by On the 15th, a Japanese female audience spoke into a microphone handed to him by singer and actor Hwang Min-Hyun, who was the MC of ‘KCON 2022 JAPAN’ held at Ariake Arena in Koto-Ku, Tokyo, Japan on the 15th.
KCON 2022 Japan, CJ ENM’s K-Pop performance and Hallyu festival were held for three days, from the 14th to the 16th, with about 65,000 people. KCON offline versions were suspended for the past two years due to COVID-19 but resumed this year. About 8.7 million people connected to the online live broadcast. Kim Hyun-soo, head of CJ ENM’s music content division, said, “With this year’s KCON, we were able to confirm once again the popularity of K-pop as well as K-culture in general.”
On the second day of the 15th, the group ‘TXT’ (Tomorrow X Together) and popular groups such as Ive, New Jeans, JO1, From Nine, DKZ, ATBO, etc. came to the concert and captivated Japanese fans with their splendid performances. In particular, for this performance, ‘crying’ in the audience was prohibited due to concerns about the spread of COVID-19.
When their favorite singer appeared, Japanese fans showed off their passion by getting up and waving light sticks. Hwang Min-Hyun, the host, and the singers shared their hearts with Japanese fans with expressions such as “I wanted to meet you” and “I hope you enjoy it to the end” in Japanese prepared as much as possible, although they are not proficient.
In particular, the audience was enthusiastic when Ive performed ‘Dream Stage,’ where they danced to the representative song ‘Love Dive’ with dozens of Japanese fans in the concert hall. In addition, a middle-aged man on stage was caught on the screen and attracted attention after the performance.
K-Pop’s cruise to Japan is scheduled to lead to CJ ENM’s year-end music awards, ‘MAMA AWARDS,’ which will be held at Kyocera Dome Osaka from the 29th to the 30th.
