The NHK Red and White Song Competition, Japan’s largest year-end music festival scheduled to air on the 31st, the last day of this year, will feature six K-pop idol groups, including Irish, Twice and Le Seraphim. It is one-seventh of the total 41 teams in the cast.
However, controversy is brewing among Japanese Internet users. “There are so many K-pop singers in Japanese festivals,” he said. “The Red and White Music Competition,” which became one of Japan’s iconic TV programs with a viewership rating of over 80 percent in the 1960s, is considered to mean that an appearance at the event itself is recognized as one of the best singers in the Japanese music market. A number of Korean groups appear in prestigious year-end broadcasts to Japanese people, and local Internet users expressed their displeasure.
However, Japanese teenagers and people in their 20s who enjoy K-pop are responding to social networking services (SNS) by saying, “It is outdated to criticize just because you are a Korean singer.”
In the wake of the controversy, music critic Tetsuo Higara said on social media, “There were already many Korean singers including TVXQ, BoA, Kye Eun-sook, and Cho Yong-pil. The Red and White Singing Contest is not a stage where only Japanese people participate.” Meanwhile, “The Red and White Singing Contest,” which marks its 75th anniversary this year, is a program that is held at the end of each year in which men’s and women’s teams compete for songs. TWICE’s appearance has been confirmed for the fifth time this year, and LE SSERAFIM’s third time. It is their first time to appear together. In addition, a total of six K-pop-related singers, including ME:I and JO1, were included in this year’s lineup, which was created through “PRODUCE 101 JAPAN,” a group that introduced the format of CJ ENM’s audition program “PRODUCE 101” to Japan, which created popular groups such as Wanna One and IZ*ONE.
SOPHIA KIM
US ASIA JOURNAL
