Hallyu and the K-pop boom in Japan: patterns of consumption and reactionary responses

Abstract

Introduction Relations between Korea and Japan have long been strained, most severely during the colonial period (1910-1945), but despite growing interactions between the two countries through popular culture, post-colonial disputes persist. Often described as “close-but-distant” and “similar-but-different”, Korea and Japan have stood apart from each other, from the rest of Asia, and from the West. As partners and rivals at once, they have formed a symbiosis that is complex and contradictory by nature. Cultural ows between the two countries have intensi ed since the late 1990s, yielding new patterns of cultural consumption that have triggered new expressions of strong xenophobic resistance. The intensi cation was spurred largely by the Korean government’s decision to lift its of cial ban on Japanese cultural imports through the step-by-step Open-Door Policy (1998-2004) in Korea. The Korean Wave or Hallyu (Hanryu 㡑ὶ or Hanryu boom 㡑ὶࣈ࣒ in Japanese) also became apparent in Japan beginning in early 2004 (Jung 2007; 2009). These two major developments seemed at rst to generate the reciprocation of positive images of Japan to Korea and of Korea to Japan and to encourage mutual understanding of their cultural similarities and differences. However, as evident in a series of protests in Japan against Hallyu and against Korea and Koreans, which involved hostile political exchanges both online and of ine, the antagonism seems lately not to have subsided but to be deepening instead.