Shin-Ōkubo as a feminine ‘K-pop space’: gendering the geography of consumption of K-pop in Japan

Abstract

Studies of the global spread of South Korean popular culture have often neglected the role that space plays in this transnational fandom and consumer culture. Explicitly exploring the geography of Korean popular culture consumption in Japan, this article draws upon a walking ethnography of Tokyo's ‘Koreatown’ of Shin-Ōkubo and interviews with selected consumers to reveal how ‘K-pop spaces’ within Japan have become tied to young women's consumer culture. We argue that spaces of K-pop promotion and consumption within Tokyo are inherently ‘feminised’ due to their linkage to pre-established promotional strategies in consumer districts specifically targeting young women. Through an ethnography of Shin-Ōkubo and interviews with K-pop fans who regularly visit this district, we further reveal how this ‘ethnic enclave’ has been reconfigured as another ‘feminised’ consumer space that caters to particular behaviours and attitudes based in K-pop fandom. Overall, this article charts the emergence of ‘feminine’ consumer spaces in Tokyo and interrogates how the ethnic enclave of Shin-Ōkubo has transformed into a gendered space tied to Japanese K-pop fandom.

KEYWORDS:

• Gendered space
• Japanese female fandom
• Korean popular culture
• K-pop space
• Shin-Ōkubo

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the informants we interviewed in Tokyo for sharing their thoughts with us over many years, with a special thank you reserved for Mr Chung of the Arirang Center for History and Culture in Shin-Ōkubo for sharing his institution’s wealth of resources. We also thank the anonymous reviewers for their critical comments on this draft as well as Joanna Elfving-Hwang and Alisa Freeman for their feedback on earlier drafts. Macquarie University provided both a Master of Research Stipend and a Faculty of Arts Research Travel Grant that supported the fieldwork for this article. We thank the Korean Studies Association of Australia for additional funding which supported the production of this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Korean Studies Association of Australia and by Macquarie University internal grants.

Notes on contributors

Kathryn Phillips

Kathryn Phillips is a PhD Student in the Department of Media, Communication, Creative Arts, Language and Literature at Macquarie University. Her PhD dissertation project explores K-pop cover dancing in Australia. Her previous Master of Research project investigated the impacts of Korean popular culture on urban spaces in Tokyo.

Thomas Baudinette

Thomas Baudinette is Lecturer in International Studies in the Department of Media, Communication, Creative Arts, Language and Literature at Macquarie University. He is a cultural anthropologist whose work has explored consumption of media among queer communities in Japan, Mainland China, Thailand and the Philippines. He also investigates the spread of Korean popular culture fandom to Japan and Australia.