Gangnam Snub?

Japan’s seeming rejection of the biggest pop hit in the world at the moment, South Korean rapper PSY’s “Gangnam Style,” is being viewed with some suspicion by Koreans.

AFP is reporting that there is “speculation” in Korea that the ongoing territorial dispute over the Takeshima/Dokdo islets “have caused Japanese fans to shun the song,” which has only reached into the upper portion of the top 30 on the Japanese iTunes chart.

 
This contention may also be a reaction to speculation on the part of certain Japanese music blogs that contend the song’s success on YouTube, where it has racked up more than 530 million views, can be explained by Koreans’ use of automated viewing programs, or bots.  The song is often referred to in Japan as “F5 Style,” referring to button on a computer keyboard that refreshes most browsers. 
 
The nonprofit Korean Wave Research Institute, a pop culture promotion organization, retaliated to the F5 allegations by saying the “conspiracy theory” was “tantamount to doubting a world record in an Olympics marathon.” 
 
The institute’s president went so far as to attack Japan’s only contribution to YouTube’s Top 30 videos of all time, which shows a Japanese woman dropping Mentos candy in a glass of Diet Coke, causing it to erupt in an impressive fizzy stream. 
 
“Another lowly example showing the video-related preference of the Japanese,” the president remarked.