South Korean actor Jang Geun-suk visited Japan this week. Media reports about his visit emphasized the fact that about 800 fans gathered to greet him on his arrival at Haneda Airport. Even Jang was surprised by the overwhelming evidence of his popularity in Japan:

“I was honestly worried that there might be an accident within the crowd because there were so many people there to greet me,” he said, expressing concern for the fans present.

[...]

“Honestly, it’s pretty scary. It just happened so fast; I gained a lot of fans in such a short amount of time,” he said about his new popularity in Japan.

800 fans at the airport is pretty impressive when you compare it to the greetings that other international stars have received. When Lady Gaga arrived at Narita Airport a couple weeks ago, about 200 fans were there to greet her. Johnny Depp, who is enormously popular in Japan, was greeted by a mere 400 fans when he visited Japan earlier this year.

The secret of the Jang’s huge fan gathering was revealed when a photograph of a flier found its way onto the internet:



It is recruiting women to participate in the greeting event at Haneda Airport. A reward of 2,000 yen (about $25) was offered to each “fan” who attended the event.

According to an article on Livedoor, there were some diehard fans who showed up out of genuine excitement. Many others, however, were paid. Some people found out about it through the fliers, while others were veteran members of event mailing lists. People who replied to the 2,000 yen job offer were driven to the airport on two special buses. While on the buses, the phony fans were given Jang Geun-suk merchandise to wave around when the media filmed them.

One participant said the buses carried about 80 paid fans to the airport. Combined with the legitimate fans, there probably weren’t much more than 100 people gathered for the event. One of the event promoters walked around declaring that 800 fans had come to greet Jang, and the media didn’t bother to verify the claim.

http://www.japanprobe.com/2011/07/01/korea...-jang-geun-suk/

What?? Is this really true?!? No it cant be~ hes hot....

I think he's too skinny

Anyway, this must be embarrassing for him.

Wow,Thats extremely awkward for him.

The original article is from this entertainment site Daily Cyzo, which doesn't seem very credible.

The original article on Cyzo

If you think a little about it, it sounds very fishy. This sounds like a typical rhetoric of the nationalists who hate the "Korean Wave" and part of it sometimes spills into the Japanese media (especially the internet media which has lower standards). With popularity, backlashes were expected and have been there for many years. I can understand them hating Korean entertainment getting popular in their own country but some of the nationalists seem to go too far with their kenkanryu effort.

There was no need for him to do this just to add about 100 more people (according to the article) to the fan crowd openly risking his fame when there were hundreds of fans at the airport. Also, if you know the prices in Japan, 2000 Yen is too low to motivate random girls to go to the airport and wait for him. Transit fees would cost at least half of that. His agency made a statement.



The agency asked Cyzo to reveal where they got the flyer from. The first step would be to check what the erased contact number at the bottom is.

If they wanna say his popularity is fake, they will somehow have to come up with more propaganda to say these are all fake, too.

His Japanese debut single sold 119k during the first week on Oricon.
He met 17,000 fans at his fan meetings in Japan last winter. (Fukuoka: 2500, Sapporo: 2500, Gobe: 2000, Yokohama: 5000 X2)
He met 18,000 fans at his showcase in March this year. (sold out)
The number of his fans on Mixi is currently over 50k.
He's planning an arena tour this October.

Heck, there were people who were insisting the SM concerts in Paris were "fake" and the fans were "hired".

C'mon guys.. we all know the K-wave doesn't exist. It's all imaginary conspiracy by the Korean government and the CIA.

And who the heck is this gay looking....Jan kuen suk?

Am sure he take lots of glutathione tablets favs for faggots bcoz he had white smooth skin...hahaha

Don't worry. There are already enough gay-looking Jang Keunseok lovers in Japan.
And, most of his fans are straight women.

TBS Japanese TV made Japanese version of his drama.
It will be starting to air from this weekend.
Japanese actor in that drama is skinny, too.
That's what the role in that drama supposed to be. --- an eccentric rock singer, not sumo wrestler.

so the so-called "Korean wave" is just fabrication?

Yes, the Super Korean government working with The Raelian Movement has hired millions of people from various countries as phony fans for the past decade.

let me guess...this is another ruse from those anti-china/anti-korea gaijin lovers aka sankaku.

