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.