Maria Grigera

ASN3993 & ASN5932

June 20th,2021
Response Paper #2
The material that was provided to us this week mentioned different aspects of the Japanese and
Korean culture, we learned about the Japanese music industry and the impact that it made in the
country and worldwide over the years, we learned how other Asian countries take Japanese
music and adapt it to their own country and style, that was something that I was not aware of and
found it fascinating. the more I get to learn about the countries and their music the more I realize
how different they are although they are neighbor countries and with a lot of values in common.
When we talk about fan culture, we are talking about a group of people, a community that
shows interest in the same activities, events, bands, and more. In the readings and videos, we get
to learn about the differences between Korean and Japanese fandom, In Japan, the experience
that the idols deliver is more one of entertainment, the fans can meet the idols in meet and greets
and they get to know them even before they debut since they are often used as back up dancers
of veteran idols to test the waters, and see what the fans would like, so by the time that they
debut they already have a fan-based. That’s why I consider Japanese fandom to be more of
participatory culture since they are more involved with the performances of the idols in
comparison to the Korean fandom that mainly consumes what the K-pop industry has to offer
and since they have a product that is appealing the fandom will consume it.
In Korea K-pop idols are closer to Hollywood celebrities, they are less accessible in comparison
to Japan and they are displayed more.
I think that because of technology Korean and Japanese fandoms have been able to spread
worldwide, more in the case of Korea because they put more emphasis on the accessibility of
their content worldwide. K-pop is more than just a Korean group that looks good and can dance,
It come a long way and it demonstrated be its genre, and I don’t think it should matter who in the
group as long as it follows the characteristics of K-pop, I understand it might not be easy for
certain people to understand so but it should not be limited to just groups of people from Korea.
I agree with Lee Gyu-tag because that’s the case with all genres, they all take something from
another one, and whenever a genre from a certain country arrives at another one, there’s always a
chance, a way to adapt the genre to the culture of the country, almost like a need to make it more
the countries style. I think it is understandable to have the fear of having what we like changed
but I think it is necessary to continue to discover new music.