J-pop's Korea push: imase chart history, Kimura Takuya's first Seoul concert, and Cutie Street's music-show run

imase's NIGHT DANCER in 2023 was the first J-pop track to hit Melon's daily overseas comprehensive chart and top 100 simultaneously. Suddenly, a question hung in the air: what could a real Korean market strategy look like for Japanese acts? The years since have tested every answer.

YOAOBI rode the anime Oshi no Ko theme Idol (アイドル) straight to M Countdown in September 2023. Yonezu Kenshi went bigger. Two shows at Inspire Arena in 2025 drew roughly 22,000 people. Yuu (유우리) filled KSPO Dome the same year with around 20,000.

But Kimura Takuya is the case everyone's watching. Korean fans have called him "Gimtakgu (김탁구)" since his SMAP days. His first-ever Korea concert comes 38 years after debut.

Cutie Street built the tightest model. They held their first solo Korea concert in March, hit M Countdown at the same time. Korean-language versions of Kawaii dake ja dame desuka? (かわいいだけじゃだめですか?) and Puri Kyukyu (ぷりきゅきゅ) followed. They appeared on Music Bank. A July return is already locked in.

The math works. Asobi System's Nakagawa told Weverse Japan's Moon Ji-su that Korean broadcast exposure correlated with sales jumps in India and North America. "There is a global market that spreads from Korea," Nakagawa said, "so the Korean market is very important."

M Countdown confirmed it wants more of this. The show is "considering the possibility of appearances by various artists beyond regions and genres" going forward.