Why is Korean culture not as popular as Japan's?

[nintendofan85]

I don't hate anime, in fact, I like some of it, but I always wondered, why is it Kpop hasn't been as popular as anime? Really, when you get down to it, it's almost like a battle between the popularity of Japanese culture vs Korean.
I ask this because I once put up a thread on here back in the summer (when I was more active and didn't have school, especially English class, being a pain for me) I put up a thread asking how I could learn Japanese and Korean (I'm trying to learn both, as well as Chinese as I'd like to visit Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan) and everyone could tell me ways to learn Japanese but very few told me ways to learn Korean. It surprised me because for a time I actually thought Korean culture was more popular than Japanese because of the Korean Wave that has been going on since 1999. However, one thing that I believe about it is that Japan has exported things like anime for a long time now, whereas South Korea has only begun to do things like Kpop concerts outside of Asia recently.

 

[MishMeesh]

Japanese pop culture has had significant international notoriety since at least the 80s, if not earlier. It has had time to grow and permeate Western culture a lot longer than South Korean pop culture has. As you said yourself, the Korean Wave didn't get up and going until the late 90s/early 00s, and was more or less contained to Korea until the Internet got a lot faster and wide-reaching, allowing for more people to share and stumble upon Korean music artists. The international popularity of Kpop has been picking up a lot of speed in the last 5-10 years, but the simple answer is: Kpop is a child compared to a middle-aged anime.

- - - Post Merge - - -

As for learning Korean, I learned the alphabet really easily from this series of videos, and continued learning the language from this teacher here. You'll definitely need to take notes, but he's really good.

 

[Murray]

I don't hate anime, in fact, I like some of it, but I always wondered, why is it Kpop hasn't been as popular as anime? Really, when you get down to it, it's almost like a battle between the popularity of Japanese culture vs Korean.
I ask this because I once put up a thread on here back in the summer (when I was more active and didn't have school, especially English class, being a pain for me) I put up a thread asking how I could learn Japanese and Korean (I'm trying to learn both, as well as Chinese as I'd like to visit Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan) and everyone could tell me ways to learn Japanese but very few told me ways to learn Korean. It surprised me because for a time I actually thought Korean culture was more popular than Japanese because of the Korean Wave that has been going on since 1999. However, one thing that I believe about it is that Japan has exported things like anime for a long time now, whereas South Korea has only begun to do things like Kpop concerts outside of Asia recently.

This forum centres around nintendo games = japanese, therefore all the weeaboos flock here

kpop and anime are different mediums what are you on about

 

[Chibiusa]

Kpop = music.
Anime = Japanese cartoons.

You can't really compare two completely different mediums, as someone else said.

 

[nintendofan85]

Hmm... seems like I can't change the thread's title.

 

[thatawkwardkid]

Hmm... seems like I can't change the thread's title.

Click edit, advanced settings.

 

[Cazqui]

The world's been exposed to more of Japan than Korea.

 

[spCrossing]

Pretty much, a lot of the world has been exposed to more Japanese stuff, ever since the 60's.

K-Pop and K-Dramas didn't really get noticed until the last decade or so.

 

[Nuclear Bingo]

anime and video games. Especially since a lot are "mainstream". That's probably all there is to it. Maybe because of our history with them during WWII and just how they can have really bizarre things over there that really get worldwide attention like sophisticated sex dolls and guys who marry girls from love hina.

korea is relatively normal compared to Japan. They have k-pop sure, but japan has J-pop, just like USA and the UK have monumentally famous boy bands and rock bands. Plus all they really export are samsung and lg devices

 

[VanillaBean]

I think because Japan has both anime AND J-pop. Korea does have K-pop but I believe that because Japan is well known for both mediums it tends to get more recognition.

 

[Tao]

why is it Kpop hasn't been as popular as anime? Really, when you get down to it, it's almost like a battle between the popularity of Japanese culture vs Korean.

"Why aren't daffodils as popular as the heavy metal? It's almost like a popularity contest between daffodils and heavy metal"


You can't really compare the popularity of two completely different things.

I ask this because I once put up a thread on here back in the summer (when I was more active and didn't have school, especially English class, being a pain for me) I put up a thread asking how I could learn Japanese and Korean (I'm trying to learn both, as well as Chinese as I'd like to visit Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan) and everyone could tell me ways to learn Japanese but very few told me ways to learn Korean.

More people tend to learn Japanese than Korean. It's a language and all languages tend to have universal 'tips' to learning them. People are obviously going to tell you the ways they learnt x language rather than the one they've can't speak.
I'm guessing that 90% of the suggestions would have helped you in learning Korean.

It surprised me because for a time I actually thought Korean culture was more popular than Japanese because of the Korean Wave that has been going on since 1999. However, one thing that I believe about it is that Japan has exported things like anime for a long time now, whereas South Korea has only begun to do things like Kpop concerts outside of Asia recently.

These sort of things are associated with Japan. Anime, videogames, that 'J-Pop' sound among a whole lot of other things either originated or were popularized and/or improved by Japan.
Ask anybody where Anime comes from and they'll likely say "Japan". Ask where video games come from and a lot of people will probably say "Japan". It's just stuff we associate with Japan because of the importance they had in it, with it also helping that these are vastly popular things. As with a lot of things, taking an interest in something like Japanese made video games leads to an interest in other things from that country.

