Same look through different eyes: Korea's history of uniform pop music acts

Japan had engaged Asian pop culture in the 1990s, including Hong Kong films and pop stars. One of the most popular female singers in the early 1990s, Kang Suji, had a relatively long-term career in Japan as a tarento during her residency in Japan from 1995 to 2000. Hallyu came to Japan in the wake of the spectacularly popular television drama Winter Sonata, first aired in Japan in 2003. Tohoshinki achieved huge success within the Japanese male idol market, rivalling such groups as Arashi, which is the product of Johnny's Entertainment, the powerful male idol factory dominant in Japan since the 1960s. With the successful career developments by Tohoshinki and KARA within the Japanese aidoru pop market, other leading male and female K-pop idol bands, such as SHINee, After School, 2NE1, and Girls' Generation, all soon released singles and albums in Japan. The potential for viral dissemination via social media seemed to give unprecedented strength to the K-pop boom.