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I was watching one piece and noticed that there was a TVXQ name on the
[credits](https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=tIPp1Zhg2gU)

I am somewhat familiar of SM towns Korean Groups and one of them was named
TVXQ

I googled and found out that it was indeed the Kpop Group.

It was also found that not only One Piece but also [Inu Yasha's Ending
Theme](https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=6rMC0AMPQLY)
song " _Every Heart_ " was sung by a Kpop Artist which is BoA.

And [Naruto's theme
song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_LQDwv_hQ7U) "
_Buterfly_ " was sung by KARA.

I've Been watching anime since I was a kid (almost 20 years now), and I just
recently got hooked in Kpop music. That's when I noticed this.

I was just wondering why are some anime theme songs sung by Korean artists.
There are several artists in Japan, and wouldn't it be expensive to get a
singer/band from another country? Are there any reasons for this?


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anime-production music theme-song
Why are some anime OP/ED theme songs sung by Kpop/Korean Artist?


Kara were originally from South Korea but quickly branched out into the
Japanese market and found success there. To cut and paste from
[Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kara_%28South_Korean_band%29):

> After finding national success, the group began to expand their music to
> Japan by signing to Universal Music Japan's subsidiary label, Universal
> Sigma in 2010. The group's debut was a success as they were dubbed as
> "Japan's No. 1 Rookie Artist of 2010" by Oricon and also receiving the "New
> Artist of the Year Award (International)" from the Japan Gold Disc Awards.
> In April 2011, the group achieved their first number one single in Japan
> with "Jet Coaster Love", making them the first foreign female group since
> the creation of the Oricon to rank number one in the first week of release
> and also the first foreign female group in thirty years to do so.Overall,
> the group managed to sell over one million physical singles within two
> years, making them one of the fastest-selling South Korean acts in Japan.

As they were signed by a Japanese label it is reasonable to assume that they
either moved to Japan or were frequently there anyway and got the job of
making that music via their labels contacts.


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I think this is related to the [Korean
Wave](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Wave) in Japan.

In the early 2000s, Korean live action dramas and KPop started to come into
Japan and quickly became massively popular. From [Korea.net's article on the
Korean Wave](http://www.korea.net/AboutKorea/Culture-and-the-Arts/Hallyu):

> The Korean Wave landed in Japan in 2003 when the KBS TV drama series Winter
> Sonata was aired via NHK. The drama became an instant mega hit, making its
> male hero, Yon Sama, a household name, compelling his enthusiastic Japanese
> fans to visit various film locations, including Namiseom Island, in Korea.

Wikipedia states:

> In 2000, the K-Pop singer BoA took off her musical career with SM
> Entertainment and two years later, her album Listen to My Heart became the
> first album by a Korean musician to sell a million copies in Japan

on the basis of [a Recording Industry Association of Japan page on million-
selling records in 2002](http://www.riaj.or.jp/f/data/index.html).

Korean media has gotten so popular in Japan that it's even prompted a backlash
among some, as [this article from The
Atlantic](http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/09/how-korean-
pop-conquered-japan/244712/) notes.

The period of time when Inuyasha was on the air was squarely in the middle of
the Korean Wave. I don't follow Naruto so I don't know exactly which years
that particular song was used, but most of the Naruto anime's run has also
been during peak years of the Korean Wave. Since BoA and Kara were already
extremely popular in Japan, they were tapped to contribute songs for these
anime, just as any other popular band would be. They were already touring and
otherwise active in Japan, so I'm sure they had contacts that the anime
studios could get in touch with to offer them these gigs.

To address the last point, there wasn't a shortage of Japanese bands; the
studios just wanted to use these particular Korean bands because of their
popularity. Using a foreign band isn't likely to be more expensive; it might
even be cheaper, if the foreign band isn't well known, because they'll be
willing to trade some pay for exposure. With these bands, since they were
already popular and active in Japan, hiring them probably cost about what
hiring an equally popular Japanese band would cost.


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