Japanese Musical Director Hishinuma Taeko Praises TVXQ And Worries About Newer K-Pop Groups

[rosetta16.livejournal.com]

With the upcoming press conference of ’200 Pound Beauty’ in Tokyo, Shochiku Company’s content creation director Hishinuma Taeko(54) visited Korea. She held a meeting in the CJ E&M office on the 21st and said, “The performances of Korean musical actors are of a very high quality. Production companies need to be aware of the fact that Korean musicals are of a high caliber and should be exported overseas actively.”

She said, “The perception of Korean musicals in Japan has changed greatly since the Japanese debut of ‘Goong The Musical’,” and “There were many critics who highly praised the production.” She showed surprise at the fact that small-scale musicals in Daehakro, Seoul are the rage in Korea while in Japan, license performance in large theaters take up the majority of productions.

Regarding the K-pop and Korean drama craze of the Hallyu Wave, she pointed out, “When TVXQ debuted in Japan in the past, they were thorough in their preparations which lead people to think, ‘K-Pop is of an extremely high caliber’. But these days, K-Pop groups are appearing in the Japanese market who severely lack in preparation when compared to TVXQ.” She also said, “Usually, plans for musicals are completed two or three years before the actual performance, but in Korea, there are many musicals in which the cast has not been finalized though the performances will begin in the later half of the year.”

Source: [kuki news]

Translated & Shared by: dongbangdata.net

Comments

[lysblack.livejournal.com]

ia with her, i'm all up for the hallyu and i'm not blind to see that it's for the money because the japanese market is bigger, and i don't condemn them for that, this is a capitalist world after all, what annoys me is how half assed 85% of the japanese debuts are, how companies don’t seem to care about really preparing their cats and studying the market they'll be entering.

i also believe that in order to succeed overseas a kpop group at least has to have a solid fanbase in their own country, no need to be huge, but at least have marked their place in korea before going to japan.

[roch-02.livejournal.com]

I agree with everything you said :)

[suzieeq-luv.livejournal.com]

I didn't know Yunho performed Goong in Japan?
Was it just one show?

[rosetta16.livejournal.com]

I dont think he did, it was that guy from SS501 ...

[naj-mahal.livejournal.com]

Damn straight. You can't run off to Japan when you're subpar even in Korea.

[susansaid.livejournal.com]

I agree with this article. That's why the only people I take seriously in Japan are F.T. Island and Kara.

[twinkystar16.livejournal.com]

ft island is serious about their promotions in japan..they spend more time there than in korea..

[drfaith101.livejournal.com]

So true

[xparte.livejournal.com]

lol. ‘K-Pop is of an extremely high caliber’. lol.

[thewarpedmelody.livejournal.com]

LOL the current Kpop should never be associated with "extremely high caliber". 90% of the hit songs dont even come from Korea in the first place, while a number of them are plagiarized. (Eg BEAST's Fiction plagiarized from Robert Mile's Fiction)

[xoxgoodbye.livejournal.com]

Took the words out of my mouth. Tbqh, I don't think that most of the groups which debut in Japan really deserve their success, or rather their success isn't really that worth praising for, because they just debut a Japanese version of a past single rather than a new single suited for the Japanese market. It's just half-assed effort.

[iheartomntd.livejournal.com]

yep and a lot of the cd and concert "sales" are coming from their fans outside of Japan, which is why I really don't place much attention or value to these so called "success" that these groups have.

[honeyfunnybunny.livejournal.com]

Preach it.

The problem I got with the groups debuting left and right in japan right now is that they all go with the mindset of just expanding their position in the over-all asian music market. Or to be more precise, their agency have that mindset. It's a little... as if they just expect a half-assed poorly translated "japanese" version of their song, with 60% of it being in english and broken japanese would make them somewhat relevant in japan. It bothers me even more that they got even more opportunities to make it big there, but yet they appear on talkshows with 5% japanese skills... Idk if its because they just want to ride the hallyu wave and want to cash in and follow the stream, but I just feel like if they actually invested in their japanese activities a little with the mindset of being a guest in the country, they'd have a more stable long-lasting career in japan.

