Kim Hyun Joong's remarkable capture of the hearts of Japanese fans - boosted no less by the high popularity of his Playful Kiss / Mischievous Kiss drama there - has kept him in the top spots of Japan's e-circle.
Not only did his album sales (foreign/imported album category) beat Lady Gaga + Beyonce in the Japanese Oricon charts, he was also the highest-selling solo artist of the year in Korean's Hanteo* charts for the first half of 2011 (counted sales up to 30 June) - where he came in at #3 ~ an INCREDIBLE feat since his album was just released less than 30 days before the tally, on June 8!
The airport fashion of Kim Hyun Joong and U-Know Yunho, K-pop's representative charismatic flower boys, has garnered the interest of netizens.
On the 28th, Kim Hyun Joong appeared in Gimpo Aiport to head off to his Tokyo International Forum showcase in Japan on the 29th. On this day, he showcased a natural fashion with comfortable jeans and a striped zip-up hoodie, completing his own style with Converse shoes and sunglasses.
Kim Hyun Joong's hair color, which is now blonde for his next batch of activities, made him shine regardless of his plain clothes.
TVXQ's U-Know Yunho became a hot topic for showing off airport fashion that highlighted his manliness.
On the 28th, TVXQ's U-Know Yunho and Choikang Changmin appeared at Gimpo Airport for their Japanese activities and U-Know Yunho showcased his great sense of fashion with a fedora hat as his focal point.
U-Know Yunho's clean-cut and great fashion sense had him wearing a white t-shirt and pants, finished off with a vest.
Netizens who saw these photos had a great reaction to them as they said, "Both of them are so charismatic", "U-Know Yunho is overflowing with masculinity", "Kim Hyun Joong has his face covered in sunglasses but he still shines", "U-Know Yunho's body ratio is great," and "Kim Hyun Joong has proved that he's a walking sculpture!"
Popular girl groups KARA, 4minute, etc performed at a K-Pop event in Japan and showed a spectacular stage, upgrading the Hallyu Wave.
On 30th July, some top Korean idol groups performed in ‘Love-1 Festival 2011′ that was held in Chiba Photo Park. 4minute, KARA, Kim Hyunjoong, MBLAQ, FT Island, The Boss, etc. On the day of the event, all 20,000 audience members showed their excitement despite the rain and other poor conditions.
In this event KARA performed first as the most popular group currently. They showed a wonderful stage with some popular songs of them like ‘Jumping’, ‘Go Go Summer!’, ‘Jet Coaster Love’, etc. They received all the cheers from the audience. The next performance is by Kim Hyunjoong who made a comeback with his solo album. He performed ‘Break Down’, ‘Please’, and ‘Kiss Kiss’, then successfully excited the audience. 4minute performed songs such as ‘WHY’, ‘Heart to Heart’, ‘Mirror Mirror’, etc.
The Boss performed their debut song ‘Love Power’ and their 2nd single ‘Love Bingo!’. MBLAQ performed their Japanese debut song ‘Your Luv’, etc. The other performances by Infinite, ZE:A, Rainbow, Supreme Team, etc also received much excitement from Japanese fans.
On August 2nd, SS501’s Kim Hyun Joong successfully concluded his ‘Playful Kiss‘ event at the Tokyo International Forum.
Over 10,000 fans showed up for the event, all of whom were chosen through a special lottery, since applications for seats exceeded the total amount allowed. The fans wildly showed their enthusiasm for the Hallyu star, and the event has been described by the media as a ‘passionate’ one.
After sharing tidbits from the film set, Kim Hyun Joong tried to get closer with his fans through special events like ‘OX Quizzes’. He then went on to perform “Thank You” and “One More Time” from the “Playful Kiss” OST, as well as “Kiss Kiss” from his solo mini-album.
Kim Hyun Joong will be completing further interviews and magazine photoshoots before returning to Korea.