[NEWS] Winners from the 26th Golden Disk Awards (Part 1)

Date of the article: [2011.01.11]

CREDIT: VITALSIGN / allkpop
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On January 11th, many of Korea’s top musicians and pop stars gathered at the Kyocera Dome in Osaka for the 26th Golden Disk Awards.

This year, the show was divided into two parts: the first part (held on January 11th) honors the winners of the physical album categories, while the second party (held on January 12th) will do the same for digital albums. KARA‘s Park Gyuri and Super Junior‘s Leeteuk acted as MCs for this year’s awards.

The first ‘Golden Disk Awards’ began in 1986, and since then, it’s become Korea’s most prestigious awards ceremony for music. Nicknamed the ‘Korean Grammy Awards,’ the ceremony is reputed for its fair standards, as the committee utilizes figures from album and digital music sales only.

Below are the list of winners from this year’s show!

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Disk Daesang
– Super Junior

Disk Bonsang
– f(x)
– INFINITE
– MBLAQ
– Jay Park
– KARA
– CNBLUE
– B2ST
– Super Junior

Rookie Award
– B1A4
– Dal Shabet
– A Pink

Popularity Award
– Super Junior

Hallyu Icon Award
– INFINITE
– Rainbow

Best Hallyu Star Award
– KARA

MSN Japan Award
– Super Junior

CeCi Award
– B2ST

Golden Disk Producer Award
– Hong Seung Sung (Cube Entertainment)

PICTURE OF KARA:

CONGRATULATIONS KARA LADIES FOR WINNING A BONSANG AND BEST HALLYU STAR AWARDS!!!

[NEWS] KARA to embark on their Asia tour next month

Date of the Article: [2012.01.10]

SOURCE: StarNews via Nate
CREDIT: leesa86 /allkpop.com
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Five member girl group KARA will be going international in February with an overseas tour! Starting with a concert in Korea this February, the girls will be hitting major cities in Asia to meet with their many fans. They are still in the process of securing the dates for their concert, moving around the events they have in Korea and Japan.

KARA will be performing ‘KARASIA‘ at Olympic Hall in Seoul on February 18th & 19th, and this is the girls’ first independent concert since their debut in 2007 with ‘Blooming‘. The tour title is appropriate, as KARA is embarking on this tour to become one with their fans in Asia, hence, KARASIA.

A representative from their agency DSP Media informed StarNews on the 11th, “KARA had put on numerous performances in the past and fan meet-and-greets as well, but this is the first time they are putting on an independent concert since their debut. The girls have come a long way, now being one of Korea’s top girl groups and they plan on meeting with all of their fans that have supported them for the entirety of their journey.”

The fans themselves have been anxiously waiting for a concert. Their agency reserved one of Korea’s largest halls to ensure that a large number of fans would be able to see their favorite girl group. The tickets for the concert are being sold at a rapid rate.

KARA is without a doubt at the forefront of the Hallyu wave, going back and forth between Korea and Japan. They showcased their adorable charms and powerful performances with hit songs like “Mister“, “Jumping“, “Honey“, “Pretty Girl“, and more, while “Mister”, “Go Go Summer“, “Jetcoaster Love” and more were huge hits in Japan.

KARA has been highly acknowledged in Japan and has become one of the hottest girl groups today. They have earned the honor of performing at the NHK Red & White Music Festival last month, an opportunity reserved only for the most elite of Japanese celebrities.

[NEWS] Japanese tourists undergo plastic surgery to look like KARA

Date of the Article: [2012.01.08]

SOURCE: Xportsnews
CREDIT: MrTuxedo / allkpop.com
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A Korean cosmetic-surgery clinic conducted a survey of Japanese patient visitors for the entire year of 2011 asking, “Who is your favorite Hallyu Star?”  At the end of the year, KARA was the most preferred K-pop star among Japanese visitors.

Director Yoon In Mo of the hospital explained, “The most favored Hallyu star came out to be Park Gyuri, Nicole, Han Seung Yeon, Goo Hara, and Kang Ji Young who are in KARA.  The following favorite stars after KARA were Jang Geun Suk, Bae Yong Jun, Girls’ Generation, Lee Byung Hun, and Jo In Sung.  Through this survey, we were able to find out how the Japanese think about KARA’s image.  The KARA members resemble puppy dogs.  They all have cute and lovely faces.  Some Japanese visitors brought photos of their favorite KARA member and asked to change their nose to look like their favorite KARA member.  They wish to look a little more like their favorite stars, even if it’s through a nose job.”

He continued, “I think KARA’s music brought a good response from the Japanese due to a thorough planning from the start before composing and selecting songs to release to the global and domestic markets.”

Kara’s high popularity among the Japanese was also proven back on November 19th of 2011 when Y-STAR‘s ‘Curious‘ conducted surveys with Japanese tourists to which 62 out of the 100 chose Kara as their favorite K-pop star.

Japanese Sankei Newspaper also ran an analysis about the girls and concluded that KARA’s popularity is due to, “Their attractive face, balanced body line, and fancy dance“.  Sankai also reported that Korean girl groups are gaining popularity due to their distinguishing appearance and interesting group dance compared to current Japanese idols.  This sort of popularity has led KARA to earn 49.3 billion yen(73 billion won) in Japan from CD and DVD sales in 2011 alone.

In related news, KARA will be attending the ‘Golden Disc Awards in Osaka‘ on the 11th.

[NEWS] KARA & Girls’ Generation race to be the first to sell a million copies in Japan

Date of the Article: [2012.01.09]

SOURCE + IMAGE: SportsKorea via Nate
CREDIT: leesa86 /allkpop.com
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KARA vs Girls’ Generation, who will be the first to sell a million copies of their album in Japan?

