Rant: Japan vs. South Korea Round 3

To continue on the rant of jpop vs. kpop, I will focus on the second issue of sexiness or adult imagery. Now every time I saw or heard that kpop is more sexy and mature than jpop I cringe. Some people are so close minded and only compare AKB48 to SNSD, which is completely unfair. How would you feel if I compared Foxxi misQ to GP Basic?

In a previous post, I mentioned South Korea's broadcasting rules concerning music videos. To me, it feels like Japan has more creative freedom when marketing their music with risque videos, provocative lyrics, and intimate photoshoots. If a kpop group shows their midriffs on TV or start grinding on some girl on stage, people become "offended".

Now I can understand how idol groups can seem more adult and sexy if you simply compare groups, because the major groups in Japan are Johnny's or female groups like AKB48 or Morning Musume. But what they neglect are solo artists. I can easily pick apart how safe (innocent and soft) kpop artists are with their generic ballads or carefree, upbeat love tunes. I've seen very little examples of sexiness with kpop solo acts like Chae Yeon or Rain. Since Japan seems a little less conservative about sexual matters in music videos, artists like Koda Kumi and Maki Goto don't hesitate to show their sexy side to their fans. On the other hand of just being "cute", kpop has their own form of "kawaii" called "aegyo" which is used quite often with young groups like Boyfriend, Teen Top, Girl's Day, and Orange Caramel. Please don't tell me that that's adult, because you'd be lying to yourself.

So, to say that the always banned to the public eye for taking risks kpop is more sexy than the most perverted country in the world Japan is like saying Lil' Kim is more saintly than Mother Teresa.

To tie up both topics, I highly recommend you guys to watch this video. It goes over the jpop/kpop industry scene at a more professional, intelligent level. Sadly, it does point out my rant topic of sexiness/maturity, but it's still better than most sources. Best place to start is the 7 minute mark: