[theqoo] REASONS WHY JAPANESE SINGERS AND ACTORS HAVE LESS GLOBAL RECOGNITION THAN KOREANS, AND INTERNATIONAL REACTIONS

Here are some international perspectives on why Japan, despite having a longer history in its cultural industries—lags behind South Korea in fields like music and drama.

Many foreigners tend to attribute this to factors such as government support or the size of the domestic market.

Given that the J-pop industry has existed for much longer than K-pop, why are Japanese singers and actors not as globally renowned as their South Korean counterparts?

- RefRide

As someone that has lived in Japan for decades, they are failing for the same reasons most of their businesses are failing. seniority over skills, slow to adapt and a fear of anything outside of Japan. When it comes to Jpop in particular, people like Johnny had a big part in holding jpop back. Groups outside of his approval had little chance of getting big, and he made all groups stick to his weird style, that very few outside of those that grew up with it would find appealing.

The moment he went away several groups that were more similar to kpop groups gained popularity, as well as kpop companies started doing more business and collabs in Japan.

As said above Japan don't put much value in individual skills, talent here doesn't make much money, and they rather just go for the next best than look like they as a company gave in to an individuals demands. I have worked in companies where we pushed to get a top talent hired for months that we scouted, but then management that interviewed the person failed him because he wasn't acting submissive towards them.

Anime/Manga though, It got popular not because of Japan but in spite of Japan. Japan has basically done everything wrong in pushing it, at least up until recently where at least they have started pushing it through streaming. Other than that it's all due to it's individual creators and because of piracy that it got so popular.

> AdGloomy5846

How can you call that a failure when they aren't even targeting a global audience?

I wonder this every time: German, Italian, and Brazilian singers haven't achieved global success either, so why is Japan the only one criticized for it? Why do countries like Germany and Italy get a pass?

>> RefRide

Anime is the opposite of a failure, which is what I said, but it's a success in spite of Japan not because of Japan, individual efforts.

As for why other countries gets a pass, I think it's because we are currently comparing Jpop and kpop and not other countries. Also countries like Germany has a lot of famous artists, just that most people don't know because they are just another english singing artist, same with any European country, they just get blended in with "American music".

- Vanerxore

Because they don’t care about people outside of Japan. Japan is the second largest music market in the world. They can be a multi millionaire just being popular in a few Japanese cities.

> Dramatic-Attempt-735

On the other hand, South Korean entertainment agencies are well aware that to generate significant revenue, they must target not only the domestic market but also overseas markets.

Admittedly, K-pop is still something of a niche phenomenon outside of Korea.

Nevertheless, the potential customer base is so vast that these markets are well worth pursuing.

> lullubye

Korea had the Hallyu initiative that didn't take down fan sub and it didn't isolate. Kpop artist travelled to USA/Japan/China for years before it exploded Worldwide.

- NewwavePlus

Japanese record companies (and to a greater extent, Media companies in general) have a little to no interest in markets outside of Japan, so there's far less promotion and distribution.

(More comments here)

original post: here

1, But they’re world leaders when it comes to IP for anime and games, aren’t they? Everyone has their own strengths and areas where they excel

2. Ugh, that whole "Hallyu is a government-led initiative" narrative againㅋㅋㅋ No wonder they end up wasting tax money on things like "Cool Japan" (T/N: Cool Japan (クールジャパン , Kūru Japan) refers to the aspects of Japanese culture that non-Japanese people perceive as "cool")

3. If Japan wasn't aiming for the overseas market, then Japan should just stop concerning itself with K-pop and the global market altogether

4. They just lack a certain charm, even their top actors and A-list idols

5. Sure, sure, go ahead and keep pouring government funds into content all you want!

6. In a country where anime hits 10 million viewers, how could actors possibly succeed?

7. They’re out here saying, "Well, we have a large enough population to get by on our domestic market alone"ㅋㅋㅋㅋ sure, keep living like that forever then

8. No one beats the Japanese when it comes to sneakily spreading rumors. They’re talking about this "government-backed project" theory as if it’s an established fact now. We don’t even have international fandoms or journalists to correct these kinds of rumors. As always, we just end up falling victim to Japan’s "Japan-money" fueled media manipulation

9. This is freaking funny. Don't they realize Japan is aiming for the global market too? They’ve been going on about "sekai"since the start of the new year, the truth is, they just can't act

10. What exactly did they do back in the 80s and 90s? Lol. These international K-pop and K-drama fans act like they’re experts on Korea while spouting f*cking nonsense

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