Japan vs. the World: Reflections on the Asian Pop Music Industry

Sorry guys. This is the best effort Google could come up with when
I searched "Asian pop music". (credits: Wall Street Journal)

I have a lot of Asian friends in my circle. Generally, as such, you'd expect them to be in tune with Asian pop cultural tastes and trends - although frankly speaking, assimilation into the Australian way-of-life means US/UK/Australian pop-culture often dominates the landscape (for obvious reasons), but I digress. A significant proportion know that I'm an AKB48 fan, but their opinions of AKB48 (and Japanese music in general) tend to fall either into cynicism/critcism (recently, I've had someone tell me that "AKB48 is an SNSD wannabe". I kid you not), teasing (not of malice, mind you) or even disgust. What is in near universal and positive agreement amongst them, however, is if the topic shifts to Korean pop music. "Gee gee gee gee baby..." is a more of a household name, whilst "I want/need/love you" nary gets a mention - if at all. Korean music videos dominate 90-95% of the playlist on a music video show (on one of our national broadcaster stations) that has "Asia" in the title. Song requests on Asian pop music radio shows are rarely Japanese music, whilst Korean (and Chinese at times) music ones are dime a dozen.

My anecdotal experience in an Australian context might not be a unique one to others throughout the rest of the Western world, but it nevertheless is a fascinating one. Japanese popular culture was once the dominant form of Asian pop culture from the late '90s to early '00s but in this age of social networking, ecological activism, smartphones and a bleak economic situation worldwide, that role has now shifted up north by defacto. Question is, why is Korea such a dominant force as far as Asian pop culture is concerned? And more importantly, why is Japan slowly failing to capture audiences worldwide? I will attempt to shed some insight into these questions, mainly from the perspective of the music industry.

Regions of Asian Pop Culture

Australia does not appear to be much different from that of worldwide perception and trends with regards to Asian pop culture. The three major producers of Asian pop culture revolve around Korea, Japan and the Chinese-speaking regions (mainly Hong Kong and Taiwan). As mentioned, Korean pop culture is the order of the day, with Chinese (both Hong Kong and Taiwan) occupying a unique, immovable niche whilst Japan trails behind. Japanese pop culture is frequently associated with the anime/manga phenomenon, so it is of no surprise that the otaku (i.e. the nerds and geeks) tend to be the biggest consumers of Japanese pop cultural media products. On the other hand, Korean pop cultural consumers are usually more mainstream with no identifiable associated subcultural niche, whilst you would usually find those with Chinese descent (either born and bred in the local country, or fresh migrants/international students) flock to Chinese-language popular media trends.

From a third-party perspective looking at these consumers of Asian pop music products, we can see each region produces an identifiable, albeit stereotypical, image. Heavy current Western pop and R&B trends are immediately seen in Korean pop music today, slanting towards a more "mature" or "sexy" image. This makes Korean music, in general, more in line with current Western tastes, allowing it to be more readily assimilated into the Western environment. Chinese pop music and styles tend to lean towards a more ballad (or a laid back, "soft" pop) approach, with a touch of class and sophistication. On the other hand, Japanese pop music is all too readily familiar with the "kawaii" (cute) concept - bubblegum pop frequently (but not totally) dominates people's minds when they think of J-pop. Of course, these are all geenralisations and, especially with the latter two regions, there is often a wider variety of pop music genres that go differently towards these characterisations.

All this impacts on how Asian pop music (and pop culture in general) is marketed towards consumers, especially on an international scale, whether intended or otherwise. However, as previously mentioned, considering the newfound dominance of Korean pop culture in the West, on wonders whether Japan is slowly becoming irrelvant.

Factors Contributing to Irrelevancy

There could be a number of different factors that are contributing to the rise of Korea as the defacto "hub" of Asian pop music and the subsequent possible decline of Japan.

The "Galapagos" effect is well documented, especially as pertains to the mobile phone industry, and can be applied equally in the entertainment industry. Japanese pop and tech culture often sees itself as being different and having "unique" tastes, such that they are not readily transferrable into overseas markets. Idol groups are one such industry - outside of Asia, they are far less common. With regards to marketing and business profitability, companies usually feel that the domestic market is sufficient enough already and hence there wouldn't be any need to chase after international sales revenue.

