Breaking into the Japanese Market:

DBSK and Boa

Something that most of the Korean artists or idols nowadays turn to is the Japanese market. However, this was all thanks to a mainly two artists who paved the way for all of these groups to be able to become loved by the Japanese public. You may be wondering why would Kpop idols want to break into the Japanese music scene. The answer is that Japan has the second biggest music market in the world. It is difficult for foreign artists to break into the Japanese music market and to be loved by the public, let alone a Korean. There were many problems between the Japanese and the Koreans throughout history, even till today. As you can imagine how diffcult it would be to be accepted in such a situation. However, even through all of these hardships Boa was able to break into the Japanese music scene after taking lessons in Japanese and learning it till she became fluent. However, a more impressive situation was with one of the biggest Asian groups and in all of Kpop’s history Dong Bang Shinki( DBSK), known in Japan as Tohoshinki ( TVXQ). They are from the same company as Boa and debuted in Korea around 2004. In 2005/2006 they ventured into the Japanese market by moving there and they were unknown for many years working their way up and learning the Japanese culture by living in Japan and that earned the Japanese’s respect for them. Now they are the only foreign band that will perform at the Nissan theater this summer, which holds over 75,000 people for a show. They are also the only Koreans to have a five-dome tour. Their tour in total for Japan alone is expected to bring over 850,000 people. Them earning the public’s respect helped their company and their label mates to be able to be accepted into Japan. Now all the artists that are in Korea can easily debut in Japan because of these artists’ hard work.

DBSK/TVXQ Concert in Japan

Japan is able to provide for the artist and the company a huge amount of profit and popularity around all of Asia. That is why artists around the world seek to break into the Japanese market.

Plastic Surgery

(Hyomin and Boram from the group T-ara)
Plastic surgery has been rising ever since its introduction to the world. However, Korea is one of the leading countries with one of the highest plastic surgery rates in the world. In Korea having plastic surgery in your teens as a graduation gift is normal. It is usually the eye lids that get done. They transform the patient’s eyes from having mono-lids to having double eye lids. There are so many features that Koreans find beautiful. Pale skin, big round eyes, small nose, and being extremely thin and tall is what Koreans regard as beautiful. Celebrities before their debut usually get many plastic surgeries done. Idols are regarded a lot of times as role models since so many teenagers and fans are young. Since they are their role models, these kids will try to copy their “looks” also, since they want to be attractive like them. Usually after graduation their high school graduation transformation takes place.

This video also discusses plastic surgery and the Westernized beauty ideals that are being held:

Of course this is not only common with teenagers, but also adults. Since many of these individuals did not have the advent of plastic surgery in their youths, so they get plastic surgery as adults. This video explains well how popular surgeries are in Korea:

They highly idolize Western Features, that is why they have such a liking to pale skin. They have lightening creams all around not just Korea, but all of Asia. This shows the impact of the Western beauty ideals. This is seen especially with the thinness that they like women to be. Hardly any of the Idols are overweight and if they are, they are always teased for it and have a hard time accepting themselves. Some of these idols were previously rejected from many music companies because of their lack of “visuals” or for being fat. In fact, they encourage their trainees to get plastic surgery even before they are accepted sometimes.
There are so many scandals regarding this. After a singer’s debut, he or she will have their past photos posted online. Then they will admit that he or she got plastic surgery. Most of the idols are told by their companies to not share this information with the public, this also affects the teenagers self esteem greatly since they think their idols are all natural and only happen to find out their truths long afterwards.
I believe the most discouraging thing about Kpop is the fact that most of these idols have to look good and look a certain way all the time. I have hardly never seen a dark skinned idol being praised for her beauty. Most, if not all of the girls in Kpop are extremly thin and their “curvy” celebrity are considered thin by our standards. Not to mention the how the public reacts if an idol gains weight.

