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What's hot in Japan may not be Japanese at all, but the creation of their neighbor Korea. Japan and Korea joined forces to co-host the 2002 FIFA World Cup games. Besides sparking a new interest in soccer, it also opened up the doors to a cultural exchange between the two countries. With the growing interest in Korean pop culture, Japanese media companies are flocking to Korea to bring more than soccer to Japan. Whether it's television, music, or movies, lately Korean pop culture has been growing in popularity among the Japanese. Korean movies have been blockbuster hits in cinemas throughout Japan. The suspense-mysteries Shiri and Joint Security Area (JSA) are just a few of the many Korean movies that have taken Japan by storm. With Japan's rising interest in Korea, Japan released a movie late last year entitled Go starring the rising young actor Yosuke Kubozuka (Ping Pong) who portrays the role of an ethnic-Korean born and bred in Japan. Already pressured by the trials and tribulations of adolescence, Kubozuka's character must also deal and overcome the discrimination that comes with his minority role in Japanese society. Receiving rave reviews, both Go and Yosuke Kubozuka were highly praised and won numerous categories in the 2001 Japanese Academy Awards.
But, the movie magic didn't stop there and Japanese movie companies seem to have taken everything a step further. Due to the overwhelming response for Korean movies in Japan, Japanese movie companies and Korean movie companies have collaborated in various movie projects. This year, the Japanese movie entitled Seoul starring jpop idol Tomoya Nagase (Tokio) as a Tokyo detective that gets mixed up in a crime while escorting a fugitive back to Korea. Even though the director for Seoul was Japanese, the action scene coordinator and majority of the cast were Korean. Most of the scenes were filmed on location in Korea too. Also, the Japanese newspaper, Asahi Shinbun reported that popular animation Director Hayao Miyazaki worked with DR Digital, a Korean animation company, on his hit animation movie Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi (Spirited Away). This full-length animated movie won the best picture award in the 2002 Japanese Academy Awards and will soon be released in America this year by Disney.
With the success of Korean and Japanese collaborated movies, Japanese TV studios also jumped on the bandwagon and released special programming featuring Korean actors and programming. NTV's variety show, Raiha Shonen ended this spring with a final episode themed after the 2002 World Cup. Raiha Shonen is a famous show dishing out almost impossible tasks to challengers who are willing to take them on. In the Raiha Shonen's final challenge, a Japanese man, Korean girl, and Korean born, but living in Japan man were given the task of working together to write a song. Sounds easy? But, in addition to writing a song, the three were left in Singapore with only $100 and a pick-up truck and had to make their way to Seoul to sing their song at a live concert. The show featured the contestants overcoming not only physical challenges, but also cultural differences and language barriers in order to reach their goal. |
