert being the first performance by Japanese pop musicians in the

Japanese language, which clearly marked the cultural thaw between Japan and South Korea.

Chage & Aska themselves expressed the sense of accomplishment at the concert: ‘Let us younger

generations make a future together!’” (Iwabuchi 2008, 250-1). Two years later, similar sense of

reconciliation is found in the local official song for the 2002 World Cup,2 “Let’s get together

now,” which says “Don’t you think it’s time we all let go of fear inside / open up our mind,

understand each other / If we just decide to be as one, we'll set our spirits free.” Sometimes,

Japanese entertainers active in Korea are characterized as “civil diplomats” by Japanese media,3

and Japanese politicians take advantage of the Korean Wave when they meet Korean politicians

or visit Korea.4 Iwabuchi (2008) points out, “the recent development of popular cultural

exchange between Japan and South Korea is a great advancement of the application of cultural

diplomacy to East Asia” (250).

Japan’s use of popular culture as a tool for cultural diplomacy to Korea became

2 This song was performed by Voices of Korea/Japan, a collaboration of popular Korean and Japanese musicians. The participants were: Korean male duo Brown Eyes, Korean female singer Lena Park, Japanese male duo Chemistry and Japanese female singer Sowelu.3 For example, after Japanese boy band, Arashi, attended a concert in Korea, an anchor who was covering the story in a morning news show told “you guys are civil diplomats” to Sho Sakurai who is a member of Arashi and was present in the show as a panelist.4 When former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited Korea in 2006, the Japanese First Lady, Akie Abe introduced herself as a huge fan of the Korean Wave. When she visited an elementary school in Seoul, she spoke Korean and sang a Korean song.

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prominent in 2001, one year ahead of the World Cup. Chonan Gang, the variety talk show aired

on Japanese Fuji TV can be understood as a representative of the cultural diplomacy strategy.

This program started in March 2001 and was hosted by Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, a member of the

Japanese top boy band SMAP and well-known entertainer. The program title, Chonan Gang, is

Kusanagi’s name ( 草彅 剛) read in Korean. Aired for 15 minutes every Friday after midnight,

this program introduced Korea and Korean culture to Japanese viewers through various projects

like interviews of ordinary Korean citizens and celebrities, and the speeches in this program has

been made in Korean with Japanese subtitles. Also, the missions of the program included

producing the film Hotel Venus and recording a song in Korean language to release the CD in

Korea and Japan. The first season of Chonan Gang ended in March 2004, but Chonan Gang 2

started in April 2004 and has been continued to date. Chonan Gang was accepted favorably in

both Japan and Korea as a program promoting mutual understanding between the two countries.

In June 2001, the Korean Tourism Organization presented Kusanagi a plaque of thanks,

appreciating that the program contributed to the increase of Japanese youth’s travel to Korea

(Lee 2001; Hwang 2001). Even though it seems that the program promoted positive images of

Korea in Japan, still the program can be a part of Japan’s cultural diplomacy, using mass media

to improve its relationship with Korea.5 In the press conference when he was releasing his

Korean single in Korea, Kusanagi said that he wanted to contribute to the cultural exchange

between Japan and Korea (Kim-Ko 2002; Heo 2002; Kim 2002), which complies with the basic

idea of cultural diplomacy.

What is interesting about Kusanagi’s activity in Korea is his personality was drastically

changed when he made a CD debut in Korea. Even though his character in Japan had been based

5 However, there were cautious opinions about this program as well. For example, in her column for a Korean daily newspaper, Jae-Soon Yoo (2001) expresses her concern about the program because she sees it as a test by the Japanese popular culture industry to lay inroads into the Korean market.