Sasaeng Fans

What is a Sasaeng fan? It is a common term used to describe an overly obsessed fan of Kpop. These fans have this term to distinguish them from other “normal” fans. They are usually girls. It is almost unheard of that there is a male Sasaeng fan. If you thought that your obsession with Aerosmith or any of the Western Pop stars was obsessive by screaming his or her name, going to every concert, and buying all their albums, think again. These Sasaeng fans work in groups. They break into the Idol’s homes/dorms steal their clothes, especially underwear. They also hire taxis that will track and drive them wherever that celebrity may go. The taxi drivers oblige because they earn high amounts of money from these fans. Some Kpop artists have recieved letters from these fans written with their own blood and other personal items were sent to them, used underwear was the least disgusting of these things sent to them. They would track down their social security numbers, phone numbers, and go through their contacts on their phones to make sure no females are on the list. They even have access to their credit card numbers and passport pictures and try to sell their personal information online. Some of these Sasaengs have even installed cameras in the garage of the artists’ homes to track down their every move. They work in groups and pass information down from one person to another and that is how they collectively get the information from “trusted” sources. Many of these Sasaeng fans work in these companies and some use all their earnings just so they can do all of these “activities” full time. Sasaeng fans are dangerous and harmful to the celebrity himself. They are not true fans. They would sometimes even hurt the celebrity For example the known Asian Band member of DBSK,Changmin, had a bag full of rocks thrown at his face at the airport by a Sasaeng fan.
This video here will give a better understanding of these Sasaeng’s lives:

This makes it understandable why these artists find it hard to live a normal life. They have even more pressure with these Sasaeng fans watching their every move. They can ever hardly go anywhere without being scared, doubtful of others, and can never really date. There is no real control over these fans and since a lot of them are underaged the law cannot do anything against them to protect the artist. In korea there is no real protection for the celebrity. It is hard to find a balanced or peaceful life.

Scandals in Kpop

This scandal involved an idols face appearing on the spoon while eating a meal at another female idol’s house.

Most of the “scandals” that happen in Kpop would be a reason for us to rejoice, because they are mostly dating “scandals”. Imagine if your two favorite Kpop idols dated, would that not be great? Well not in Korea. It has become better recently when idols confess that they have been dating, the public now understands better than previous times. Most of the idols would rather keep the identity of the person that they are dating a secret for his or her safety. That idol’s fans may be crazy enough to hurt that individual that he or she maybe dating. Also, companies know how passionate Korean fans are, so they fear if it was made known that the idol is dating his or her popularity will decline immediately. This happened with the member Seven. He was dating an upcoming actress for over nine years, when photos of them together were leaked online by an unknown source. This was hell breaking loose for the known singer. The public’s reaction was not that great, but after a while he lost many fans due to him being “taken” by someone else.
This also happened when a photo of the singer, IU, was pictured with another Kpop idol, Eunhyuk, from the popular group Super Junior in her house in a seemingly harmless photo. She tweeted the picture to her followers by accident and ever since then she has been called a “whore” for having him over, and there were rumors of them dating. for more information about this please visit: http://www.allkpop.com/2012/11/iu-and-super-junior-eunhyuk-dating.

Iu and Eunhyuk’s Scandal

Many of these kinds of incidents happen, but there are also sexual assaults, sexual harrassment and rape scandals that happen in the Kpop world. These for obvious reasons end the idol’s careers. It is mostly the CEOs of the companies that are involved in these kinds of horrendous acts. Many sexually harass their trainees and Kpop idols. Unfortunately, they are caught after many years of doing these things continuously. This happened with the Open World Entertainment CEO. For more information on this please visist: http://www.allkpop.com/2012/04/open-world-entertainment-ceo-arrested-for-alleged-sexual-harassment-on-artists-and-trainees
It is interesting to see the difference between America and Korea when it comes to scandals. What we may consider normal, they consider scandalous.

