Paper short abstract:

This paper analyses the coverage of the Korean Wave by two Japanese national newspapers, the Yomiuri Shimbun and the Asahi Shimbun. In particular, it will look at articles published between 2011 and 2013, a period characterized by the worsening of diplomatic relations between Japan and South Korea.

Paper long abstract:

When the South Korean television drama Winter Sonata became an unexpected hit in Japan in late 2003 and 2004, many in the Japanese mass media rushed to label the Korea Boom that ensued as a transient phenomenon. Contrary to their predictions, the presence of Korean popular culture in the Japanese mediascape became fixed during the following decade, the focus shifting from TV dramas to popular music. By 2011, indeed, the media were reporting of the arrival of a second Korean Wave to Japan. Two events, however, curtailed this spike in popularity. First, in July 2011, actor Takaoka Sōsuke wrote on Twitter a series of comments criticizing Fuji TV's broadcasting of Korean content. Takaoka faced widespread public backlash, but his comments also prompted a series of protests against Fuji TV that effectively directed media and public attention to the alleged excesses of the Korean Wave. Over a year later, in August 2012, Lee Myung-bak visited the disputed islands of Dokdo/Takeshima, the first president of the Republic of Korea to ever do so. His visit triggered a worsening of the diplomatic relations between Japan and South Korea, further affecting the popularity of Korean popular culture in the archipelago.

This paper analyses how two of the Japanese national newspapers, the Asahi Shimbun and the Yomiuri Shimbun, covered topics related to the Korean Wave between January 2011 and December 2013. Drawing on content analysis, it examines the way in which South Korean pop culture, its popularity and its Japanese fans were framed by the media prior to the unfolding of the two events outlined above, and how the shifting political situation was reflected in, and affected, this coverage from the summer of 2012 onwards. In so doing, this presentation seeks to offer answers to two more general questions: to what extent do domestic political tensions and regional diplomatic conflicts still limit popular culture flows within East Asia? And what role do the media play in this process?