PSY and Korean Soft Power

Last time I checked PSY’s Gentleman MV had almost 330 million views on youtube and Gangnam style had more than 1.6 billion. That’s a lot of exposure for a song that is sung in Korean, about a neighborhood in Seoul by an artist that pretty much no-one outside of Korea had heard of this time last year.

So what does that mean about the influence of Korean culture, the image of Korea and the popularity of Korean artists worldwide? Are the viral videos of PSY a testament to Korean soft power? Or reflective of the changing landscape of new media in which hundreds of millions of netizens decided to share this humorous music video by a ‘funny Asian guy’ with their friends?

Soft Power is the ability of states to influence others through means of attraction rather than coercion by using their cultural resources, values and institutions. The term was coined by Harvard Professor Joseph Nye and since then has become the preoccupation of many countries such as the United States, Japan, China, Britain, France, Germany, and of course Korea.

Many Korean music groups, TV dramas and celebrities enjoyed massive popularity in the early 2000′s especially across Asia in the phenomenon known as Hallyu, or the Korean Wave. This trend increased interest in learning Korean, visiting Korea and transformed Korea’s image from just a manufacturer of cheaper high-tech products into a cultural powerhouse that challenged the predominance of Japanese pop culture across Asia.

However in contrast to the clean-cut image associated with many K-pop groups and male idols from the Korean Wave PSY emerged as a comic, satirical and less-than handsome figure (who some mistook for a spoof of rotund North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un) who gained a massive fan-following and cult status.

Gangnam Style ridicules the lifestyle and aspirations associated with living in the upper class Gangnam district of Seoul, a reference that most non-Korean viewers did not get.  Instead for the vast majority, the video challenges the stereotype that Koreans (or Asians in general) take themselves too seriously.

Although does PSY’s popularity really result in a better global image and influence of Korea? Has Gangnam style or Gentleman encouraged more people to learn Korean or visit Seoul?

Coverage of the Korean Peninsular in mainstream global media is still dominated by reports on North Korean’s nuclear ambitions and the threat of crisis and less about what’s going on in South Korea.

Many Koreans are proud of PSY, Korean media often report on PSY’s growing popularity and he has even become the the official tourism ambassador for Korea yet is this really the image that Korea wants to promote to the world? Should the Korean government and tourism agencies really be pushing PSY’s videos as a product of Korean culture to boost soft power?

Also how can one man really represent all the desirable aspects of a nation that wants to promote itself internationally? PSY probably represents Korea in the same way that Jackie Chan represents China. Both became famous around the world for culturally neutral, visual humor, the only difference is that Jackie Chan’s Chinese song’s did not become global hits.

I mean if you are American would you really want Zach Galifianakis to be designated an official tourism ambassador, responsible for spreading American soft power?

PSY’s limited impact in Japan reflects the lack of Korean soft power spread through these music videos. For one thing most Japanese regarded the videos as stupid rather than funny and so were less inclined to share it with their friends, the fact that PSY was a relative no-body before the video went viral meant Japanese would not be interested and finally there are enough slap-stick, satirical comedians in Japan everyday on TV for Japanese people to care than much about PSY.

So the fact that PSY was Korean, probably had nothing to do with the limited reception in Japan.

LINE Creates NFC Toy Smartphone for Kids

Popular smart phone messaging app LINE created by Naver Japan has collaborated with major Japanese toy maker Takara Tomy to create a range of merchandise aimed at children based on a new animated series called LINE Town.

The LINE Town series has begun broadcasting in Japan on TV Tokyo (Thursdays from 6.30-7pm) and is based on characters from LINE’s stickers which are more sophisticated than emoticons, featuring a larger spectrum of personas, humour and darkness.

It is easy to understand the massive popularity of LINE in Japan, just from observing people using the app on crowded subway trains and especially when most young people will ask for my LINE id instead of Facebook when exchanging contacts. According to ZDNet Asia worldwide LINE users now exceed 150 million.

LINE TOWN, the animated series. Image via Lineblog

LINE’s popularity coupled with Japan’s preference for cute and distinct characters is probably what spurred the creation of the animated series and spin off products which includes the MY TOUCH phone, a LINE sticker printing kit, several customised LINE stamp kits and toy figures (pictured bellow).

Images via watch.impress

LINE Town My Touch is designed so that children who are not ‘lucky’ enough to have smartphones can still enjoy the simulated experience of using them. The most unique aspect of My Touch for children is the application of NFC technology to exchange LINE stickers and messages by ‘touching’ the phones together (as pictured bellow).