[rosetta16.livejournal.com]

I agree, but i have this feeling is just like e fever and it will die, Just a couple of groups will be able to really stand up at the end

ABORT

[honeebs.livejournal.com]

these days, K-Pop groups are appearing in the Japanese market who severely lack in preparation
Pull out now they are on to you Korea!

Re: ABORT

[suzieeq-luv.livejournal.com]

LMAO

[http://users.livejournal.com/___sasuka/]

sturgeon's law my friend

[nandexdame.livejournal.com]

Were DBSK fluent when they started in Japan?

[iheartomntd.livejournal.com]

They weren't but they also didn't half ass like a lot of these group are doing now.

[ashiva.livejournal.com]

But were DBSK boys really well prepared when they first debuted in Japan? Didn't it just take quite awhile for them to get big so in that time span they learnt Japanese + Japanese culture.

[orenji13.livejournal.com]

No, they are not prepare at all.

SME only give them 2-3 months Japanese class, and then ship them to Japan to start from bottom again. The boys didn't even bring their laptop cause they thought it will be like another artist adventure where they go and release singles and then back to Korea... LOL

[fabledlamb.livejournal.com]

Maybe there isn't even that much of a point in comparing most of the younger kpop bands that are trying to break into the Japanese market with DBSK. Yes, Tohoshinki were a massive success as they worked their way up over several years - but at what cost? At the height of their success (the first half of 2009), their schedule was insane and they were totally burnt out by the summer of 2009... and then came the lawsuit.

I think most companies are now better off trying to make as much money as possible while the Hallyu still lasts in Japan, with the least investment possible. Teaching them Japanese until they speak it fluently and preparing original Japanese albums takes costs a lot of money (and time) and with so many Korean bands entering the Japanese market, there's no guarantee at all that those efforts are going to pay off. Take for example 4minute who at least put in the effort to record a few original Japanese songs even before the other kpop girl groups and still flopped quite badly.

And after all, going to Japan puts extra pressure on groups who are already having a hard time completing all their promotion schedules in Korea without collapsing. So from a Korean perspective, going to Japan well prepared isn't all that attractive anymore.

[baboboy.livejournal.com]

I think most companies are now better off trying to make as much money as possible while the Hallyu still lasts in Japan, with the least investment possible
MTE

[jyouzebin.livejournal.com]

“When TVXQ debuted in Japan in the past, they were thorough in their preparations which lead people to think, ‘K-Pop is of an extremely high caliber’. But these days, K-Pop groups are appearing in the Japanese market who severely lack in preparation when compared to TVXQ.”
omg YES this is sooooooooooo me

[twinkystar16.livejournal.com]

i actually agree with this..kpop groups just flew to japan and start their promotions without being fully prepared..most can't even speak japanese decently or hold a conversation..

[orenji13.livejournal.com]

THSK are preparing themselves IN JAPAN not from Korea. SME didn't give them enough Japanese lesson from Korea or inform the boys that they will be ship to Japan for months to start their career all over again in there.

I think it back to the artist themselves. Either they want to have a long career in Japan or not.
Can't blame the company to try to capitalize the hallyu wave as much as they can. They don't care if the sales comes from the Japan fans or not, they just care about the money. If the artist really want it, they will learn the languages hard and then comes the opportunity to sing more Japanese lyrics song and not remake.

Even THSK only got notice by avex executive on their second year (after the success of Budokan) and then they are manage by a good team (the same with EXILE). It sure didn't come easy.

[byronsbitch.livejournal.com]

I agree that Kpop groups should try and learn the Japanese language a bit better before going over there but I will never understand why people harp on about them changing their music style to conform to the jpop style. why the fuck should they? Artists from other countries dont.