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on sincere and serious attitude and his high acting ability (Hirata 2005), in the Korean market he

was characterized as a comical and silly character. Hirata (2005) explains this transformation in

terms of gender stereotypes and the political relationship between Korea and Japan. She observes

that Korea-Japan co-produced TV dramas describe a romantic relationship between Korean men

and Japanese women, and in these dramas Japanese men are almost invisible. According to her,

mass media’s presentation of the relationship between Japanese men and Korean women is risky

because it can remind Korean audiences of the colonial history and its aftereffect including the

comfort women issue. She also points out that Kusanagi’s identity as a Japanese man could be an

obstacle to his activity in Korea, and the anti-Japanese sentiment in Korea made it difficult to

present Kusanagi with an normal characters of Japanese actors and entertainers. As Oshin

weakened the colonial image of Japan through feminizing Japan’s modern history, comical

transformation of Kusanagi’s personality also worked to minimize the negative effect caused by

Japanese colonization. As seen above, the cultural exchange between Korea and Japan cannot be

irrelevant with Japan’s cultural diplomacy

III. The Success Story of BoA: 2001-2002.

BoA was born as Bo-A Kwon in 1986 in Gyeonggi Province, Korea. In 1997 at the age

of eleven, she became a trainee of SM Entertainment, one of the Korea’s leading entertainment

agencies. After three years of dance, vocal, and foreign language training, she released her

Korean debut album, ID; Peace B in 2000 at the age of 13. When she made the debut, she

attracted media attention because she was the youngest pop artist and backed up by her

management, which dominated Korean pop music industry at that time with serial successes of

its idol bands such as H.O.T., S.E.S. and Shinhwa. However, she did not make a big success in

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Korea. Rather, there were numerous anti-fan forums of her on the Internet, and SM

Entertainment was criticized because media and public saw that the company was exploiting a

young girl for commercial purpose. In March 2001, BoA released her special album, Jumping

into the World, in which she sang in English and Chinese, and her management announced that

she will make a debut in Japan.

Her debut in Japan was prepared by S.M. Entertainment Japan, which was established

with the collaboration between Korea’s S.M. Entertainment and Japan’s AVEX and Yoshimoto

Entertainment. Her management in Japan was AXEV (current AVEX Planning & Development),

a subsidiary of AVEX Group, and actually all the promotion, distribution, and management of

her activities in Japan was taken care of by AVEX. Her debut showcase in Roppongi, Tokyo was

hosted by AVEX and was live broadcasted worldwide on the Internet. In the showcase, BoA was

introduced as an “international artist” who is fluent in Japanese, English and Korean (BoA

Convention).

Table 2 BoA Discography from 2001 to Early 2002

Title RealeaseDate

OriconWeekly

Peak

Tie-Up

Single ID; Peace B May 30, 01 20 DDI Pocket “Feel H Sound Market” CM song

Amazing Kiss Jul 25, 01 23 NTV “Romihi” ending theme in AugustLF “Show Up Nighter” ending theme in JulyKanebo “Testimo” CM song

Kimochi wa Tsutawaru Dec 05, 01 15 Lotte “Eare” CM song

The Meaning of Love(duet with Kumi Koda)

Dec 18, 01 12

Listen to My Heart Jan 17, 02 5 KDDI “au 5001T CM song

Every Heart ~ Minna no Kimochi

Mar 13, 02 10 NTV anime “Inuyasha” ending theme

Album Listen to My Heart Mar 13, 02 1

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(Source: Oricon)

With the full-support of AXEV, she could appear in Japanese media right after the debut.

She was hired for commercial films and all her solo singles were promoted through “tie-up,”

which is a marketing strategy of producing songs for TV commercials and TV programs with

affiliated producers and singers (Jung 2007). Her first two singles were ranked around twenty on

the Oricon Weekly Chart, which is the most credited music chart in Japan. However, the chart

position of her singles improved since then (Table 2), and peaked in 2002. Her fourth solo single,

Listen to My Heart was ranked at top five, and finally, her first album with the same title became

number 1 at the Oricon.