To further replicate the experience of using a real smartphone, My Touch is equipped with colour LCD screens and sliding touch functions that children use to navigate through the menu of LINE Town mini-games and activities that allows them to unlock more characters and stickers. My Touch is scheduled for released on August 8, 2012 at 6,825 yen (US$70) which is quite steep considering it is a fake phone for children.

This strategy by LINE and Takara Tomy to entice children into the habit of using smart phones to communicate with friends at an early age could produce more smartphone dependant young people and create a strong affiliation between LINE and mobile communication.

Image via coolsmartphone

On the one hand maybe it is good to have more children confident with using the latest in mobile technology so that they are quicker to adapt to changing communication trends in the future. On the other hand should children really be playing and chatting to each other with fake smartphones? Wouldn’t it be better if they just talked to each other instead? Especially if they are only a few feet away.

Japanese High School Girls Explain Particle Physics

…kind of. They’re at least starring in roles to promote it!

As part of the bid to host the building of the International Linear Collider (ILC) in Western Japan Team Lab Tokyo created a humorous and light-hearted interpretation of the collision between electrons and positrons in the form of high school girls in this short film.

Featuring students from Waseda High School in Saga and Shota Morita, the star of the popular iPhone quick draw system video (pictured below) on YouTube as their teacher the film demonstrates the friendship between two high school students, ‘Electron’ and ‘Positron’ cut together in the style of a theatrical trailer. All this to explain the mechanics of what will be a major research institution for particle physics.

Team Lab combined the live action footage with animation and special effects, as well as an original “ILC” song to heighten the sense of speed that builds up to collision of the two ‘particles’.

To increase public participation in the campaign, all of the materials from the video are open to anyone to use and remix as the entire piece has been cut into many 3-second .gif clips that can be remixed. Those can be found on the ILC tumblr which is, to say the least, a massive hub of information overload.

The Planned Project

According to Nature, the ILC is planned to consist of a long track of superconducting cavities stretching across 31 km in which particles can accelerate to energies of up to 500 gigaelectronvolts before colliding. The video bellow provides more details:

However this project is predicted to cost more than $8 billion and therefore has failed to get strong support from governments worldwide and even funding for the initial design and research stages has already been cut back. Japan on the other hand is eager to host a world-class international science project, and this video is part of showing that enthusiasm on the part of local governments (with plenty of Abenomics money to burn it seems).

A large part of this bid is to enhance Japan’s role in the international scientific community and in particular Fukuoka and Saga prefectures in Kyushu (the locations of the proposed site) would like to be the hub of this global project. Either way, we’re at least being entertained in the process of this massive bid.

Free Wifi in Japan Debuts

Foreign tourists visiting Japan are often frustrated at the lack of free Wi-Fi spots available in the country. Not only does this prevent them from accessing maps, information and recommendations about Japan whilst they are travelling but they are also unable to ‘share’ their experiences with friends and family on SNS. This is annoying to visitors, but also a major loss for promotion of Japan in general. After all, imagine how many millions in free advertising have been thwarted by the inability to say “I am in Shibuya!” to everyone back home via Instagram.

Finally having recognised this frustration major Japanese telecoms supplier NTT East has accounced the implementation of FREE Wi-Fi spots available for foreign tourists to access during their stay.

How does it work? 

It’s actually quite simple, which surprised us given the number of really complicated wifi spots in Tokyo that never seem to work anyway. Keep in mind, this is purely for visitors to Japan.

1- Pick up a free Wi-Fi-card from one of the official distribution points by showing your passport and tourist visa at Narita Airport, Akihabara in Tokyo or at major cities in Eastern Japan.

2- The Wifi ID and log-in password are printed on the card so just enter this information when accessing an NTT East Wifi-signal (0000FLETS-PORTAL). There are already more than 17,000 NTT East Wi-Fi spots around Japan (as of January 2013) supported by a network of fiber optic cables, guaranteeing fast and stable access (according to them of course).

3- Once logged in you can make use of the free Wi-fi spots for 14 days. Ideal for your short stay in Japan!

According to JNTO the process is perfect for first-time visitors to Japan as there are no application forms, you don’t need to send any emails to begin- all you need is your Wi-Fi supporting device.

Where can I access the free Wi-Fi? 

The number of NTT East’s free Wi-Fi access points are increasing and for the moment you can find them at major sightseeing accross in Tokyo including Akihabara, Asakusa, Shinjuku, Shibuya, Ginza, Ueno and Roppongi.

So far they the free Wi-Fi spots are limited to specific shops and restaurants in those areas (as pictured above), but I think it’s safe to say that this will be taken up rather quickly around the country.

Increasing Visitor Numbers to Japan? 

Information and instructions about this free Wi-Fi service is provided in English, Korean and Chinese highlighting the importance NTT East places on reaching out to Asian tourists who form the majority of visitors to Japan.