Yet even if we just take the greater Asian region in isolation, the tide is fast turning over to Korean pop culture. K-pop artists are making inroads into the Japanese music market, with varying degrees of success - KARA and Tohoshinki are doing quite well, for example. Let's not even get started on the West where, by association, "Asian pop music" these days usually implies, more often than not, K-pop. In the US alone, we have had David Letterman inviting SNSD, the various SMTown concerts and PSY's near-memetic and viral Gangnam Style taking the internet worldwide by storm (even attracting Bieber).

In terms of musical styles, why the West is more attracted by K-pop (than, say, J-pop) can easily be explained by the influence of current Western pop trends in K-pop, echoing in particular the R&B and dance-pop feel found in most Western pop music. People can more readily accept the familiar, even if it's in another language, considering how Korea is trying to emulate the American model for entertainment contents production and trends. Contrast this with your stereotypical Japanese "bubblegum pop", and the differences are readily apparent, even despite the vast variation in genres in modern Japanese pop music. Most consumers brought up in Western society would probably know which one to choose, and it won't be from the Land of the Rising Sun.

Going further than just simply musical styles, the whole "kawaii" image portrayed by Japan Entertainment Inc. is slowly losing its stranglehold on the world's entertainment stage, with people in favour of a more "mature" and "sexy" look - cute poses are out and tall, slender figures are in. One could consider Korea chasing after international trends and tastes as a major factor behind this, but also perhaps due to the increasingly negative and sensitive connotations of "youthful innocence" (e.g. schoolgirls in sailor uniforms) in the West, usually linked to images of paedophilia and child pornography. People in Western societies will look at you strangely and suspiciously if you mention you follow pop stars or groups whose oldest member is no older than 15, yet which is commonly found in mainstream Japanese pop culture. Not to mention the (personally speaking, tired and old) stereotype that "only creepy old men follow (Japanese) idol groups".

If we're talking about stereotypes though, none are greater than that heaped upon the otaku subculture being portrayed as the typical unemployed nerd with no social life, let alone having girlfriends and all, and on the computer 24/7. Even outside of media circles in Japan, where they (and the rest of the NEETs) are the frequent whipping boy concerning all things unemployment and the workforce, otaku are not perceived favorably in mainstream society, where anime/manga is usually seen as "extremely violent and sexual" on one end of the spectrum and "for kids" on the other - never mind to most people that most series fall smack bang in the middle. And if you must, tying back to the above aforementioned point before, there's always the persistent issue of 2D "lolicon", which has its origins in the otaku sphere.

Where Korea, and to some extent Chinese, pop cultural products also have a distinct advantage goes back to the point I previously made about familiarity. People are generally more comfortable with the familiar, whether they be in fashion and music styles, looks or trends. Language differences notwithstanding, much of Korean and Chinese popular culture is modeled strongly after Western styles, tastes and trends. Not just in music, as previously mentioned, but also in other industries like film and television drama, as well as general consumer tastes overall. That's not to say Japan is very far from global consumer trends and tastes - far from it, as far as most industries are concerned. But Japan, much more than Korea or China, is far more well-known for its differences from the world norm, namely in areas like music (especially idol groups, male or female), anime/manga, fashion (excluding high street labels) and television/film streotypes (Godzilla, super sentai), rather than any similarities it may have - even in the same industries. And it is these differences that people will immediately think of. Not of any similarities, of which Korea and China mostly has (and has to its advantage if transnational consumption was to be considered) and will be attributed to. And unfortunately, people are less comfortable with the unfamiliar or foreign.

What does all this add up to for Japan? Whilst Korea (and China to some extent) is on track for global reach, the combination of unfamiliarity from difference and image issues (in certain industries and subcultures) leads to a greater risk of mainstream stigmatism and rejection. Even if the reality of the situation is not as extreme as outright dismissal, consumer preferences will continue to lean towards the one that is more trendy and conformant with global tastes. Which, at the moment, lies much more heavily with Korean (and Chinese) popular culture.

The Rocky Return to Greatness...?

Given all these factors that are working against Japanese favour, what can it do in the meantime in order to restore global confidence and regain the mainstream luster that it once held before Korea took it away from them?