After the success of her first Japanese album in Japan, BoA returned to Korea and

released her second album, No. 1 in April. Right away, the album went to the top of every music

chart in Korea, and became the fourth most sold album in 2002 (Music Industry Association of

Korea). Her success in Japan brought her a “world star” image, and the media started to call her

as Asia-eui byeol, meaning the star of Asia. The music video of No. 1 was shot in Tokyo, and

described her as an international celebrity who receives attention from mass media worldwide

and enjoys a cosmopolitan lifestyle with her friends from diverse places in the world. In August,

she resumed her activity in Japan by releasing the single Valenti, which is the most sold single in

her discography to date. At the end of the year, she won grand prizes at several music award

ceremonies in Korea, including the SBS Pop Music Awards, the Seoul Pop Music Awards, and

the M.net Video Music Awards. She also made appearance in awards ceremonies in Japan and

performed at NHK’s Red and White Song Battle, the famous Japanese end of the year program

aired on December 31st. However, because of her performance at NHK, she had to give up an

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opportunity to win grand prizes at Korea’s two most important award ceremonies which were

held on December 30th and 31st.

IV. Media Portrayal

1. Korea: Symbol of Korean Superiority

After her success in Japan, Korean media were excited about her achievements and

started to analyze the reason of her success. In most cases, her success was attributed her

individual talent and effort, and the careful planning made by her Korean management, S.M.

Entertainment. The media acclaimed her vocal and dance ability which could not be believed as

that of a 14-year-old girl and her language proficiency which makes her sound like a Japanese

native speaker. S.M. Entertainment was praised by its thorough preparation based on in-depth

analysis of the Japanese market and its insight to find BoA in an early age and trained her to be

an international phenomenon. Its business skill shown by its collaboration with powerful

Japanese companies was highly appreciated as well.

Moreover, BoA’s success was understood as an example presenting the idea about the

cultural superiority of Korea, which can be found in the cultural nationalism position of the

Korean Wave discourses. With the lift of the ban on Japanese pop music ahead, in Korea was

wide anxiety about the impact of Japanese pop music, and many experts projected that high

quality Japanese pop music will kill the Korean market. However, it was said that her success

had showed that the Korean music industry was competitive enough and therefore Korea did not

have to worry about the impact following the lift of the ban.

Interestingly, in discussing her success, Korean media hardly paid attention to the

changing relationship between Korea and Japan before the World Cup. Consideration about the

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political background was almost absent in Korean media, and they did not consider the Japanese

media’s interest in Korea as a possible factor which promoted her success. The media did not

portray BoA as a bridge between the two countries before French newspaper Le Monde covered

her story and described her as such. Since media did not put the political atmosphere into

consideration, BoA’s identity as a Korean singer was not discussed as a factor of her success. In

interviews with newspapers, BoA herself sometimes attributed her success to Japanese media’s

interest in a singer from Korea, the co-host of the World Cup. However, in this case, the media

interpreted her attribution in terms of her modesty and appreciated her attitude lowering herself.

In Korean discourse, BoA’s nationality did not affect her success. Moreover, it was even said that

she did not present herself as a Korean singer, but just a new singer whose performance style was

what the Japanese market had hardly seen by then (Shin-Yoon 2004). This interpretation was not

only found in media, but also repeated in scholarly works. Jung (2007) argues that before Winter

Sonata brought the Korean Wave boom in Japan, “BoA’s Korean nationality was not the center

of attention in Japan, as her management companies … tended to avoid the fact and tried to

promote her image as a Japanese pop singer (or as an “Asian” singer)” (205). Soo-Yeon Jung

(2006) claims that BoA’s effort not to look foreign can be found in her interview in which she

said “I want to be a singer like Namie Amuro,” and her nationality was revealed only after she

became popular (262).

2. Japan: Symbol of the Reconciliation

Unlike the widely accepted belief in Korea, Japanese media presented BoA in terms of

her nationality and the relationship between Korea and Japan. From the beginning, she was

introduced as a singer from Korea, and whenever she appeared in a talk show, she was a source

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of information about Korea and Korean culture. In addition, presenting herself as a Korean girl

who likes Japan, she could be understood as a symbol of reconciliation between the two

countries.

BoA’s appearances in Japanese TV programs clearly show her image as a Korean girl

who are interested in Japan and can introduce Korean culture to Japanese audiences. In

particular, she made frequent appearance in Fuji TV’s popular music program Hey! Hey! Hey!