Asian Tourists in Japan. Image  via AFP/Kazuhiro Nogi/Getty Images.

A greater number of free Wi-Fi spots and more variety of Wi-Fi services catered specifically to tourists in Japan is certainly overdue, and is in direct response to one of the biggest annoyances to people who make the trip here. That, and it’s kind of embarrassing that the country perceived to be the most high-tech doesn’t even have wi-fi available in most places.

Editors Note:
What we’re really curious about is the business model of this approach. Who is paying for all of this? The government? Are the shops involved paying for the hardware? Short term it gets people connected, but how sustainable is this? We’d love to see business owners really understanding the necessity of catering to these kinds of needs for tourists because it will open their eyes to the laundry list of tasks ahead. Great to see this progress though.

The Whatever Button Likes It All

Like a lot of chronic Facebook users you probably spend way too much time browsing your newsfeed and eventually you just give up, become bored, or just too busy to pay attention to what your friends are posting. It’s hard to like everything.

Image via blog.livedoor.jp

In Japan, where Facebook is relatively new in popularity (it exploded in 2012) users are more prone to like and comment on their friends’ status updates and photos out of a sense of obligation or pressure.
With that level of interaction, and the expectation to like just about everything, you might as well go all the way, which is what the new doudemo ii ne (Whatever Button) is is designed for.

We stumbled upon this new feature for Google Chrome at the Japan Media Arts Festival, which we also wrote about yesterday.

You can download this free app now at idpw.org and economise your Facebook time by simply liking everything on the page with the touch of a button.
The video on the main page explains how to use the Whatever Button and this video bellow (in Japanese) explains the process in more detail, and it’s a sly commentary on how many Japanese people use Facebook in real life.

Make sure all your friends know how much you care about what they had for dinner, how their sister’s baby is, or how their cat does the cutest things!

images via technmarketing.com and buuteeq.com

It’s a bit of nuance as well, but the “whatever” part is more on the negative, cynical side when translated properly. It’s more of a resigned “yeah, whatever, I’ll like it all…” feeling rather than “everything is great!”. You can also purchase your own Whatever Button T-shirts here if you’re into ironic t-shirts.

Kagua – Japanese Luxury Craft Beer

As beer becomes increasingly popular around Asia, the demand for better quality, premium beer is likely to rise. Our friends over at COEDO have done an incredible job pairing great beer with modern Japanese design and getting global accolades, so it’s great to see more of it coming out of Japan.

Image via draftbeer.jp

Recognising this trend Nippon Craft Beer began offering Kagua, a luxury craft beer; is actually brewed in Belgium by the Japanese creators, but infused with Japanese herbs and special yeasts, designed for high-end dinning.

Launched in March last year (2012) at Toyoda and Gora Kadan in Tokyo’s expensive Ginza quarter, Kagua is now sold in over 170 haute-cuisine restaurants and bars across Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore.

After restaurant dinners requested to buy the beer to drink at home or to give to friends as gifts Nippon Craft foods began selling the beer at Matsuya department stores in Ginza and then offered limited quantities of Kagua online in cases of six, which all became sold out after just a couple of weeks. From March 2013, Kagua will also be sold in cases of twelve to celebrate the first anniversary of the beer. One 330 ml bottle of Kagua costs 630 Yen (US$6.8).

In an interview with Nikkei’s Trendy magazine, Mr Shiro Yamada of Nippon Craft Beer commented that the growth in demand for craft beer is extremely fast paced and overtaking the boom in popularity for traditional Japanese shochu and sake. The Video bellow features a presentation by Mr Yamada in English.

Kagua’s unique taste is supposed to derive from the mixture of  Japanese herbs such as yuzu citrus and sansho pepper, which are seldom used in beer production and the use of high quality yeasts specially selected from some of the world’s best beers. In order to ensure smooth production, Nippon Craft Beer teamed up with an experienced Belgian brewer as (according to Nippon Craft Beer) there are no facilities in Japan which can accomodate Kagua’s original recipe.

There are two varieties of Kagua beer; Blanc and Rouge (pictured bellow).

In Kagua Blanc (above left) , flavour is dominated by the yuzu citrus and yeast. Kagua Rouge (above right) is a mix of spicy sansho papper and roasted malt.

Image via draftbeer.jp

To fully appreciate Kagua’s original taste, it is recommended to drink it from a wine glass.

In Japan’s highly competitive beer market, Kagua has differentiated itself  as exclusively a luxury, high-end beer suited for restaurant dinning. As the beer was only launched a year ago it will be interesting to see how the popularity for the beer develops in Japan and across Asia among the wealthy who’s tastes and demand for beer becomes more sophisticated.