K-pop idols in Japan: The translation of Korean masculinities in music videos

Abstract

This article investigates transnational adaptations of male Korean idol performances to Japan, focusing especially on music video performances. When marketed to Japanese audiences, these music videos are transformed and tailored to Japanese consumers. I argue that when K-pop videos become sites of transnational adaptation processes to Japanese contexts, Korean version narratives of the quotidian are elided and replaced with narratives of the fantastical. Here, quotidian designates a focus on multimodal elements that are rooted in the everyday experiences of the intended audience, while fantastical is used to describe the presentation of what is outside of everyday experience. In these videos, power is exerted not through explicit hierarchies but through the location of K-pop idols as a desirable, but nonetheless consumable and never-proximate ‘other’.