[News] K-Pop Stars Lure Japanese Consumers

 

Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP/Getty Images

LG hired KARA, a female Korean dance and music group, to appear in advertisements in Japan for its Optimus smartphones. The group topped Japan’s weekly DVD sales in February, according to Oricon Inc .

Yuko Ishii, a 53-year-old factory worker in central Japan, used to feel reluctant about buying products made in neighboring South Korea. That changed after she became a fan of pop stars such as boy band TVXQ.

“I used to rule out Korean products, but now I have no problem with them,” said Ishii, whose purchases include a washer made by LG Electronics Inc. “If my favorite star was advertising a South Korean TV, I would definitely buy it. I want to feel closer to them by buying the same products they use.”

Ishii and other fans of so-called K-pop may help Korean electronics makers expand in the world’s third-largest economy, where consumers have traditionally preferred domestic brands. Last month, Samsung Electronics Co.’s Galaxy S II smartphone was the best-selling mobile phone in Japan, according to research company BCN Inc. That helped South Korean exports to the nation jump 50 percent in the first six months of 2011.

“The Korean boom is a tailwind for made-in-Korea products,” said Hidetomi Tanaka, an economics professor at Jobu University in Isesaki, Japan. Starting with middle-aged women who watched Korean soap operas on TV, it has grown to include young men and women listening to K-pop, Tanaka said.

Samsung, the world’s second-largest mobile phone maker, and LG are working to gain a foothold in Japan after both companies previously scaled back their ambitions in the country.

Source: Bloomberg News

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from the very little understanding I have and mentions of Bloomberg News I see on television, this is pretty cool to be mentioned in such a prominent news site actually :)