First Japanese Pop Concert in August

With the government continuing to honor its promise to lift long-standing bans on Japanese culture, the scope of Japanese cultural products now able to be imported has been vastly expanded, making it now possible for Japanese pop stars to put on large-scale performances and concerts here on the Korean peninsula.

Consequently, on August 26th and 27th, a full-scale Japanese pop concert will be held for the first time at Chamsil Stadium at Seoul Olympic Park. Performing in a facility able to seat more than 15,000 people, the popular male duo 'Chage and Aska' are to kick off this new era.

Communication Nice World, the concert promoters, explained that 'Chage and Aska' seemed the right choice to start things off with their popularity among the Korean public. In April, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism officially extended an invitation to the duo to help promote the 'Visit Korea 2001' and '2002 World Cup' publicity campaigns in April.

Having made their debut in the 1980s, 'Chage and Aska' have recorded some of the highest record sales in Japan, with totals exceeding 10 million copies. In 1990, they sang "Say Yes", the main theme for the popular Fuji TV miniseries "101st Proposal" selling an astounding 3 million copies of this single alone.

by Kang Chan-ho