IDOL
~Comparison between Japan and foreign countries~
College of Social Science A1
Shota Ogawa
Yuhei Kyono
Barysas Algimantas
Moe Kurihara
Shohei Aketo
These days, AKB48 an idol group is so popular. And idle groups of South Koreans (for example, Girl’s Generation, KARA, TVXQ!) are also very popular in Japan. We think we can call this the idol boom. We call them “idol” but, Japanese idols are distinctly different from foreign idols. Why they are different? How Japanese idols are different from foreign ones? I will think about it in this report. By the way, there is no clear definition of idol, so we definite “idol” in this report: young, singing and dancing, lovely or cool group or person. In this project, we analyze the today’s Japanese idol by comparing with other idols.
There are many idol groups in Japan, and they have many member comparing with foreign ones. What is the feature of today’s Japanese idol? First, we explain the system of AKB48. The members of AKB48 are elected through its audition. Then, the successful candidates of the audition enter the AKB48 become research students and they are given training. After that, excellence research student is elected and become a regular member of AKB48. Working as a regular member and gaining popularity, then, she graduates from AKB48. This entrance-election-graduation system is feature of AKB48. And Morning Musume and Onyanko club(Japanese idol groups) has very similar system, so we can say that this is the feature of today’s Japanese idol. However the only fans of AKB48 can take part in the election of its member by voting. So the regular members of AKB48 are selected by their popularity: their position in dance is determined by popularity.
The idols of this system, act in many fields: singing, radio, drama, and so on. But in all fields they are not professional, they are incomplete. Their performance is not so high level, and their character is emphasized. This gives it fans the sense of closeness. And fans enjoy the growing of idol; to show the growing, the member is so young. And in Japan, adults support idols economically (they buy CDs and goods).
Then, we talk about past idols and its change of Japan. The word “idol” has been used since 1970s. Before that, the word “star” was used, but the meaning of “star” is different from that of “idol”: “star” is brilliant and untouchable object for fans, but “idol” is lovely, young and close for fans. In 1980s, one person idol (for example, Seiko Matsuda, Akina Nakamori) and group idol (especially, Onyanko club) were popular. These 1980’s idols made “idol” close to people, this was big change of meaning of “idol”. In 1990s, no big change was happened. 2000s, Morning Musume became so popular. As I said, Morning Musume is similar to Onyanko club. The next of it, AKB48 became very popular, and this made another two changes. Holding of shaking hands event and general election by fans made idol much more close to fans and people. And by much appearance in the media, it broke the thought “idol’s fan is Otaku” and the number of fans increased dramatically.
Next, we see foreign idols. First, let’s take a look at South Korean idols. In the most part, their style is contractive with that of Japanese idol, but in a way, they are similar to that of Japan. Korean idol shows the complete form as an idol. They emphasize their performance (singing and dancing) and Korean group is mainly composed of twenties. (Japanese idols are mainly teenagers.) They give their fans the sense of seeing untouchable object. And young fans support idols economically by buying CDs and goods. These are the different points from Japanese idol. South Korean idol takes a form of group, and there are many groups. And they show the characters of members. Moreover, they acts not only in South Korea but also in Japan and other countries. (AKB48 acts in foreign countries too.) These are similar point to Japanese idol.
Then, let’s look at idols of English-speaking countries. They are almost one person not a group, for example, Britney Jean Spears, Christina Maria Aguilera. They emphasize performance: singing, dancing, acting. Their fans do not buy their goods. This is different from that of East Asian idols. Above all, idols of English speaking country have much strong influence on the world; their songs are release to the world. Mainly, American idol’s popularity spreads to the world.
Idol’s style is mainly determined by 4 viewpoints. 1 performance is looks like that of amateur or professional. 2 emphasize character or performance. 3 who support idol―adult or young people. 4 show fan incomplete (growing) form or complete form. From this view points, today’s Japanese idol looks like amateur, emphasizes character, is supported by adults, and shows incomplete (growing) form. This gives fans the sense of closeness. We researched foreign idols, but we didn’t find similar idol. Japanese idols do not regard performance ability as an efficient. The most important element is its characters, their personality. This is unique point of Japanese idol.
We do not say this is the only answer. You might have another opinion for this. But this is our conclusion. I hope you had something to learn from this report.
Thank you.