Korea doesn't really have anything like that.

It's also sort of a "why take an imitation when you can have the original?". A lot of stuff Korea does just seems 'Japanese' to us and for a lot of people, that's just going to feel like they're trying to imitate Japan and 'rip them off'...Which in some cases is true, but doesn't actually speak for the quality of things.

Japan has also had a lot more exposure and we've seen so much stuff from Japan. We just know more about it. It's also vastly different from Western culture which intrigues people.

Korea has been relatively 'quite' until very recently (in comparison to Japan) and even now you barely see anything from there in popular media. 'Gangnam Style' is probably the only popular thing that's a little odd to come from Korea here in the West.
Nobody really has interest in a country that is only known for that 1 weird pop song and angry midget dictators.

 

[nammie]

huh I thought korean culture was way more popular than japan's atm??? I personally see a lot more ppl into kpop and kdramas rather than like jpop and the like anyways...

 

[DJStarstryker]

Comparing music to TV shows is kinda weird.

I feel like there's people out there that like Korean culture. K-dramas seem to be WAY more popular than J-dramas in general. Also, there's people who are big fans of K-pop. I don't know if it's more or less popular than J-pop though. It really depends on the person. For comics, manwha (Korean comics) have been being released in the US for a long time, but manga seems more popular in general because all the big series' are Japanese (One Piece and Attack on Titan as an example).

Personally, I am not too familiar with much Korean pop culture in general. I'm a fan of Pangya (the Korean golf game) and I think Psy's popular songs that went viral aren't bad. I'm the other way around for Japanese pop culture though. It doesn't help that I know some Japanese and I live in Japan though. I'm a lot more exposed to it.

 

[Hana-Nezumi]

If you want a reason... Japan's population is 128 million. South Korea has a population of 51 million. A lot more people living in a country typically means greater global influence. Also Japanese media in general tends to be more similar to western media overall, as Japan's culture is very much a blend of western and traditional Japanese culture. The occupation of Japan after World War II played a large part in this, and throughout history Japan has had a closer relationship with the West than Korea has.

 

[Vizionari]

Huh. I thought people were more into K-pop than J-pop and stuff like that. But you can't really compare anime to Korean music and drama; they're two completely different mediums of entertainment. And like others have said, Japan is more well known for anime and video games plus J-pop, I guess, so bigger influence.

 

[Peisinoe]

I honestly thought Korean culture was more popular than Japanese culture at the moment?

 

[Alienfish]

Japanese culture has been around more longer and showed a more diverse image to the West I suppose that is not only cutesy boys singing that everyone and their mom calls poop/bae. Not to mention Korea was occupied by Japan for a long time.

I guess all that is shown(unless you bother dig a lot) is the mainstream music. I know a few Korean oldies artists as such myself and they probably have a bunch of great films as well, but I don't know. I've been into Japanese culture for quite some years now and always discovering new stuff. I could probably get into Korean stuff someday if I bothered.. but hey.

 

[Astro Cake]

More Japanese media than Korean media makes it to Western audiences for one reason or another.

 

[PlasticPinkPiggy]

Anime is not music just saying

Also K-pop is more well known in america that j-pop

Girls generation, psy, etc are kpop. Luckily japan has other features such as anime.

Also referring to the title, you cant really say anime is japanese culture specifically. You would have to be talking about the broader concept that includes festivals, traditions, social aspects, architecture, history, etc.

Just be clear on what your trying to say please.

 

[nintendofan85]

"Why aren't daffodils as popular as the heavy metal? It's almost like a popularity contest between daffodils and heavy metal"


You can't really compare the popularity of two completely different things.





More people tend to learn Japanese than Korean. It's a language and all languages tend to have universal 'tips' to learning them. People are obviously going to tell you the ways they learnt x language rather than the one they've can't speak.
I'm guessing that 90% of the suggestions would have helped you in learning Korean.






These sort of things are associated with Japan. Anime, videogames, that 'J-Pop' sound among a whole lot of other things either originated or were popularized and/or improved by Japan.
Ask anybody where Anime comes from and they'll likely say "Japan". Ask where video games come from and a lot of people will probably say "Japan". It's just stuff we associate with Japan because of the importance they had in it, with it also helping that these are vastly popular things. As with a lot of things, taking an interest in something like Japanese made video games leads to an interest in other things from that country.

Korea doesn't really have anything like that.

It's also sort of a "why take an imitation when you can have the original?". A lot of stuff Korea does just seems 'Japanese' to us and for a lot of people, that's just going to feel like they're trying to imitate Japan and 'rip them off'...Which in some cases is true, but doesn't actually speak for the quality of things.

Japan has also had a lot more exposure and we've seen so much stuff from Japan. We just know more about it. It's also vastly different from Western culture which intrigues people.

Korea has been relatively 'quite' until very recently (in comparison to Japan) and even now you barely see anything from there in popular media. 'Gangnam Style' is probably the only popular thing that's a little odd to come from Korea here in the West.
Nobody really has interest in a country that is only known for that 1 weird pop song and angry midget dictators.

Um, South Korea isn't a dictatorship. North Korea is.