The K-Con Japan 2018 held at Mikuhara Messe International Exhibition Center in Chiba Prefecture, Japan, April 13-15, attracts a huge crowd as seen in this photo.(Photo: CJ E&M)

CJ E&M kicked off the Kcon 2018 Japan, the first stop in the global tour, to continue to spread the popularity of Hallyu around the world with K-con as the representative Hallyu vehicle. The company put together an entertainment package of Korean songs and dances in the name and toured the world to show off the Korean-style entertainment to international audiences from 2015.
The affiliate of CJ Group began the 2018 K-con Japan tour on April 13-15 at the Mikuhara Messe International Exhibition Center in Chiba Prefecture. Japan is one of the three largest content markets in the world, and also a key influencer of Hallyu entertainment, officials of CJ E&M said. They said the Japan K-con tour this time will ignite the Hallyu fad being aroused among the young Japanese fans in their teens and 20s through social network services to open a new chapter for Korea-Japan cultural exchanges.
The first Hallyu fad developed around the popularity of the Korean TV dramas in the 2000s among middle-aged Japanese fans, followed by the 2nd Hallyu wave aroused by the K-pop popularity and the 3rd Hallyu fad through the social network service among the Japanese teenagers and those in the early 20s attracted by Korean foods, cosmetics, fashion, games and web tunes, among others.
The K-con staged a magical show at the Makuhari Messe in Chiba city, Japan. The 1st announcement brought fans Momoland, Samuel Kim, Seventeen, Stray Kids, MONSTA X, SF9, then the 2nd announcement had Heize, Cosmic Girls, BLK, Rainz, The Boyz, and IMFACT. Now, rapper Sik-K, Kim Chung Ha, N.Flying, IN2IT, and TRCNG have joined the festivities, completing the list of performers for 'KCON 2018 Japan.
Kcon has been giving the Hallyu performers with great potential the opportunity to grow to be Hallyu stars, acting as conduits for their global advancement.
Kcon 2018 Japan was no exception. It introduced many first-time Hallyu performers with performances selected from the 3rd Hallyu songs and dances shown to the public through SNS such as You Tube and Instagram, all targeted at audiences in their 10s and 20s, who make up around 57 percent of the paid customers.
Kcon Japan started in 2015 and has been held every year since then. In the initial year of Kcon, it attracted 15,000 people, 33,000 people in 2016, and 48,500 people in 2017.
The Japanese leg of this year's Kcon, an annual global Korean pop music and culture convention, drew a crowd of some 68,000 during its three-day run, organizers said April 17. The three-day event held at the Makuhari Messe convention center in Chiba, east of Tokyo, from Friday to Sunday was attended by a combined audience of 68,000, CJ E&M said.
CJ E&M Corporation operates as a content and marketing company primarily in South Korea. The company operates 16 TV channels comprising entertainment, music, film, lifestyle, cartoon, etc. through cable, IPTV, and digital media platforms; invests in, produces, and distributes films, and music, as well as provides movies and animations to the local audiences; organizes music concerts; and produces and licenses theatrical works. It is also involved in investing, producing, distributing, and licensing animation content. Kcon USA, the world's largest Korean culture convention and music festival, announced its return today at SXSW 2018 in Austin, Texas.
The seventh edition of Kcon USA will run this summer in the New York metro area on June 23-24 at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ, and in Los Angeles on August 10-12 at STAPLES Center & LA Convention Center. The festival will continue to be the leader in spreading Korean pop culture to new and existing fans, with its star-studded concerts and convention expanding this year to include additional K-beauty and esports offerings. More than 128,000 fans came out to experience Kcon USA in 2017 - the most in the history of the event since it launched in 2012.
The programming does not stop at music, with food, fashion, television, film, esports and more playing important roles in the bi-coastal event. This year, Kcon will expand the K-Beauty component of the convention bringing in brands normally inaccessible to U.S. consumers. Participants will be announced in the coming months.