^ Such bright imaginations...

I read those articles on allkpop making it seem like kpop idols are so popular there
I find that reallly hard to believe

Japan Probe?
That's like Korean version of Gaesomun, contains full of anti-Korean related articles, not credible at all,
according to Japan Probe, Koreans have cheated Worldcup 2002, Kim Yuna cheated etc..



According to this, K-pop is fake
http://www.cyzo.com/mt/mt-search.fcgi?blog...;IncludeBlogs=1

Seeing is believing. The article quoted one imaginary participant who said there weren't even much more than 100 people. I just watched some J-TV vids. The number of people was apparently well above 100. At least, several hundreds. This Japanese TV show generously said 1000, which might be too many. I don't know.

Jang Keun-Suk at Haneda Airport

Silly Cyzo lol It was something very obvious to people who were there or watched the TV shows. Case closed.

i think this whole k-pop denial is spiraling out of control. its an excellent situation for opportunistic gaijins to come in and add fuel to the situation. i just saw a video of this japanophile on youtube attacking koreans and extolling japan. he has like a huge japanese fan base.

well done guys.

Where there is light, there is shadow. When you have fans, you have haters (even some special kinds of haters), too.

lol the most offended by the hallyu wave in Japan is foreign fans of jpop....

here r some comments of real fans of the kpop phenomenon....translated from japanese of course



* 今、なりたいアイドル。それは、「少女時代」。
My akogare in elementary school was Pink Lady... In middle school it was Matsuda Seiko... Now the idol I want to be like. It is SNSD. - yonhiki@cocolog-nifty

Akogare is someone that you look up to, a role model, someone with the style and character that you yearn to be like. Young Japanese females often have these akogare figures - Matsuda Seiko, Akina, Amuro Namie are some prime examples. SNSD becoming the akogare figures for Japanese females was really one of the most surprising phenomenon of the Japan advancement, as Korea and Japan have different ideas in regards to preferred female styles. Just what is it about SNSD girls?

* I'm a high school student I've never been interested in idols at all I looked down on them. But when I got to know SNSD I was really shocked. They destroyed the idea I had about idols. Singing, dancing, styles everything about them is marvelous... I am also a female and they are my akogare. - くまこ@amazon

* .... well most of all females respond very enthusiastically to that feel of the charismatic stylish girls, I think for a lot of females they are the akogare, that kind of thing... - kyesun7222000

* ... everything about SNSD is the best. They are almost 10 years younger than me but really are my akogare I want to try my best to have style like that even for just a little bit - emily0510@ameblo

* I want to become very stylish like I could blend in with SNSD.... - miluhyde@twitter

*- There are many cute female idols but there are rarely females idols that can sing and dance so well and perform perfectly like them! Kakkoii (<-This is a big reason), beautiful and also with cuteness even. That akogare desire to become like (SNSD) makes females into fans, don't you think? And when you get to know SNSD, you come to understand each members' personalities. This is a very interesting group. Just like that in no time I became a complete fan lol. - osatou25@chiebukuro

* Lately I am feeling SNSD... It's odd, at first I wasn't interested at all. Maybe now I'm feeling sophisticated females are my akogare. But in fact they are younger than me. - nicole_of_bump@twitter

* Initially I didn't have any interest in them, but by watching their performances on TV I got into them completely. This is no cheap "idol" music. The singing, dancing and the looks are taken to the highest levels, It feels that their mere presence is an "art"... Even from the view of being female and same age as them, they are my akogare. - いよかん@amazon

* I want to be toyed by beautiful unnies like SNSD - perfume9nineAKB@twitter

* Now elementary school girls' dreams will not be to become other idols, but to become SNSD! - 76Cha@twitter

* Tonight was the SNSD concert!... it can be seen they were dancing in perfection, giving their everything. Watching them I felt a strange sense of trustworthiness... Hard to fathom at first sight but this is a group of distinct characters... Maybe it's good for me to get addicted~ SNSD... Though I'm a woman over 30 it was like a back-to-being-a-shoujo experience for me - jungris@twitter