Music Champ, whose average rating is around 20 percent. She first appeared in the show on May

28, 2001, two days before her first single was to be released. The conversation between the hosts

clearly reveals that she is from Korea.

Host A: You speak Japanese quite well. How many years is it since you came to Japan?BoA: It’s about a month since I came here.Host A: Only one month since you came to Japan? How can you speak Japanese?Host B: Only one month since you came here…BoA: I studied in Korea, such as grammar.Host B: You’re young, aren’t you?BoA: Yes. I’m fourteen.Host A: Fourteen?! How come did you decide to do in Japan?BoA: Because I want to. (Here, host A says something unclearly, she does not understand and

asks “huh?” and host B teases her that she should not do that in Japan.) I like Japan.Host A: Huh?BoA: I like Japan. For example, food, cuisine… they are tasty, aren’t they? (laughs)Host A: (laughs) Is Japanese food tasty?BoA: Yes.Host A: Is Korean food tasty?BoA: Korean food is tasty, but Japanese food is also tasty.Host B: Japanese food isn’t spicy, is it?BoA: It’s not spicy, but… Host B: (At first, she does not understand this question, so he enunciates.) To Korean people,

Japanese food may not be spicy enough.BoA: Right. But, shabushabu…Host A, B: Shabushabu! (laughs)BoA: Sushi and nabe are tasty.Host B: Will you keep staying in Japan from now on?BoA: I will be active in Japan for six month, and then for next six month, I’ll be active in Korea.

I’ll come and go, come and go.Host B: Did you release CDs there, in Korea?BoA: Huh? In Korea? I released albums… (Again, she doesn’t understand.)Host B: Didn’t you release CDs there?BoA: I released. I debuted with this song there, and now in Japan. (The talk ends with hosts’

teasing her)

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(Hey! Hey! Hey!, May 28, 2001, emphasis mine.)

As seen from the dialogue above, BoA and the hosts talk about Korea a lot, clearly showing that

her origin is Korea, and she is presented as a Korean girl who likes Japan and Japanese food. In

later episodes of this show, she brought something Korean to introduce to the hosts and

audiences. In her second appearance on August 2001, she introduced a game which she said was

popular in Korea, and in March 2002, she introduced Korean spicy canned tuna and tasted it with

the hosts. In 2001, Fuji TV showed interest in introducing Korea in their programs, such as

Chonan Gang, and BoA’s appearance and introduction of Korean culture in the prime time

variety show may have been satisfied the station’s interest as such.6 Her role as an information

source of Korean culture was repeated at other programs. In her first talk in TBS’s Utaban on

March 7, 2002,7 the hosts of the program asked her about Korean entertainment industry, such as

if there was an idol band like SMAP.

As a Korean singer, she could signify the improved relationship between Korea and

Japan with the World Cup coming soon. Especially, her image as a Korean girl who likes Japan

could show that Korean people are not hostile to Japan but interested in Japan and Japanese

culture. Even the lyrics of her first Japanese single, ID; Peace B, suggest the possibility of

reconciliation.

Although the song was the Japanese version of her Korean debut song, the Japanese lyrics could

suggest something related to international relationships. While the song’s Korean version was

telling a story of a new generation making social networking through the Internet, the Japanese

6 In a symposium held in 2003, the producer of Chonan Gang, Akihiro Arai talked about the background of the program. According to him, because of the World Cup, it was expected that all stations highlight Korea in their programs, and they thought they should start covering Korea before others do (Hirata, 2005). This story shows the Fuji TV’s attitude to introducing Korea in their programs.7 Even though she had performed in the program before, this was the first time that she had a talk with the program hosts.

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version was calling for mutual understanding and transcending the past: “I believe that minor

troubles can be cleared” and “open this door and head for the future.”

Since her promotion was focused on her Korean origin, the political relationship

between the two countries might have affected her activity in Japan. It is noticeable that there is a

four-month gap between the releases of her second and third single (see Table 2) although she

was not really active in Korea during this period. Moreover, in the interview with Korean cable

channel M.net in Summer 2001, she was expecting that her third single and first album would be

released in September. As discussed before, the relationship between the two countries was

deteriorated in that summer because of the issues related to the colonial history. This situation

might have affected to BoA’s presence in Japanese media and the change of her CD release plan,

although there is no clear evidence showing the connection.

