Chinese audiences turn to Japanese movies, TV shows
BEIJING: Japanese movies and TV shows are starting to replace Korean ones in the affections of Chinese audiences amid signs of a rift between Seoul and Beijing.
The trend is most noticeable in cinemas. Around a dozen Japanese animations were screened in China last year, and they earned a record 800 million yuan, second after American films. The People’s Daily reported that the number of Japanese movies in Chinese theatres next year will stand in the double digits.
Concerts from K-pop singers in China appear to be petering out as the two governments try to outstare each other over Seoul’s decision to station a US Terminal High-Altitude Area Defence battery here.
But Japanese band Redwimps, who sang the theme song of hit animation ‘Your Name’, is touring China in the first half of this year. A couple of projects to remake Japanese films are in the works as well.
The popularity of Japanese movies is spreading to other products. Japanese automakers sold a record 4.3 million cars in China last year, according to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun.
Honda’s sales there surged 28.1 per cent, and Nissan’s 12.83 per cent. Korean automakers’ sales in China also rose, but only 6.7 per cent to 1.79 million cars.
The number of Chinese tourists to Japan also rose 27.6 per cent last year.
But the Nihon Keizai noted that Japan is also eyeing a THAAD battery and could soon come under the same subtle and notso-subtle economic pressure from Beijing as Korea.
The People’s Daily reported that the number of Japanese movies in Chinese theatres next year will stand in the double digits.