Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on September 2012

WILL K-POP POP?

Regarding “The Korean Invasion” (The Last Word, Aug 30): So your logic is Japanese don’t need to travel, because they can make enough money at home? I think it has more to do with prestige than simple economics. So the Beatles should have just sat around Manchester since they could make enough dough in Blighty? Perhaps Sting should have been satisfied playing taverns in Chislehurst?—beyonce

You have your occasional Pink Lady, the “Sukiyaki” song, and currently ”Gangnam Style” that are noticed and fleetingly popular in the States, but unless it’s in English it won’t make it into the mainstream. See Abba, Björk, etc. There will always be a niche, however. America is full of niches. By the way, you didn’t mention that one of the reasons that Korean movies and music are everywhere is because the government heavily subsidizes the entertainment industries as a means of exporting “soft power,” or cultural foreign policy, to create admiration for and favorable feelings toward South Korea. It’s a very smart foreign and domestic policy. Of course Canada does a little of the same but they do it more as a defensive domestic policy so they don’t get swamped by their neighbor’s culture.—kevcham

“Boys” and “Gangnam Style” have respectively made SNSD and Psy one-hit wonders abroad, so there is some hope for K-pop to go mainstream/international. Whether Korean musicians become famous for more than just one song or whether K-pop becomes a sustainable trend, as with any other kind of music, is yet to be seen. However, one thing is for sure: if K-pop is to be taken seriously then its biggest label, SM Entertainment, needs a name that doesn’t make it sound like it produces porn for self-loathing perverts (the fact that a pretty-boy group called “Super Junior” has signed on with them could lead to other misunderstandings).—friendofdog

Hopefully not.—Matthias Schneidewind

As much as I despise K/J Pop, when I heard Girl’s Generation “sing” on David Letterman, I was quite impressed! I mean, it was in English that I could understand and at least some of them had good voices. I could be wrong, but don’t people in the West tend to be suspicious of artists who never sing live and only ever mime to CD tracks (AKB48, etc.)? Methinks that has something to do with it. People want to know if they can really sing—people connect when they hear a person’s true voice as apposed to computerized version of it. (Have you heard “Perfume?” Eugh). All it’ll take is a live performance on an American talk show singing (in English) and a quick interview in English, and I could see any artist having a shot. Now it’s just a case of finding anyone who can actually do that…—Charltzy

Well… Seeing as though 2NE1 was in an Adidas commercial with Nicki Minaj. YES.—@Curiousiko

Uh, no.—@srj711

There is no chance.—@kurisuhrvat

KANJIRIFIC

Regarding “Feminine Characters” (Kanji Korner, Aug 31): The judgments on gender seem to come from the modern interpretation. The kanji themselves seem more like observations of the period from whence they came.—Simon Dennett

Love these kanji articles. I’m always learning something. Thank you!—Paul Paws