Netizens in Korea

Netizens in Korea are extremely scary. They are very percise and are sometimes joked about as detectives. They try to find scandals of idols dating and take it upon themselves to uncover their dirty secrets. They enjoy sending photos of these celebrities to websites and especially if the pictures are of an idol on a date. They not only pry on the idols lives through the internet, they also bully many of these celebrities and try to post as many hateful comments on their fan forums and websites. This has happened recently with mini-Psy. He was being bullied by neitzens online for having a Vietnamese mother. These netizens also froze the homepage of the company on purpose. For more information about this visit : http://www.allkpop.com/2013/05/little-psy-hwang-min-woo-requests-a-police-investigation-against-antis-who-posted-hate-comments.

Little Psy

Many times the idol’s Twitter account will be hacked and the idol is unable to take any action but to threaten to close his account if such actions were repeated. Of course, they are repeated and the idol ends up closing the account and after a while he tries to open a new one. This happened with JYJ member, Jaejoong Kim and many other idols.
The problem with such an advanced country is that there is so much technology and everyone has access to it, but there is no control over it yet and the harms it causes others, celebrities included. This is not an exclusive problem for Korea only, but it has been a problem around the world.

Life as A Trainee

After a potential future Kpop artist is selected he or she become a trainee. They usually sign a contract with the company that they will not disclose any of the information of the company or tell anyone openly. This has become more strict recently. They usually spend most of their time in dancing, singing, acting practice daily or weekly depending on the company and the group that these individuals are put in. Many times trainees will be put into groups and they never debut or they change the members continuously prior to their debut. They are given an allowance when they are trainees and a schedule. After individuals debut they are to live with their members in a dorm that is provided by the company. Sometimes these companies are kind enough to provide a place for these trainees to stay prior to their debut if they live far away. However, most of these artists prior to their debut live on their own. After they debut the members live in the dorms with their managers.

Members in Dorms

After they become members they also sign a new contract. Some of these companies have been criticized for the length of the contracts, some are for ten years, not including their years as trainees. This will be discussed in the future as we will see what happened with the band Dong Bang Shin Ki or DBSK. Also, some of these artists during their training periods get plastic surgery done, which leads scandals which will be discussed more in depth.

How Kpop Artists are Made

You may wonder how Kpop artists are made and how are they so talented. The truth is that some of them might not have been talented at all in the beginning of their careers or lives. In fact, most of them were unsure if they would ever become real artists and ever perform on stage. Most of these artists were actually scouted off the streets, so basically if someone is good looking or charismatic, that is the main component to them becoming and a KPop Idol. A lot of these idols are sometimes frowned upon because of this. Most of them are extremely good looking. They have talent that is shaped by their company. They are sometimes criticized for being just products of the companies managers and producers. They become trained areas such as dancing, singing, acting, and composing. Most of them are also taught how to play instruments, especially the piano or the guitar. A lot of times they are taught another language, such as Japanese, Chinese, and or English. They train for many years. Some have trained for months before his or her debut, and other train for five or six years. Unfortunately, some train for many years and never debut or are dropped from the label.
Nowadays, they have almost daily auditions in Korea, where the person auditioning pays a fee depending on each category that he or she audition for. They also have global audition, thanks to the wide spread of KPop through the internet globally. One of the biggest companies for Entertainment, Sm Entertainment,holds auditions in every continent except Africa. They hold at least three to four auditions in the US each year. They have their current artists reach out to possible “trainees”.

Thousands of hopefuls audition in hopes of becoming a trainee under these companies to fulfill their dreams of becoming Kpop Idols.

Legends of KPop

This is the video of one of the “legends” of KPop, Dong Bang Shin Ki. They will be discussed on many different levels for their achievements in Kpop and what they added to the Korean music industry.

Kpop World

Welcome to the Kpop Experience Blog. Here I will be discussing what it takes to become a Kpop Idol and everything about the KPop world and how it affects teenagers and the Korean Culture.