Waving goodbye to the Korean wave?
The Japanese are the first to acknowledge a tendency to develop an immediate and intense interest in a person or subject that burns brightly for a brief period before it just as quickly evaporates. Indeed, they use the expression senko hanabi—literally, incense fireworks—to describe this phenomenon.
Senko hanabi are a traditional Japanese version of the American sparkler, and they are often seen at family gatherings at just this time of year. These backyard fireworks have become a metaphor for transience, a favorite Japanese theme. (See this for a good, though a bit overwrought, description.)
Last year, my wife and I were discussing the senko hanabi phenomenon in relation to the well-known “Korean Wave” in Japan, and wondering when the Japanese focus on things Korean would inevitably sputter. She predicted interest would start to wane in December, and according to the following article written by the Seoul correspondent of the Nishinippon Shimbun, her forecast seems to have been not far off. In fact, one Korean source quoted in the article says the sharp decline in interest is not a temporary phenomenon and describes it as a bursting of the bubble.
The article is in Japanese and will stay on line for only about a week (how’s that for an example of senko hanabi in the mass media), so here again is my quick and dirty translation.
The value of Korean film exports, the primary element in the so-called Korean Wave sweeping Japan, plunged by roughly half in the period from January to June this year. The most important factor in the falloff was the sharp decline in exports to Japan, which accounts for 70% of the export market. The Korean Film Council commented, ‘We cannot say this phenomenon is temporary, but is rather the result of the “export bubble” to Japan bursting.’
According to the Yonhap News Agency, a total of 128 Korean films were exported to 47 countries and territories during this period, but the export value fell 58.3% year-on-year to US$17.42 million. The average export price per film also fell by a similar percentage, from roughly US$273,000 to US$137,000.
The statistics for exports to Japan were particularly revealing. During the same period last year, 36 movies with an average export price of US$860,000 each were sent to that country, while this year the figure fell to just 15 films with an average value of US$580,000. In addition, the amount of money received from exports to Japan during the first six months of this year accounted for roughly half of all film export income, while it accounted for about 74% last year. The export value for the entire Asian region fell to roughly 64% of the total.
Yonhap also reports a change in trends in Japan, where competition drove up the price of star vehicles filmed by famous directors to several million dollars apiece. This change led to the decline in the number of films exported as well as the drop in the price per film. Last year, such movies as The Eraser in My Head grossed 3 billion yen (roughly US$26 million) and April Snow grossed 2.75 billion yen (roughly US$ 23.8 million), but films of that quality have yet to appear this year.
Postscript 1: The only reference I could find to this Yonhap article in English was in an article in the Wall Street Journal, which requires registration. If you see any other links, be sure to send them in.
Postscript 2: People in Kyushu have traditionally felt much closer to Korea than folks in Tokyo, Osaka, and other points to the northeast. To give Japanese readers an idea of the extent of interest in Fukuoka City, here is a regular section devoted to the Korean Wave on the website of the Nishinippon Shimbun, the primary regional newspaper.
l need sme 1 in nottingham who has a studio l wann becme fam 
perfeckt 10:10
i love all that is hello kitty but pandapple is so cute
There haven’t really been any huge Korean films this year except for maybe The Host (english title) which comes out in Japan on 9/2. I wonder how that will do…
August 11th, 2006 at 2:14 amhere’s a link to an article from the Daily Hankyoreh – headlined as “South Korean film industry reeling from sluggish sales in Japan”
Kim Seong-eun from CJ Entertainment Co. says, “The Korean movie distributors, including us, were too focused on raising premiums. As some Korean movie stars enjoy soaring popularity in Japan, the loyalty premium to pay for their films also increased. During this time, we may have contracted a strange virus that got us into thinking that we should sell to Japan at least at such and such price, say, several million dollars.”
August 11th, 2006 at 2:30 amKorean wave?
August 11th, 2006 at 3:06 amThere is no korean wave from first to end.
That was made mirage by commercialist.
Yes, alpha is prob correct. The media manuracture these waves, whether it’s the New Wave of French cinema, the Korean wave, the Japanese wave, etc etc, ad infinitum. There was never a Korean wave. Pure media hype. Taiwan experiences and experienced the same Korean wave, the media said the same thing and it remains part of the culture now, but it was never a wave. Just just hot chicks and handsome boys. Movie stars. Singers. People get bored in their own backyards, look for grass that is greener. Every country / culture does this. The Korean wave was a mirage concocted by the commercialists, as apha so rightly says. But the article is a good one, thanks for the tranlations, Ampontan…..
