1. AKB48 and Girls’ Generation
John Lie
University of California, Berkeley
June 2014

2. AKB 48 ヘビーローテーショ
ン

3. 少女時代 ＭＲ．ＴＡＸＩ

4. Nationality
Group structure
Musical genre / influence
Dancing routine
Hair color/style
Height
Ability
Et cetera….
Obvious differences

5. AKB48=Japanese culture; GG=S Korean
Complexity and hybridity
Diversity of taste in each culture
Popularity is not representativeness
certainly, not essential
expression
Comparison？

6. One commonality:
the predominance of teenagers
for the music industry
http://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXNAS
FK2902T_Z20C13A1000000/
http://en.korea.com/bigbang/board/ne
ws-big-bang-ranks-on-korea-gallups-poll-
most-popular-k-pop-stars-in-2012/
Why compare then?

7. The birth of popular culture
cf. traditional, elite, popular
The birth of popular music
in 1914 in the case of Japan
Culture Industry

8. In Korea, 1926
윤심덕 사의 찬미
Why commodity？
Anti-Romantic aesthetics
Lack of autonomy
The primacy of the market
Popular Music as Commodity

9. Reaction to the classics
innovation / tradition
Stress on autonomy
"l'art pour l'art"
Romantic ideology

10. Akimoto Yasushi (1958-)
おニャン子クラブ (1985-87)
The Mind Behind AKB48

11. Before Onyanko

12. Lee Soo Man (1952-)

13. Folk-rock
Anti-government
Hip hop
J-pop
Before K-pop

14. The rise of “idols”
the coming of leisure society /
teenagers
the age of television
voice + looks
in Japan, c. 1970
花の中三トリオ・新御
三家
in S Korea, mid 1980s
김완선、소방차
A Common Endpoint

15. Generational transition
generational rift
the end of ‘tradition’
Shifting focus of consumptionk
Rapid turnover of stars
Idols as Consumption Goods

16. Classical idols
Sort of perfection/semi-sacred
Postmodern versions
iconoclasts, secularization, cynicism
Constant Change

17. Real-ness
amateur, therefore ‘real’
Democratic
Grassroots politics
though in fact capitalist
Narrativity
“reality” TV
social life: conversation piece / focus
AKB48 as Innovation

18. Perfectionism
Division of labor/outsourcing
training system
Transcending borders
Localization as export
multilingualism
The embrace of the social media
Post-thing economy / culture
GG as Innovation

19. The collapse of the Romantic ideology
embrace of commodification
the profit motive
Thus, the fundamental
difference as commercial
strategy
Akimoto: Inward
Lee: Outward
Innovation in Pop Music

20. Divergent political economy
Post-Bubble Japanese economy (1991-)
stagflation and introversion
“a world of lukewarm bath”
Galapagos Syndrome
e.g. decline in
students abroad

21. A major turning point: 1997
intensification of competition
renewed faith in export
Differential reactions to
globalization
e.g. university reforms
Post-IMF Crisis S Korea

22. homogenization, localization,
differentiation
Bipolarization
global citizens and Globish
cosmopolitan
Local citizens
patriotism / parochialism
intensified by the decline of the welfare
state and traditional social support
e.g. vitriolic territorial disputes
Dialectics of Globalization

23. The golden age of J-pop
安全地帯、安室奈美恵
Why the decline?
resistance to export
transformation of global music
genre/technology change
Global J-pop?

24. amazon.co.jp: ￥ 2,980 ￥ 2,760 CD
amazon.com: $7.63 Audio CD
Music Business in the Internet Age
YouTube, spotify, google music etc.
Traditional Marketing

25. e.g. color TV
why did Samsung beat Sony？
the digial revolution
the case of popular music
mp3 player (late 1990s)
YouTube (2005-)
Technological transformations

26. Disjuncture with global trends
宇多田ヒカル、嵐
Conversely
ハルキ・ムラカミ
宮崎駿
Aesthetic adaptability

27. Exemplifies these trends
Local (Japanese) knowledge
Insular ethnocentrism
To be sure, possible to export as
concept (and attempts to do so)
Unfortunately, the ubiquity of
“ordinary” girls
peculiarity of cross-gender
relations
AKB48

28. Romanticism and meritocracy
extreme diversity
Far East Movement, "Like a G6"
US?

29. "Gangnam Style"
六本木スタイル
坂本九
『上を向いて歩こう」
The Paradox of Popularity