When she became active again in Japan in December, her image was more frequently

connected to the mutual understanding between the two countries. After the four month absence

in Japanese TV’s music programs, she performed in NHK’s Digital Dream Live on December 1,

2001 (Kako no toppu nyuusu). In the program, BoA was introduced as an artist who is playing an

active role in Asia, after the hosts mentioned about the World Cup as “the power of Asia.” In this

program, the hosts ask her about the atmosphere in Korea related to the World Cup, and she

answers that more and more people are interested in Japan and Japanese musicians are popular in

Korea. Also, it is interesting that two weeks after her third single was released, BoA released a

duet single with Kumi Koda, titled The Meaning of Peace. This single, produced by Tetsuya

Komuro, a legendary music producer in Japan, was a charity single to commemorate the victims

of the 9/11 terrorist attack. Separately from the original purpose of the song, a sense of

pacification between Korea and Japan can be easily connected to the scene in which a Korean

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girl and a Japanese girl singing together that “I want to know the meaning of peace and love.”

V. Industry Purposes

In addition to the political needs before the World Cup, the situation of the pop music

industry in Korea and Japan should also be considered. In Japan, BoA’s promotion and

management was taken care of by AVEX and its subsidiary AXEV. AVEX is one of the most

powerful record labels in Japan, which has been “the top selling record company in Japan” since

1997 (Jung 2007, 80). AVEX’s full support and the company’s influence in Japanese media were

undeniable advantage for BoA, and much of her success should be attributed to the collaboration

between S.M. Entertainment and AVEX. However, this collaboration might have been

impossible without the background propelled AVEX to pay attention to the Korean market: The

lift of the ban on music with Japanese vocals.

As discussed before, the Korean government started to ease the regulations on Japanese

popular culture since 1998, and after the 3rd stage was put into practice as planned, many

expected that the remaining ban would be lifted before the World Cup. In November 1, 2000,

AVEX and S.M. Japan signed a contract that grants S.M. the right to release AVEX’s Japanese

records in Korea and AVEX the right to release S.M.’s in Japan. The press release at the time

shows AVEX’s expectation that the ban on Japanese vocal songs would be lifted in a couple of

years and the Korean market will be Asia’s leading market of Japanese popular music (AVEX

Group Holdings). Japan’s expectation of the opening of the Korean market gave S.M. an

advantage in collaborating with AVEX, and this resulted in AVEX’s full-support to BoA and her

success in the Japanese market.

In addition, it should be noted that Yoshimoto Entertainment was one of S.M.

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Entertainment’s business partners in Japan. In the 1990s, many entertainment agencies wanted to

expand their business targeting to Asia, and one of their strategies was seeking local entertainers

which can appeal to local markets. Many agencies held auditions in East and Southeast Asia such

as China, Taiwan, and Singapore, and Yoshimoto Entertainment was one of them. In 1994,

Yoshimoto Entertainment, with Sony Music Entertainment, held auditions in Shanghai to

produce a girl band to be called “Shanghai Performance Doll,” whose name was taken from

Tokyo Performance Doll, a popular girl band in Japan (Iwabuchi 2002). In this context, the

collaboration of Japanese companies such as AVEX and Yoshimoto Entertainment with S.M., can

be an extension of the Japanese music industry’s attempt to lay inroads into the Korean market.

In the 1990s the Korean market could not attract much attention of Japanese companies due to its

ban on Japanese popular culture. However, with its Open-Door policy Korea became an

attractive new market with a huge potential. The industry’s needs as such may have been a factor

that made the Japanese companies support BoA, which lead to her commercial success in Japan.

VI. Post-BoA Effect in the Korean Music Industry

BoA’s success in Japan brought many changes to the Korean market. Many Korean top

singers in Korea tried to debut in the Japanese market with Japanese songs. Soo-Young Lee, the

grand prize winner of 2003 MBC Pop Music Festival, released Japanese debut single under the

management of Sony Music, which was a total failure. Top male singers as Rain, Se7en, and

Shin Seung-Hoon also released Japanese singles, affiliated with Japanese record companies.

