A Brazilian man paid for plastic surgery to look more “Asian.” He stated that he was a huge fan of K-pop and Korean idols, influencing his decision to go under the knife.
Monthly Archives: October 2015
K-pop and Beauty Standards
Every culture has their own set of beauty standards. Differences can be seen in not only with favoured body shapes, but also in facial features. As well, make-up and hair plays a large part in creating the “perfect” girl of each culture. Click here to see an interesting photoshop experiment on 27 definitions of beauty in various countries.
K-pop has driven Korean beauty standards to the forefront. Korea is a country where plastic surgery is common practice, with many teenagers gifted double eyelid surgery as a graduation present. Beauty, and the obsession with features considered beautiful, have driven a fast growing plastic surgery industry.
What exactly is the Korean ideals of beauty?
In no particular order,
- Pale Skin
- Aegyo-sal (Puffy Undereye Bags)
- Nose Bridge
- V-shaped Face
- Double Eyelids
- Thin legs
- Rigid Nose Tip
- Small Nostrils
K-pop stars are the face of such beauty standards. Many entertainment companies persuade their stars to undergo surgery in order to appeal to the general public.
Longstanding Animosity
Japan and Korea still have historical disagreements that have yet to be solved. Animosity between the two countries stem from the use of comfort women and historical discrepancies. For instance, Japan has yet to issue a written apology for the atrocities that they committed when colonizing Korea. Many politicians have gone so far as to say that the Koreans would inevitably be colonized because they could not modernize themselves. Many Korean artifacts have also not been returned to Korea by the Japanese government. The visit of Japanese Prime Minister’s to Yasukuni shrine, which houses many war criminals, is also a contentious problem.
The Japanese have also refused to recognize the plight of comfort women, who were forced into prostitution by the Japanese. The Japanese government have called comfort women “liars,” justifying this statement by stating that in prostitution was normal in Korea because there were already many brothels.
These, and many other reasons, cause the hostility between Japan and Korea, that have made K-pop’s entrance into Japan controversial and problematic.
K-pop in Japan
Taking Japan by storm, K-pop is one of the fastest and most popular music genres in the island nation. Korean bands and solo artists have learned Japanese in order to broaden their target markets. Popular bands such as KARA, Big Bang, and B2ST have all penetrated the Japanese market successfully. In fact, K-pop groups have broken sales records and occupied prime-time airtime on television and radio shows. However, this is not to say that the Hallyu wave have not experienced obstacles.
Increasingly, Japan is experiencing anti-hallyu sentiments. Hallyu, meaning “flow of Korea,” describes the increase in popularity of South Korean culture since the late 1990s. After experiencing great popularity, there has been increased animosity towards Korea and Korean programming. This hostility has resulted in anti-Korean rallies that chant offensive messages and signage which include “Die Koreans” and “Go back to Korea.” Even more alarming is the fact that there many zainichi Koreans currently living in Japan. Although they may identify more as Japanese than Korean, there have been instances where bullying and discrimination has taken place. In Japanese bookstores, the books on display in the best-selling non-fiction section were anti-Korean publications, that were on contentious legal and social issues between Japan and Korea.
Let’s Get Started…What exactly is K-pop?
K-pop is a musical genre from South Korea, that focuses on not only audio but also visual elements of music. It is not limited to only one type of genre, but a variety of musical styles such as hip-hop, R&B, and pop.
Many have even claimed that K-pop is better than American pop because of its meticulous concentration on not only wardrobe, but presentation, and quality of performance. Read more about this here. What’s more, the American music industry has even begun to notice K-pop as a force that may be able to penetrate the American market.
Most notably, Korean singer/rappper CL, of the girl group 2NE1, has been preparing for an American debut since last year. Enlisting the help of Scooter Braun, the musical manager of Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, and Psy, to manage her launch. Since then, CL has performed at the highly popular Ultra Music Festival in Miami as a result of her collaborations with EDM artists Diplo and Skrillex. Her close friendship with designer and Moschino’s creative director, Jeremy Scott, has led to friendships with A$AP ROCKY and MIA.