<figure id="attachment_343015" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 805px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-343015"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="96ebe588"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/11/47f94c41408b934b7f13565a6777589d.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-343015" class="wp-caption-text">Kentaro Sakaguchi smiles for his fans. He is very popular not only in Japan but also in Korea.</figcaption></figure>
<p>Actors Kentaro Sakaguchi and Eiji Akachu held a series of fan meetings in Korea.</p>
<p>The term &#8220;fan meeting&#8221; is often heard these days, but everyone knows that it was K-pop artists who popularized the term. The word &#8220;fan meeting&#8221; is often heard these days, but everyone knows that it was K-pop artists who popularized the term.</p>
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<p>Simply put, it is an event to show appreciation for the fans, and of course, there is singing and dancing, but unlike a live performance or concert, it is an event to &#8220;enjoy being together with fans,&#8221; including talk shows, games, photo sessions, and Q&amp;A sessions. &#8220;There have been fan gatherings in Japan for a long time.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> In Japan, fan gatherings have been held for a long time, but these events, known as &#8220;fan meets,&#8221; are quite large scale. I think these &#8216;fanmeets&#8217; have spurred the popularity of K-pop.</span></p>
<p>The two who took on the &#8220;house specialty&#8221; of K-pop artists were Kentaro Sakaguchi and Eiji Akachu, two popular actors from the entertainment agency &#8220;Tristone,&#8221; led by president Shun Oguri. And in their home country of South Korea.</p>
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<p>Sakaguchi&#8217;s popularity in Korea is even greater than in Japan, according to a TV magazine writer familiar with the Korean drama scene.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Tickets for the show sold out in a matter of seconds after they went on sale. Mr. Sakaguchi, a typical salt-faced boy, has a look that Korean women like and he has appeared in the Korean edition of &#8220;ELLE&#8221; in the past, making him very well known in Korea.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> What made him even more famous was his appearance in &#8220;Signal: Long-Term Unsolved Case Investigation Team&#8221; (Fuji TV), a Japanese remake of the hit drama &#8220;Signal,&#8221; which was the third most watched drama in the Korean cable TV market in history. He has always ranked high among Korean women&#8217;s favorite Japanese actors, but it seems that he has gained even more fans.</span></p>
<p>Sakaguchi, whose popularity in Korea is growing steadily, is also set to star in a Japan-Korea joint production of the romantic drama &#8220;What Comes After Love (tentative title). Yuko Fueki is the first Japanese actor to appear regularly in a Korean drama, but Sakaguchi is the first male actor to do so.</p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead="Nowadays, the pay can be 10 times higher than in Japan..."></div>
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<p>Following Sakaguchi&#8217;s lead, it was Akachu who ventured into Korea.</p>
<p>Akachu, who always appears at the top of the ranking of the most popular good-looking Japanese actors in Korea, also attracted attention in Korea after appearing in the Japanese remake of the Korean drama &#8220;She Was Beautiful&#8221; (Fuji TV). The fact that Akachu decided to hold a fan meeting other than for promotion, especially since there is no Korea-related drama or movie coming out, suggests that Akachu also has her sights set on future success in Korea.</p>
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<p>The number of Japanese actors who are planning to enter the Korean market is slowly increasing.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Mr. Ryohei Otani and Mr. Kosei Mizuta have also appeared in Korean dramas and attracted attention there. The average production cost of a Japanese drama is about 30 million yen per production. Some drama productions that are shot on location overseas may exceed 100 million yen, but this is rare. Korean dramas, on the other hand, usually cost 100-200 million yen per production, although there are some that do not require production costs. This is three to six times the cost in Japan.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> In addition, the percentage of appearance fees in production costs is more than 60% in Korea, compared to 20% to 30% in Japan. Per-per-performer fees can be 10 times higher than in Japan. However, compared to Japan, where a single season consists of 10 to 13 episodes, Korean dramas sometimes exceed 20 episodes per season and air for 60 to 70 minutes, compared to 45 to 50 minutes in Japan. It is that much harder. &#8230;&#8230;&#8221; (Drama production staff of a key station)</span></p>
<p>It is obvious that one can earn more money in Korean dramas than in Japan, but that is not all.</p>
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<p><span class="strongInContent"> In Japan, there is a saturation of good-looking young actors in the Sakaguchi and Akachu classes. It is inevitable that there are few opportunities for them to star in leading roles, but if they only appear in the most popular roles, their motivation will also decline.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Considering the pay, I think it would be a good idea for them to participate in productions produced by overseas video distribution sites and to enter the Korean market. Thanks to the enhanced online distribution of dramas and movies, Korean dramas are now available and popular all over the world. Rather than aiming for Hollywood out of the blue, it would be easier to enter the world by appearing in Korean dramas to hone your skills and increase your recognition at the same time.</span></p>
<p>The sooner the better may be the shortcut to Hollywood.</p>


 Born in Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture, Hiroyuki Sasaki became a reporter for FRIDAY at the age of 31, reporting numerous scoops during his time at FRIDAY and later working mainly for weekly magazines. Currently he also appears on TV and radio as a commentator.

 Hiroyuki Sasaki (Entertainment Journalist)

 The Korean entertainment industry is now a global phenomenon. Until recently, many entertainers were "migrant" workers from Korea to Japan, but now the situation seems to be reversing as they are holding fan meetings in Korea. ......

Why Kentaro Sakaguchi and Eiji Akachu “Hold Fan Meetings” in Korea

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