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KCON 2017 Japan festival sees 48,500 Hallyu fans

Posted May. 22, 2017 07:22,   

Updated May. 22, 2017 07:28

한국어
The scene of Hallyu festival "KCON 2017 Japan" at Makuhari Messe, one of the largest convention centers located in Chiba nearby Tokyo

The KCON 2017 Japan was held for three days starting from last Friday and popular K-Pop stars including Apink, BTOB, CNBLUE, GOT7, GFRIEND, Block B, K. Will and others were appeared on the show. All tickets were sold for three days, although it is highly priced at 1,900 yen (or 120,000 won) for day.

CJ E&M, the organizer or KCON, has held KCON in the U.S., Europe, and Asia since 2012, contributing to the expansion of the Korean Wave craze. In this year's KCON Japan, which marked the third year, the number of event days and cast members are increasing each year. One of the most noticeable phenomena was that fans were getting younger as teens and 20s account for more than half of the entire audience. Considering that these fans show affection and curiosity to Korea regardless of the rocky Korea-Japan relationship, they make us to paint a rosy picture of the Korean wave in Japan.

In the exhibition hall that opened at 10 a.m., participants could experience the Korean lifestyle through various programs such as K-pop, K-food, Korean traditional clothes hanbok, Korean alphabet Hangul and K-beauty. People enjoyed the Korean culture by tasting Korean food, learning to wear make-up, singing and dancing in the cover dance competition.

The number of paid participants for three days were recorded at 48,500. “Hallyu is now expanding to the entire lifestyle of Korea including food, hangul, and others, beyond music and drama," said Shin Hyung-kwan, chief of CJ E&M’s music content department who is in charge of KCON. "We will make efforts for the Korean culture to be one of the world’s leading cultures in the future.”



Young-A Soh sya@donga.com