Transnational cultural traffic in northeast Asia: The 'presence' of Japan in Korea's popular music culture

Korea's nationalistic antagonism towards Japan and “things Japanese” has mostly been a response to the colonial annexation by Japan (1910-1945). Despite their close economic relationship since 1965, their conflicting historic and political relationships and deep-seated prejudice against each other have continued. The Korean government's official ban on the direct import of Japanese cultural products existed until 1997, but various kinds of Japanese cultural products, including popular music, found their way into Korea through various legal and illegal routes and influenced contemporary Korean popular culture. Since 1998, under Korea's Open-Door Policy, legally available Japanese popular cultural products became widely consumed, especially among young Koreans fascinated by Japan's quintessentially postmodern popular culture, despite lingering resentments towards Japan. Because of the sensitive relationship between the two countries, however, the extensive transnational cultural interaction between Korea and Japan—including popular musical interaction, one of the most important aspects—has been intentionally downplayed by Korean scholars and by the popular Korean press.;My dissertation theorizes what I call the “presence” of Japan, through its popular music, in contemporary Korea. I identify three major shifts in the presence of Japan in Korea from the 1980s to 2006: the “illegal” presence (1980s-1997), the “transitional” presence (1998-2004), and the “newly sanctioned” presence (since 2004). It is my contention that popular music plays a crucial role in shaping Korean perceptions about Japan, and those perceptions define a central focus of my dissertation. The research I present in the dissertation is organized around four areas of investigation: the kinds of "presence" Japan has had in the contemporary popular music scene in Korea since the 1980s, the kinds of forces that have been instrumental in shaping Korean's consumption of Japanese popular music, the adjustments in Korea's cultural politics in response to transnational cultural flow from Japan before and since 1998, and Korean reception and responses to the Japanese “presence” in Korea—its meanings and implications. I address these issues within the political and economic context of Japan-Korea relations, whose impact on musical practice and musical taste is complex and dynamic, demanding a multi-disciplinary analysis.