[joongielover.livejournal.com]

I agree that they shouldn't change their style. in my opinion, i just wish they debuted with new songs, and not remakes of korean songs ;_;

[joongielover.livejournal.com]

many comments are saying that dbsk weren't actually all that prepared for japan. and i totally agree. they learned whatever basics, went to japan, and had to learn about culture, language and the society. they sang full japanese songs while learning japanese.

i think the difference between dbsk and the new kpop groups going to japan, is not the amount of preparation, but japan's interest in kpop.

dbsk was in japan before the whole craze came about. and now the new groups are riding their glory. dbsk worked damn hard in japan to get their fame today. and they deserve it. i strongly believe new groups all made "success" in japan because dbsk paved their rode, so i don't care (for a lack of a better work) about them. and i hate how they just remake korean songs into japanese.

i try to be neutral about this, but if there's any dbsk-biased-ness, i'm sorry. i don't hate any of the groups. i'm just tired of seeing them. I NEED DBSK BACK NOW T_T

[suzieeq-luv.livejournal.com]

Yea. If there is one thing that DBSK and BoA had when it came to their success in the Japanese market it was timing.
Now that people are looking at other kpop groups to live up to the standard that has been set by the acts that came before them it just seems right that they come prepared.. that whole 'high caliber' thing

DBSK is definitely a success story but there will be very few groups that can repeat that same success using the same model as DBSK. It was a horrible model anyway but it had great results years down the road.

[yamapi96.livejournal.com]

Agrees with this so much. I really hate that KPOP groups just fly to Japan with a Japanese version of their Korean song, promote for like, idk, a week or two? And then fly off again.

Besides the big names like DBSK, BoA, FTI, KARA, look at Supernova and The BOSS (Dae Guk Nam Ah, or in Japan, Daikoku Danji). Idk much about Supernova since I'm still a new and not very hardcore fan, but at least their Japanese promotions aren't half-assed, and they're putting in so much effort to learn Japanese and the Japanese culture (minus Yunhak probably since he's fluent after studying in Japan with a scholarship given by the Korean government). The BOSS has been living in Japan since September last year, and after gaining fans by appearing on MADE IN BS JAPAN and all that, and holding events in Japan, finally debuted with Love Power on April 13th this year, which is a song catering to the Japanese market, and which they spent so many months preparing for. They had intensive Japanese lessons slightly before they went to Japan in September, and continued that all the way, even until now. They spend 30 over hours recording their songs, checking that their pronunciation isn't strange, that they sing every single word somewhat like the Japanese people do, so on and so forth. They're really popular in Japan now, so much that my Japanese friends are complaining that there are not so hardcore fans who wait outside their Japanese home and steal stuff, so on and so forth. But yet, once groups like SNSD and Beast (I have nothing against them, really, they're amazing in terms of KPOP) go into Japan with Japanese versions of their Korean songs, with a weird jumble of Korean and Japanese and English lyrics and pronunciation and everything, all the attention goes to them. I really want to see good music worthy of these results when groups debut in Japan, not something half-assed like Japanese GEE with Korean lyrics in the chorus (srsly smh at that so much).

Long post is long, haters might hate, but w/e, just giving my own opinion.

[chaoticnuances.livejournal.com]

+1!

[suprockstar.livejournal.com]

fuck yeah.

[roch-02.livejournal.com]

As much as I love DBSK, I love KARA's jpop and I think the girls are more popular than Tohoshinki now in Japan.

[ababobaby.livejournal.com]

How are you sure they're more popular? Even SNSD is getting more popular these days after their concerts.

this might not make sense...

[the-erotomanic.livejournal.com]

do these kpop idols want to be jpop idols? it seems like the main goal is to reach a larger (paying) audience by singing in another language and not necessarily become another kind of artist. western artists have done it before. they've sung chinese/japanese/spanish versions of their songs in the hopes of attracting more paying fans. so i don't really see the problem with kpop idols going to japan ill-prepared.

if these kpop idols are serious of taking over the japanese market and being recognized as local artists, then they will do what kara does and really immerse themselves in the culture. but if they're main goal is to just make more money, i don't really think much preparation is needed. but of coz, they'll risk looking like a fool on tv if they come unprepared.

[marsheumallow.livejournal.com]

the only k-pop group doing it right in japan is the boss, imo.

[yamapi96.livejournal.com]

OMG YES MAN AGREES WITH THIS SO MUCH.

srsly compare how much Daikokudanji have prepared and worked to the rest of the KPOP groups in Japan rn. Although I think Supernova are good too.

[prettyminstrel.livejournal.com]

"severely lack in preparation"

that means u should start to actually learn to speak the language, ppl

[yunchunnified.livejournal.com]

i agree with this.
PREACH.