August 11th, 2006 at 9:45 amNo Korean Wave?
You didn’t see that link to the section of the Nishinippon Shimbun?
You haven’t turned on the TV set and run into all those Korean TV shows and movies?
The women (yes, a lot of them middle-aged) sure turn out to see the in-person performances of Koreans in show business.
The increased travel to Korea, the increase in people studying Korean…it sure looked like a Korean wave to me.
Maybe you don’t like the word “wave”? OK, then, how’s “boomlet”?
August 11th, 2006 at 11:11 amHere in the states last year you couldn’t go to Asahiya without seeing a huge display of Korean drama DVDs and fan magazines. Now? Bupkes. There was definitely a mini-boom here.
Fads come and go. This one had to end sooner or later.
August 11th, 2006 at 11:38 amSenko hanabi doesn’t really apply as much as people seem to think though lol. The fact that things such as gundam, dbz, pachinko stay popular surely prove this. Pachinko should be a prime candidate for being a fad, its funny at first and then after 10minutes its just the same over and over. Yet somehow it remains incredibly popular.
August 11th, 2006 at 11:56 amhonestly i’m glad. korean stuff has gotten even more dramatic…. as if wasn’t before. honestly, i wished that it woulda ended earlier. i was in japan during 04, and i couldn’t go no where without seeing some poster or advertisement with yon sama, and kwon sang woo. really..annoying, and when i told people i’m korean, they already had this prejudice from all the dramas. bleh…. oh yeah, funny how everyone asks if i know someone famous. do you know such and such? he was in this movie/drama… i think he’s great… uh… i know korea is a small country, but not everyone is related, nor do we know each other… i don’t think.
maybe now, s. korea will straighten up, and do something about n.korea’s nuclear missles…. hopefully.
August 11th, 2006 at 3:30 pmSo,can you identify why south south korean TV’s audience share was low and prices of south korean star concert’s tickets were often 1yen in net orction?
August 12th, 2006 at 12:13 amDid you study economy?
Demand and supply.
Well,deflation?]
Right,nowadays 1 yen is enough to establish a business establishment.
So,why south korean wave was happened?
Simple rason,south Korean Tv and film and etc etc were cheap because sk”Exporting culture policy”
That’s all.
大長今！！ That was a good Korean drama, it was one of only 2 Korean dramas I watch, the other one was crap.
August 12th, 2006 at 12:14 amI think the so called “Korean Wave” is came from a pun, right? 韓流 sounds the same as 寒流 (Kan-ryu), which means cold front(?), right? Sure, may be the term was manufactured by the media, but I seem to remember that the popularity of some Korean drama came before this term was invented. Didn’t Korean TV dramas and movie became popular through word of mouth and indie venues, and then the big media jumped all over it to try to make money? (Hence creating the boom and bust of a bubble?) Corporations are so good at killing off a good thing. What really surprised me was RAIN’s concerts at Madison Square Garden last year!!! He had to add a 2nd show and still, both shows were sold out!!! That bloke has a seriously messed up face, I can’t understand why anyone would think him handsome!!! (Where’s the puke emoticon/kaomoji when u need it?!)
[...] Despite all of this, bowling followed the senko hanabi pattern of so many other booms in Japan (as mentioned by Ampontan a few days ago) – burning with white-hot intensity for what ended up being a few short moments, only to sputter and finally die in a disappointing finale. One week everyone was bowling. . . The following week no one was. [...]
August 15th, 2006 at 9:07 pmi beg to differ, i think the korean fascination in japan was there at some point. this past april (2006), i was on a business trip to (south) korea, and on my return i decided to take a flight from gimpo to haneda instead of narita. i was the last to get through immigration, but when i came out of the immigration area, i was greeted by i’d say 50-60 adoring fans, all with cameras, etc, they were mostly teenage girls, i was excited and felt like a celebrity until i saw them go from excited faces to disappointed faces in the matter of oh three seconds. laugh! i guess i look nothing like a korean movie star. but i honestly think these people stalk korean movie stars that probably go to tokyo for a weekend trip or so. this was on a sunday afternoon. if you’ve really nothing to do, check that scene out!
August 15th, 2006 at 10:41 pm[...] badly a surefire hit like “The Host” did for proof of that) than diminishing quality. Other blogs have already dissected the phenomenon much better than I ever could. Besides, the South Korean [...]
June 7th, 2007 at 4:31 pm