The popularity of idol groups, not only within Japan but also their reception outside of Japan within the Asian market, seems to offer a solution. Johnny's, especially its heavy-hitters like SMAP and Arashi, have attempted to break into the Asian market by holding overseas concerts. Likewise with Perfume and their forthcoming Hong Kong concerts. Meanwhile, Yasushi Akimoto and his -48 empire have begun laying the groundwork for greater Asian domination, starting by establishing groups in Jakarta (JKT48) and continuing in Shanghai (SNH48), not to mention AKB48's brick-and-mortar storefront presences in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. These cases seem to suggest that perhaps there is sufficient enough of a demand for Japanese idol products outside of Japan, in order to justify holding concerts or officially distributing artist goods there. At least for idol groups, marketing directly overseas and tapping into these sources of latent consumer demand seems to be effective, if only for attracting the existing fanbase located within Asia. The challenge, however, is to create new demand and customers for your products. Especially with regards to female idol groups, there is still a strong "smell" of otaku origins (the "Akihabara" in AKB48 is a clear example of this at play); the mainstream consumer, wanting to distance themselves away from this socially niche subculture, might be turned off by such "smells". This becomes even more problematic once you start taking into account Western tastes. Thus the question is how do you market to the mainstream in order to catch new customers?

One answer might be to conform with global tastes. Why be something different when you could just follow the market and earn more profits? Experience and history, however, suggests that might not be such a wise strategy. SDN48's more "sexy and mature" image might not have exactly worked out for them due to this very reason: as Yasushi Akimoto's answer to the success of K-pop (along with the releases in Korea and even sections of lyrics in Korean), it never really took off beyond its core fanbase (i.e. the existing AKB48 fandom). Consumers would have just turned to the real thing, i.e. K-pop idol groups, instead of a 48-branded alternative. Perfume's latest A-side, "Spending all my time", was said to have been tuned more for a global audience; however, fans' reactions have been lukewarm at best in response to this new direction. The moral of these stories is, there might not be any incentive to change modern J-pop's, and J-pop artists', image when your existing fanbase would see it as a cheap slap in the face when you do so. You instantly lose that core point of product differentiation in an already crowded Asian music market.

The global downturn in the economy is also proving a challenge for many businesses and industries worldwide, not just for the music industry in Japan. Although research might suggest the demand for idol group products and idol group consumption habits are generally income inelastic, one cannot deny that Japan itself is not in a good economic state right now. Domestic consumption and spending on leisure and entertainment will inevitably fall; even with the strength of domestic idol groups, there will always be a point of diminishing returns. Thus, companies need to start looking significantly to the West for new sources of profits. Even with the state of the American economy and the Eurozone debt crisis playing against discretionary income and consumption levels, there are still untapped markets throughout that can potentially be opened up. Perhaps Japan could look to One Direction for inspiration, being no different to your stock Japanese boy band formula except for race, yet is able to enjoy phenomenal success in the West. Of course, Japan needs to tread carefully here, as any cultural differences are far more pronounced in comparisons between the West and Japan, relative to say, Korea vs. Japan. This needs to be taken into account - what works in Japanese society (I'm looking at you, "no dating rules") might not necessarily translate all that well into Western cultures.

In the end, Japan needs to market its own strengths and differences to the world. Yes, its unique image is a challenge to market successfully worldwide in the face of stiff competition from Korea, but corporate Japan should ultimately embrace it, not see it as a detriment to global success. Continue to adapt their industry models for local tastes (aka. "glocalisation"), as we have seen in the electronics industry, but not to the point of directly copying or "fighting fire with fire". More importantly, it needs to move out of the otaku bracket and market to the mainstream far more aggressively than is now. Not suggesting it should alienate its core otaku market altogether, as that market group is still pop cultural firms' biggest source of international income, but the bigger slice of the sales pie lies with the nascent demand found in ordinary society, and by gradually shaking off that otaku image (by not piggybacking off the success of anime/manga properties abroad), perhaps mainstream consumers can finally start warming up to Japanese entertainment more.

I for one would love to see a resurgence in popularity of Japanese music artists. But regaining supremacy is an uphill challenge - a challenge I would like to see it succeed in.