Asia: Easing Restrictions In Japan, Support For Korean Concert Platform

A Japanese government panel of health experts is expected to recommend that rules governing crowds at professional sporting events and concerts be relaxed at the end of September. The news comes as the number of new cases of coronavirus infections has dropped in recent weeks nationwide. 

Currently, venues are only allowed the equivalent of 50 percent capacity or a maximum total of 5,000 people. The 5,000-person cap may be scrapped as early as Sept. 19, says a report from Kyodo news service. Sept. 19 will also be the start of a rare four-day weekend in Japan. Event operators and spectators, however, will still be required to take measures to prevent both a resurgence of the novel coronavirus as well as the spread of seasonal influenza, says Kyodo.

The government’s announcement comes after Nippon Professional Baseball and the J-League, Japan’s professional soccer league, submitted a joint request to relax the spectator cap earlier this week. Initially, the cap was supposed to be removed Aug. 1, but was extended when case numbers spiked in July. 

In the meantime, substitutes for live concerts have been gaining ground in Japan in recent weeks. Kyodo also has reported on the Drive In Fes, a concert involving multiple DJs performing in front of an audience of parked cars, which took place in the city of Nagara, east of Tokyo, at the end of August. 

Drive-in concerts have popped up in various locations throughout Asia in recent months, and Nagara, according to Kyodo, isn’t the only place in Japan that is holding car-friendly concerts, though it appears to be the biggest and best organized. The setting for the Fes is normally used as the parking lot for Longwood Station, a motion picture location site and occasional event venue. The music is both played through a P.A. system on a pop-up stage and broadcast via FM waves that can be received on car stereos. The organizer has also provided special lighting and coordinated fireworks. The Fes took place over a two-day period and was attended by 220 cars comprising 550 people, who are pemitted to leave their cars and dance as long as they follow social distancing guidelines. Refreshments can be ordered online and the DJ setlists are provided beforehand.

In South Korea, the government has indicated its support for the entertainment sector by promising to provide funding for an online K-pop concert platform, according to Maell Business News. The move is meant to build on the success of the country’s biggest international pop group BTS’s enormous success so far with online concerts during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The Ministry of Economy and Finance has earmarked about $586 million in 2021 for what it calls the K+X budget, which is used to promote Korean cultural content and the “K-quarantine” model as the basis for the country’s relatively successful response to the pandemic. The aim of the initiative is to encourage national branding through online and other activities that do not entail face-to-face encounters. Of this money, about 29 billion won ($24 million) will be allocated for online K-pop concerts. The inspiration for the subsidy was BTS’s June virtual live show “Bang Bang Con: The Live,” which garnered 756,000 views in 107 countries and regions. 

The money will be invested in studios and stage production designs that can help deliver more immersive concert experiences for homebound viewers. It will also be used to promote less well-known K-pop acts worldwide. As one government spokesperson told the press, “Artists that don’t belong to major labels like BTS can’t afford to hold online concerts even if they want to. This virtual platform will provide opportunities for all performers.”

Taipei celebrated  the official opening of its newest concert hall, the 756,000 square foot Performance Hall at the Taipei Music Center with its inaugural concert on September 5. Located in the Nangung District on the outskirts of the Taiwanese capital, the complex sits on 9 hecatres of land and will mostly present Asian pop music.

According to the architectural website Archinect.com, the complex was designed by RUR Architecture of New York as an urban structure that fits into its natural surroundings. It contains facilities for both indoor and outdoor performances, with seating for 6,000 inside and several hundred outside in a public plaza. The complex comprises three main buildings: a performance hall, an exhibition hall and a creative area building. 

The opening concert featured performances by Karencici, Boon Hui Lu, MurMusShow, Accusefive, PiHai Ryan and Shou. Strict safety measures were in place for the show, including mask regulations and temperature checks. 

In similar news, the 90-year-old Shanghai Concert Hall was reopened on September 2 following a major restoration project that had kept the city’s oldest music hall closed for 18 months. According to China Daily, the last major renovation of the hall took place in 2003, when the entire building was moved 66 meters to the southeast and elevated more than 3 meters to make way for an elevated road. Since 2004 when it reopened until it closed again for its current facelift, it hosted more than 500 concerts a year.

The renovation work was more than cosmetic, involving the update and optimization of acoustics and visual aspects, as well as the improvement of a multi-functional performance space located underground. 

After 94 years in business, Tokyo’s most iconic amusement park, Toshimaen, closed for good on Aug. 31. The park featured more than 30 rides, including a famous wooden carousel that was made in Germany in 1907 and imported to Japan in 1971. The park’s donut-shaped pool, first opened in 1965 and considered the world’s first “lazy river pool,” held a final ceremony the evening of August 31 as a fitting end to the park’s operations. 

The 22-hectare site will be purchased by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, which says it will turn it into a public park and an emergency evacuation space. However, about 30,000 square meters of the plot will be the home of a new Harry Potter theme park, which is set to open in the first half of 2023. The theme park will feature film sets, costumes and props from the film series.