* ...(SNSD) they are spreading their wings as women, that style which can be called perfection, even when seen by the same sex it was mesmerizing - yujin@ameba


* The amazing thing about SNSD, you can see it in me. I used to have no interest whatsoever in music or idols. And now I have fallen for them and ended up buying the album. And ended up going to the concert LOL These girls are unbelievable LOL - IahQyQ+B@2ch

* After work today I'm going to SNSD's Saitama concert (^-^)v I don't know any of their songs ヽ(￣▽￣)ノ一 Sorry to my friend who's going with me!
(next day)
Yesterday's SNSD concert, I was overwhelmed ( ☆∀☆) I thought they were just a hallyu idol but, their singing and dancing performances are incredible (@￣□￣@; )！！ I understood why Saitama Super Arena was packed ～（*＾3＾）/～☆They must be putting in incredible amount of hard work. First thing now shall I buy the CD ♪ - RyokoYamamoto21@twitter

* Today there are various businesses, and I'll be going to the SNSD concert ~ I have somewhat memorized the members' names at least! Tiffany is cute
(later in the day)
I am back I am now a complete prisoner of SNSD... And everyone is so cute, singing so well and the styles just too great! If you see that in person you simply cannot avoid being a fan... I bought the CD and towel goods. When I went I never thought it would end up like this! They are just too charming I am completely defeated... I didnt care for them at all before but Ma'am SNSD has taken over me~~!!! SNSD's performance is beyond amazing! I had never imagined it'd be this good...- 30chms@twitter

* I went to SNSD's concert on June 4th!! I didn't really have much interest in SNSD... I don't know the names of any members... I was a fool... (´Д｀) Everyone you thought SNSD had great style? Exactly... Just crazy good styles...and so cute first of all, it was a night of excitement (´∀｀) - yokoya723@ameblo

* SNSD concert is starting...
(4 hrs later) Breaking News: I have become an SNSD fan - baijumeiji@twitter

* To see SNSD's performance in person it was a truly moving experience. Singing, dancing... just really amazing!!
... Honestly until today my friend (who I went with) thought that SNSD was merely a cute idol group and didn't really have any interest, but as of today my friend has transformed into a big fan. My friend would cheer loudly which is something rare, and I too was happy. - hello-himawari@ameblo

* My wife is an SNSD fan and I went with her to the Hiroshima concert... So amazing, that to say fairies have descended in front of my eyes would be an understantement!.. beautiful voices and with the solo stages of 9 the stadium is shockingly moved by their wonders. - onnsennasitubo@rakuten

* By accident at Yoyogi stadium I heard SNSD's concert sound leaking out and then I became a fan!! Lol - keechi_@twitter

* (After concert) From today I am a SNSD fan♪(´ε｀ ) - rutoschi@twitter

* ... the tightness of SNSD's performance is amazing,, I have been anti-hallyu all along but finally I ended up noticing SNSD's awesomeness - kyn_dr@twitter

* Oh no. Been watching SNSD videos and it's already this hour! Ever since I've been to the concert, it looks like I have fallen for them completely. I have never fallen for anything like this since L'Arc-en-Ciel 13 years ago! - Hiroki624@twitter

^ Such enthusiastic Japanese fan accounts are endless on Twitter and blogs lol For example, this is a Japanese underground musician's blog entry about the SNSD concert he attended. He's giving the highest level of complement to SNSD if you can read Japanese.

http://ameblo.jp/kenshi-blog/archive1-201106.html

There is also a long list of well-known Japanese celebs who have attended one of the SNSD concerts. Their first Japanese album has sold about 450k on Oricon so far (for 5 weeks) and it has just been certified double platinum (500k) by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ). This is a very high figure not many albums get these days in Japan. Of course, AKB48 and Arashi are in their own league lol

@DPSlock, doggyji,

i agree u. there are genuine japanese fans of the kpop. the haters and trolls on the internet are gaijins who are sorely jealous about the attention and glory taken away from them. of course there are also the uyokus and ultra-nationalists who just seem to to hate everything.

Well that sucks.

but wait what do you mean there is no Korean wave?
When someone buys/likes Korean industry, isn't it called Korean wave?
No matter it is famous or not.