Yuta (center) of NCT127. His “gap” personality is increasing his popularity (Image: Splash/Afro)Instagram is now said to be the biggest indicator of popularity. Do you know who has the largest number of followers among Japanese male celebrities? It is Yuta (26) from the Korean idol group NCT127, which is currently on tour in Japan.  Many people may honestly ask, “Who are they?”  The second most followed male in Japan is Tomohisa Yamashita, and the third is Kento Yamazaki. And the third is Kento Yamazaki. However, when it comes to the number of followers, Yuta has 8 million, while Yamashita and Yamazaki have only 4 million. The difference among them is almost double. In fact, Yuta is only a hundred million behind Naomi Watanabe, the top-ranking Japanese celebrity. Who is this popular Yuta? Why has he made such great strides despite being a Korean idol rather than a Japanese one? Let us find out. Yuta is a member of a 10-member idol group called NCT127. They are a group of 10 idols from the major South Korean agency SM Entertainment, the major South Korean agency that produced the likes of Tohoshinki, among others. He was the first Japanese trainee in the group and successfully made his debut. Nowadays, it is not unusual to see Japanese members in Hallyu groups, but he was a pioneer. At the time, anti-Japanese sentiment in the K-POP world was even stronger than it is today, and there must have been considerable discrimination and harassment against the first Japanese trainees to come to Japan. Perhaps it was there that he made his debut, and through hard, blood-soaked efforts, he succeeded in making his debut. He is such a gutsy young man. Post-Debut Struggles