FOCUS: Chinese youth accepting 'J-pop' with enthusiastic cheers

Asian Economic News, August 12, 2002

SHANGHAI, Aug. 7 Kyodo

(EDS: THIS IS THE FIRST OF A SERIES OF FIVE NEWS FOCUS STORIES RELATED TO THE 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF NORMALIZING JAPAN-CHINA TIES)

A discotheque in Shanghai was packed with about 1,000 young Chinese in late July to enjoy videotaped musical performances by Japanese rock and pop groups.

Those who took part in the ''mass gathering of Japan fans,'' mostly students on summer vacation, enthusiastically cheered the performances of Japanese bands such as ''GLAY'' and ''X Japan'' played on a huge screen.

''They are cute. Their lyrics and melodies are also lovely,'' said Sun Huijun, an 18-year-old high school student who is crazy about Japanese pop music, or ''J-pop.''

Ding Nan, 21, is a devoted fan of the late lead guitarist of the now-disbanded rock group X Japan, who was Hideto Matsumoto, widely known by his stage name Hide. The university student has also taken on a Japanese name -- Murasaki Matsumoto -- using the same family name as that of Hide.

The group disbanded Dec. 31, 1997, and the guitarist committed suicide about four months later.

Most of the audience had mobile phones dangling from their necks with straps featuring pop idols, and some were tapping keys with one finger to send e-mail, a common sight among Japanese youth, during breaks between songs.

According to Jiang Ling, the president of Beijing-based Chia Tai Ice Music Production Ltd. that markets GLAY CDs, Japanese youth culture started flowing into China in the early 1990s via TV dramas like ''Tokyo Love Story.''

''At first, it came with songs of pop singers such as Shinji Tanimura and Mayumi Itsuwa. Since around the mid-1990s, groups like GLAY and L'Arc-en-Ciel have become influential to Chinese youth,'' she said.

Thirty years ago, when Japan and China normalized diplomatic ties, the Japanese culture and language were viewed as taboo at the peak of the Cultural Revolution which heightened antiforeign sentiment.

''At that time, there was no chance to get in touch with Japanese culture. Now, there are swarms of things 'Made in Japan' -- fashions, cartoons, games and cosmetics,'' said Jiang, who will turn 50 soon.

Zhu Genquan, 34, the head of the Japan Music Information Center based in Beijing, cynically analyzed the recent trend among Chinese youth, however, saying, ''For young people, historical issues and music are different things. They naturally love their favorites.''

''But, it is wrong to simply interpret 'I love Japanese' as 'I love Japan','' Zhu said.

GLAY, a popular four-member male rock group, is scheduled to hold a concert for 50,000 people in Beijing on Oct. 13 in commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the normalization of Japan-China diplomatic relations.

In Japan, GLAY is featured in a TV commercial for the ''New China'' campaign of Japan Airlines which aims to entice Japanese tourists to China. The commercial has been aired since July 6.

Taking the initiative in planning the Beijing concert was Kunihiko Miyake, minister in charge of public information and culture at the Japanese Embassy in Beijing.

Miyake, 48, who played saxophone in a band during his school days, is an unconventional diplomat and a great lover of music.

He said, ''I hope music will become a common language for the young generation of Japan and China, helping them promote exchanges.''

''I'm wishing that GLAY will become a symbol toward the creation of new relationships,'' he said.