Recently, Korean top boy band and BoA’s label mate DongBangShinKi (DBSK, also called as

TVXQ and Tohoshinki) started to make chart success in Japan, putting seven out of ten singles

the band released in last two years on the top of the Oricon Weekly Chart as of October 2009.

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With growing popularity in Japan, some of them started to put their effort in the Japanese market,

paying less attention to the Korean market. BoA has not released a Korean album since 2005.

DBSK released their new Korean album in September 2008, but was active in Korea only for a

couple of months.

As Korean musicians were active in the Japanese pop music scene, Korean media and

audiences became interested in the trend and news from Japan. Media started to quote Oricon

Chart and introduced Japanese entertainers who perform or compete with Korean singers. For

example, newspapers covering DBSK’s performance at NHK’s Red and White Song Battle

introduces the history and significance of the program and named popluar Japanese musicians

such as Mr. Children and Perfume who are to perform in the program (Kang 2008, for example).

In addition, BoA’s success encouraged many Korean would-be musicians to first make a

debut in Japan and take advantage of the career later when they debut in Korea. Younha is a

representative example of this trend. Born in 1988 in Korea, Younha debuted in Japan in 2004

with no prior music career in Korea. She was not very successful in Japan. Only two singles

were ranked within top 20 on the Oricon Weekly Chart — Houki Boshi (Comet) at #15 and

Touch at #14 —and other singles peaked around top 50. However, since her second single Houki

Boshi was doing good on the chart, Korean media had covered her story calling her “Oricon’s

Comet,” and in 2006, Korea’s public broadcasting station KBS aired a documentary depicting

her life in Japan. In December 2006, she returned to Korea and made a quite successful debut in

the Korean market. She won the Best New Solo Artist Award at the MKMF Music Video

Festival. Even though she was not a big success in Japan, her career in Japan put her in an

advantageous position in the Korean market.

This trend suggests that the model of media stars’ flow, which describes the structure of

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sports stars’ international move, can be applied to the pop music industry as well. Haeng Ryang

Huh (2002) explains the transnational flow of sports stars in terms of the exchange between the

core and the periphery markets. According to him, top stars of periphery markets move to the

core market and the second-tier stars of the core market to periphery markets. Such flow draws

the attention of media and fans, and such top stars’ performances in the core market is distributed

to the periphery markets which are the stars’ origins. In addition, top stars’ activities in the core

market grant a higher status to them in the local—periphery—markets. Therefore, this flow

causes brain drain in periphery markets because top talents in these markets try to move to the

core market if there is any opportunity. At the same time, resource drain is resulted because

periphery markets purchase rights to cover the activities of their top stars performing in the core

market.

What happened in the Korean pop music industry after BoA’s success suggests a

hierarchical relationship between the Korean and the Japanese market, confirming Huh’s model

of media star flow, positioning Japan as the core market. This is quite different from the

relationship between the Korean and the Chinese market. When the Korean Wave first started in

China in the late 1990s, mainly second-tier entertainers were active in China and received

awards as “Best Korean Wave Artists” at award ceremonies in Korea. The case of Na-Ra Jang

confirms this relationship. In 2002, the two grand prizes that BoA missed were awarded to Jang,

who was a popular actress and singer. After her success in Korea, she moved to China and

concentrated on her activities there. However, when she returned to Korea, her position in the

entertainment industry was not as prestigious as before. Recently, a Chinese panelist of Chatting

with Beauties, a popular Korean TV talk-show, said she was surprised that Jang was not very

popular in Korea while she was one of the top entertainers in China (Bong, 2008). While

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Younha’s second-tier career in Japan made her top musician in Korea, Jang’s career in China

rather undermined her former prestigious status in Korea, which shows the core-periphery

relationship between Japan, Korea and China in their pop culture industries.

