When Cultural Exchanges Go Awry: Korea-Japan Relations and Popular Culture

Abstract

This article looks at the soft power relations of Korean popular culture in postwar Japan and Korea, taking the 2011 appearance of Korean groups at the NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen (NHK Red and White Song Festival), a televised nationwide New Year's Eve music program in Japan, as an example. What was supposed to be a media event of international friendship sparked an online right-wing nationalist backlash, illustrating how soft power can have the opposite effect if it runs counter to the prevailing political and social climate. Although this criticism represented a minority of Japanese and stood in contrast to support from female fans, K-pop acts disappeared from the Kōhaku until 2017 and only reappeared on the program when they began adapting to social and political realities. The negative reaction of Japanese online nationalists illustrates how soft power, while serving as a powerful tool of mutual connection, can backfire in unfavorable social and political conditions. In times of deteriorating relations, music's close relation to a country's national pride becomes more pronounced than its role as a unifying tool.