“The world’s largest music entertainment market is a two-hour flight away. So why wouldn’t we go there?”
Singer Kim Jaejoong (40) is a star who debuted in Japan with the group TVXQ in 2005 and has been active as a group and solo singer and actor in both countries for over 20 years.
In the 2000s, before the word K-pop was even known, the Japanese music industry began attending small-scale local events and succeeded in capturing the hearts of local fans by showing off their skills, looks, and Japanese skills.
Over the past 20 years, he has vividly watched the advancement of second-generation K-pop groups, including himself, the success of third-generation K-pop stars such as Twice, BTS, and Blackpink, and the fourth-generation teams such as Aespa, Ive, and New Jeans, and the activities of various singers in Japan.
Jaejoong Kim, who recently met with Yonhap News in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, said, "The closer neighbors are, the more likely it is for the relationship to crack even over trivial things. Entertainment plays a role in supporting each other, and even when there are political issues between the two countries, music has always been with the people of both countries. I am very happy that K-pop is connecting the two countries."
He emphasized, "Japan is one of the world's largest music markets (which is important to Korea), but these days, there are a lot of singers in Japan who are trying to expand globally through Korea." He added, "Korean and Japanese entertainment have a complementary relationship that fills in each other's shortcomings. 'K' and 'J' can clearly achieve a 'win-win' in the direction of complementing each other's shortcomings and absorbing each other's strengths."
In the early to mid 2000s, when Kim Jaejoong first entered Japan, there were virtually no Korean male idols who were popular there. Although the enka music of Cho Yong-pil, Gye Eun-sook, and Kim Yeon-ja in the 1980s and the Asian star BoA since 2001 achieved success, the wall in the Japanese male idol market was very high.
In a situation where it was not possible to appear on local TV, TVXQ chose the clever idea of approaching the group as a vocal group with outstanding singing ability rather than as an idol singer. Unlike their Korean activities, which were mainly composed of strong dance songs, the fact that sweet ballad hits were released one after another in Japan is not unrelated to this background.
Kim Jaejoong said, "At the time, we set the concept to represent a vocal band, and targeted the local area first rather than Tokyo. I took language lessons for about 3 months before my debut in Japan, and after that, I focused on studying Japanese for survival. About a year after I entered the local market, I was even dreaming in Japanese. From around that time, I started having fun talking to people in Japanese."
He continued, "I had very high expectations and dreams of doing well in Japan," and "What I remember most is that we topped the Oricon daily singles chart for the first time (with 'SUMMER' in 2007). After that, major media outlets in Tokyo began to look for us."
However, the key to success in opening up the Japanese market was not limited to skill and appearance. Unlike Korea, which quickly follows the latest pop trends, in Japan, which has its own deep emotional roots, forming a bond with the local public was of utmost importance.
“Now we live in an era where we can persuade the Japanese public with our music and culture, but in the 2000s, that method was difficult to work with. We had to accurately understand and express the cultural tastes and unique emotions of the Japanese people. If we couldn’t do this, we had no choice but to remain as some ‘foreign idol.’”
Kim Jaejoong said, “The method of reaching not only passionate fans but also the general public by singing insert songs from Japanese animations or dramas and having our songs played on the streets was effective,” adding, “It was important to delve into the emotions of the Japanese public.”
He cited concert viewing as an example of Japan's unique culture. It is ‘listening’ which can be said to be the exact opposite of ‘singing along’ in Korea.
Jaejoong Kim explained, "In Japan, people focus on a singer's music through silence rather than singing along, and there are times when this moment can be very moving. Fans create an environment where singers can raise their concentration to 100% so that they can convey their emotions solely through singing. Even if it's a simple production, this atmosphere can create touching scenes."
He also said, “Each city in Japan is well-equipped with a variety of performance infrastructure, from small concert halls represented by ZEPP to domes and stadiums,” adding, “This is a very attractive aspect for Korean singers (entering the local market).”
Beyond being a singer and actor, Kim Jaejoong founded the entertainment agency Encode in 2023 to discover and foster idol groups such as Say My Name, Kibit Up, and Bayon. When looking at Japan as a producer rather than a singer, he emphasized that 'bondship' is an important keyword.
He said, "Japan is a good market for forming a very close and continuous deep bond with fans in the entertainment field," and added, "It is a place where you can work for a very long time. There are people like Seiko Matsuda who are active as idols even after they are over 60."
In addition, he mentioned that Encode has many Japanese members and introduced, "There are a lot of very good talents in Japan. They are friends who have a dream of becoming a bridge between the two countries."
Due to the long period of activity in Japan, there are many J-pop stars who have developed a special relationship with Kim Jaejoong. His friendship with singer and actor Tomohisa Yamashita, rock singer Gakt, and rock band L'Arc en Ciel's Haido became a hot topic.
Jaejoong Kim introduced their relationship by saying, "We became friends with Tomohisa Yamashita when he invited his mother to a performance. I was a fan of L'Arc en Ciel even before my debut, and we became friends when I met Haido's friend who was studying abroad in Korea." He laughed, saying, “It feels like a dream to have become friends with people who sang the music I secretly bought from ‘Gilboard’ before Japanese music was officially opened.”
In recent years, various local idol groups incorporating K-pop know-how have been created in Japan. Korea-Japan joint auditions such as ‘Produce 101 Japan’ also aired over several seasons. On the other hand, I asked if there was any point in our music industry accepting Japan.
After thinking for a moment, Kim Jaejoong answered that it was about maintaining the unique ‘texture’ of his country’s music. It is a great advantage for K-pop to quickly adopt the latest global trends, but there are concerns that sometimes our unique color may be diluted.
“When many changes pour into the music industry, I sometimes worry that Korea’s unique color is disappearing. However, Japan has maintained its unique emotions and expressions that can only be created in its own language for a long time. There are many people who still listen to the music of Lee Seung-chul in the 1980s and Shin Seung-hoon in the 1990s. I hope K-pop also strives to develop Korea’s unique musical color.”