VII. Conclusion

In fact, BoA was not the first Korean singer who made a challenge to the Japanese market. In

1999, S.E.S. a girl band affiliated to S.M., BoA’s Korean management company, made a debut in

Japan but did not make a noticeable success. BoA was the first pop singer who made a success in

Japan and her success was the combination of her ability, the management strategy, and the

political atmosphere around her debut in Japan. Because it was one year before the World Cup

and she was from Korea, she could easily attract attention of the Japanese media which are good

at using their programs for cultural diplomacy strategies to promote reconciliation with Asian

countries. In addition, the expectation about the Korean government’s revision of regulations on

Japanese pop songs helped her easily settle into the Japanese market because it propelled the

cooperation between her Korean management and AVEX, giving her an utmost promotional

support. She could succeed in the Japanese market at least partly because she satisfied the needs

of Japanese politics and entertainment industry. With the combination of the political and

industrial purposes, she could make appearance to prime-time music programs right after her

debut, which was a huge advantage in the competition with numerous new singers in Japan. In

the Japanese media environment based on cultural diplomacy, BoA was presented as a symbol of

reconciliation between Korea and Japan and a source of information about Korea, Korean

culture, and Korean citizens’ perception of Japan. Even though most of her songs were products

by the Japanese music industry, the role she played in Japan as a Korean singer may make her

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position as “the pioneer of the Korean Wave” legitimate.

While she can be regarded as the start of the Korean Wave in Japan, she is, at the same

time, the start of the Japanese Wave in Korea. Her success drew the attention of Korean media

and audiences to the Japanese pop music industry and reduced Korean people’s emotional

distance to Japanese popular culture. As a result, Korean fans of Japanse popular culture are

increasing. Japanese boy band Arashi’s concert in Seoul in 2008 was sold out within 30 minutes,

and the band had to open an extra concert to accommodate fans’ request.8 In April 2008,

Tomohisa Yamashita, a popular Japanese actor and boy band member was caught by hundreds of

Korean fans at the airport when he was returning from his private trip to Korea, although none of

his CDs were officially released in Korea and the dramas in which he performed aired only in

cable channels. Although it is said that the market share of the Japanese popular culture is not

threatening, Japanese pop culture is widely spread in Korean society, especially among Korean

youth, which shows that the Japanese music industry’s strategy was at least partly successful. It

is even said that the Korean Wave is over and now it is time for the Japanese Wave in Korea.

However, Korean media coverage and scholarly works about the Korean Wave failed to

acknowledge the social context surrounding her success, as they did for BoA’s case. From

cultural nationalism perspective, many of them explained BoA’s success only in terms of her

talent and her management’s successful strategies. Similar approach is easily found from the

discourse about the Korean wave, and such naïve and narrow perspective, ignoring the context of

international politics, economy, and cultural policies, may have resulted in current crisis of the

Korean Wave. Recently in Korea, there are opinions that Korea was not the real beneficiary of

the Korean Wave. Japan made 40 times more profit from Winter Sonata than Korea did (Lim

8 Arashi’s concerts in Seoul in 2006 and 2008 were organized by S.M. Entertainment. S.M. is also the Korean distributer of the band’s CDs.

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2008). Moreover, Byung-Hoon Lee, the director of a trans-Asian hit drama, Jewel in the Palace,

pointed out that after the Korean Wave boom, the Korean drama production system has

deteriorated (Jang 2008).9 Focusing on the superiority of the Korean pop culture products, many

discussions about the Korean Wave failed to notice the important forces to cause the flow and its

possible impact.

As shown in BoA’s example, the international pop culture flow is by no means free from

the political and economic influence. Therefore, acknowledging the context of the international

politics, economy, and cultural policies can reveal a different picture about the structure and the

driving force of this flow. Of course, the pop culture flow in East Asia has a great potential

because it enhances people’s mutual understanding and exchange across the region. However, in

order to make the best of this potential, it is necessary to understand the structure and power

relations moving the phenomena, and the consideration of the international relations and their

background is indispensable to get a comprehensive picture of this cultural flow.

9 He mentioned that young actors became snobby after they became Korean Wave celebrities, and demands high guarantee, which reduces budgets for other part of the production.

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