The hand shake event lets fans meet AKB48 members.

The clip is of only one member. They gave her a whole ice rink to herself!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMy6p6FS8GY...player_embedded

Kojiharu's solo event? I'd line up and wait for hours if it was a signing event instead of handshaking.

A whole group went but it seems they got placed in different rooms(In Japan, they use one large hall/stadium and have each girl at a post.)
Maybe for security? Don't know. Hand shake events are not recorded by AKB productions. All video are by fans who attended the event so I'm having problems finding them on Youtube because it's in Chinese. lol.


It's good to see their fan base growing outside of Japan.

I think Akimoto is relatively lax about copyright issues and has a vision for international promotion compared to JE. JE seems too extreme when it comes to copyrights.

Btw, SM's CEO Kim Young Min recently appeared on a Japanese show and shared his perspective. He's very fluent in Japanese.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Very good show. If I had the time, I'd subtitle it in English and upload to you tube. Let people know the truth about Kpop, Jpop and Asia. The show was fair, comprehensive and enlightening. Mr. Kim Young Min presented himself very well and had many interesting points - I am sure he will be invited for other serious talk programs. It was straight forward no BS talk by everybody.

Here is an outline of some things discussed:
Kpop artist train from 4 to 7 years before their debut at a cost of $20,000~$40,000 year each. The auditions are held around the world and those that make the first cut are brought to Korea to train and live in dorms. This is to train a high level of singing and dance skills, but more importantly, to train to behave and speak like a star from when they debut. This is reflected by what Korean fans expect from their IDOLS. Koreans think of IDOLS as someone to look up to, some one of greatness. In contrast, Japan considers IDOLS as amateurs in training to become celebrates. That is why Japan puts very little effort in training their IDOLS. People want to watch their favorite IDOLS develop over the years and graduate into celebrates. In other words, once an idol develops what it takes to be a star, they graduate from being a teen IDOL, and move on as real singers or actors.

The other part is about world marketing. Kpop is actively researching the world thru the internet and other means to see potential markets and adjust to such markets. SM for example actively uses YouTube to promote their artist and videos. They also use the Youtube stats to find where Kpop is popular and where kpop is growing. Mr. Kim attributes the big success of their Kpop concert in Paris and the SNSD debut in Japan to their YouTube promotions. Another example of researching markets is the Japanese Vs Korean version of Gee. All kinds of details like clothing, hairstyle and dance was adjusted for each countries debut. The reason why SM looks to the world market is because the Korean music industry is small. As a company seeking profit, they have no choice but to sell over seas if they want to grow. Japan on the other hand, has a huge domestic market. All concerts over seas are for PR purposes to thank their over seas fans. In actuality, the same concert held in Japan would make 20 to 30 times more money. So, from a business point of view, it would be stupid to waste time promoting Jpop over seas until a ceiling is hit. When the number of concerts an artist can perform a year is more than the demands for concerts in japan, then Japan's music and entertainment industry will actively target over seas markets.

Mr. Kims final point. even though SMTown is a Korean media company with Kpop artist right now, at heart, SMTown is a company just like Sony. He sees beyond Kpop and wants to be a dominant force in the world market. For example, when Kpop artist SNSD sings Gee in Japanese are they singing Kpop? It's actually Jpop by definition. For Mr. Kim it doesn't matter who sings what song in what language as long as the artist is signed to his company and he can maximize that artists sales.

Just as Sony Entertainment has nothing to do with Japanese entertainment, SMTown might go global and Kpop might become just one small part of their entire music empire.






Update:
I made a mistake, the Hong Kong event was a Kojiharu solo. No one else went. All those people came just for her, impressive! Only 500 people got inside the building because that was the limited number of tickets they offered. There was a bigger crowed outside who didn't have tickets but wanted to catch a glimpse of Kojima Haruna.

^ Thanks for the good summary. I'm glad you watched the video before it was made private. SM doesn't want to be confined by the national boundary. They have built a very extensive international network and are willing to work with competent foreign talents who may be interested in SM. I'm more curious about SM's musical vision but I don't think KYM is in charge of that department. In one of the shows I've watched this year, they had collected about 6000 songs they could choose from. Why can't they pick better songs then?! lol I like SNSD's Japanese album much better than this new Korean album.

As for the event in HK, it is no wonder Kojiharu alone pulled it. She's one of the better known members. I think most young Asians at least have heard about AKB48 and there is an official YouTube channel that shows full MVs.

^ Don't feed the troll. He's crapping all over the place and mods are being late.

Yeah, it's just that you take the time to write something comprehensive and balanced and trolls still post their factoids.
AF needs an ignore button. lol.






A sexy Nyan Nyan

what does nyan nyan mean?

It's one of her nickname, Nyan Nyan means kitten.