Japanese fans wait in line for the three-day K-pop concert KCON Japan in front of the Makuhari Messe Convention Center in Chiba. The event was held from April 13 to 15 and attracted 68,000 Japanese fans. / Courtesy of CJ E&M



By Kang Hyun-kyung



The latest K-pop concerts held in the greater Tokyo area of Chiba have found a striking trait among hallyu fans _ they are becoming younger, compared to early Korean drama fans.



KCON, a three-day concert organized by CJ E&M and held between April 13 and 15 at Makuhari Messe Convention Center in Chiba, attracted 68,000 fans, an increase of 20,000 from last year's event.



Twenty-eight K-pop groups, including the 11-member boy band Wanna One and girl group TWICE, performed during the three-day concert.



"The majority of K-pop fans who flocked to KCON Japan concerts were Japanese teens or those in their 20s," said Co Young-sic, head of communications at CJ E&M. "These younger Japanese fans are a breath of fresh air into hallyu, in that previous hallyu fans in Japan were drama lovers in their 50s or older."



Unlike the older generation who are believed to be more conservative, Cho said, the younger Japanese fans are open-minded to new culture and care little about politics and diplomatic tension between South Korea and Japan. "The younger Japanese fans appear to enjoy K-pop as a music genre," he said. "One of the characteristics of these new-generation fans is they not only listen to music but also reveal their interest in Korean lifestyle, such as beauty products, food and even Korean culture."



He said events like KCON Japan play a part to sustain the popularity of K-pop in Japan as fans there are able to meet their favorite singers at the concert.



During the three-day event 187 programs on beauty, fashion and food were held on the sidelines of the concert. YouTube beauty creators and social entrepreneurs were part of the programs, interacting with Japanese attendees.



CJ E&M has hosted KCON since 2012 and the Chiba concert was its fourth edition. The first KCON concert in Japan was held in 2015 as a one-day event that attracted 15,000 fans. Since last year CJ E&M has been hosting three-day KCON concerts in Japan. KCON Japan accounts for 26 percent of all KCON concert fans, showing Japan is a key market.



Korean popular culture first took hold in Japan in the early 2000s after the Korean drama "Winter Sonata" starring Bae Yong-jun and Choi Ji-woo aired on broadcaster NHK created a K-drama craze among women in their 50s or older.



Experts characterized the early K-drama boom in Japan as the first Korean wave. K-dramas have since been popular in Southeast Asia and the Middle East.



The second Korean wave came in the late 2000s when Korean pop music went viral in Japan and other Asian countries. Girls' Generation, Big Bang, CL and Super Junior are some of the K-pop acts who were very popular in the second Korean wave.



Singer Psy opened a new heyday for K-pop when his "Gangnam Style" music video went viral all around the globe. His popularity, however, was short-lived as his follow-up songs didn't get much attention from overseas fans. Boy band BTS lifted K-pop to the U.S. mainstream, a job no other previous K-pop groups had done before. The boy band enjoys global popularity thanks to YouTube. The third Korean wave is now underway.



Experts say technology plays a key part behind the enduring popularity of K-pop.