Girl groups KARA and Girls’ Generation continue to sell an impressive number of albums in Japan into the new year, and the race to see who sells a million copies first has already begun.

According to the Oricon, KARA’s second full-length Japanese album ‘Super Girl‘ sold 586,400 copies as of January 9th, while Girls’ Generation‘s first full-length Japanese album also titled ‘Girls’ Generation‘ sold 734,000 copies.

For now Girls’ Generation is ahead by 148,400 copies, but it is too early to be optimistic. KARA’s ‘Super Girl’ was released more recently on November 23rd, and was #1 on Oricon’s Weekly Chart for five days straight it’s first week of release, it also achieved #1 on Oricon’s Monthly Chart.

In two short days, the album sold 100,000 copies and 200,000 by the fifth day. In eight days, the album sold over 300,000 copies and 400,000 after 16 days. By the 29th day, the album had sold over 500,000 copies.

After less than a month after the release, the album impressively secured the #7 spot on a list of the overall best selling albums of the year for 2011.

Girls’ Generation is also continuing to increase the number of sales with their new repackaged album which includes their latest hits. The Girls’ Generation members seem determined to be the first Korean girl group to sell a million copies of their album in Japan.

Of all the Korean singers that have promoted in Japan, the one artist who broke the million-mark is none other than Asia’s ever-rising star, BoA. BoA’s second Japanese album ‘Valenti‘ released back in January of 2003 sold approximately 1,240,000 copies, setting a new record.

One thing is for sure. One of the two girl groups will become the first Korean artist in 9 years to sell over a million copies, and the first ever foreign girl group to break a million. Fans are highly curious to find out which group will reach the goal first.

[NEWS] TVXQ, SNSD, & KARA rake in impressive viewer ratings for ‘Kohaku Uta Gassen’

DATE of the article: [2012.01.05]

SOURCE: Star News
CREDIT: carolicity /allkpop.com
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On January 5th, Japanese media outlet Sponichi reported the viewer ratings for the country’s biggest year-end music festival, ’62nd NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen’, which included performances from 50 artists.

According to Sponichi, SNSD‘s performance brought in 39.9% in viewership ratings, while 38.4% tuned in for KARA‘s performance. This is quite an achievement for both groups considering how Japan’s most popular female group, AKB48, achieved 38.9%.

However, one thing to take into consideration is that the first half of Kohaku usually records less viewer ratings than the second half. AKB48 performed during the 1st half, while SNSD and KARA performed during the 2nd half of the show.

Meanwhile, the artist that brought in the most viewer ratings for the night was the popular Japanese group, SMAP, with 48.2%. TVXQ came close with 42.6%, a very impressive feat for a Korean artist. Additionally, this was the third time that TVXQ was invited to participate in the festival, which demonstrates their continuous popularity in Japan.

[NEWS] Japanese tourists prefer Kara over all K-pop stars

Source: TV Report
CREDIT: hannacha / en.korea.com
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Kara is selected as the most preferred K-pop star by Japanese tourists.

According to Unimedi Plastic Surgery on January 7, a survey titled “Who is your favorite K-pop star?” was conducted targeting Japanese tourists who visited Korea last year. As for the result, Kara was ranked at the top.

Dr. Yoo In Mo, the director of the hospital, said, “Japanese tourists prefer Kara, which is composed of Park Gyuri, Nicole, Han Seung Yeon, Goo Hara, and Kang Jiyoung, over all K-pop stars. After Kara, Jang Keun Suk, Bae Yong Joon, SNSD, Lee Byung Hun, and Jo In Sung followed the rankings.

Through this survey, we could learn the images of Kara seen by Japanese people. Kara members have a so-called ‘puppy face.’ They have cute, lovely facial shapes. Some Japanese tourists bring a picture of their favorite member to get a plastic surgery on their nose. By undergoing the surgery, they wanted to look more like their favorite singer.

Kara’s music also seemed to easily make a bond of sympathy with Japanese people, and I think that’s because they begin with a thorough revision before composing and selecting songs according to the global and domestic markets.

Japanese people’s preference for Kara could also be proved through another survey conducted by a different broadcaster. In the episode of Y-Star’s Curious that aired on November 19 last year, 62 Japanese tourists out of 100 answered Kara when asked of their favorite K-pop singers.

Japanese Sankei Newspaper analyzed the key to their popularity as, “Their attractive appearance, balanced body figure, and fancy dance. Korean girl groups are becoming very popular here by featuring distinguishing looks and fancy group dance from any other Japanese ‘idol’ groups.” The popularity then led them to great sales; Kara earned about 4.93 billion yen (73 billion won) in 2011 only from the sales of CDs and DVDs.

[NEWS] KARA skips meals on days they wear revealing stage ensembles

SOURCE + IMAGE: Newsen via NATE
CREDIT: leesa86 / allkpop.com
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The ladies of KARA guest-featured on the January 3rd airing of KBS 2FM‘s ‘Hong Jin Kyung’s 2:00‘ radio program, and revealed some of their secrets.

Member Han Seungyeon opened up saying, “We really like to eat.” But there are days that KARA skips meals even though they’re hungry and those are the days in which they need to wear revealing clothing.

The girls admitted that when they were promoting “Mister“, they wore short tops for the performances and they would not eat, or even drink, a single thing before they went up on stage.

“But once we’re done with the performance, we eat everything we want,” they said. “We drink bottles and bottles of water as soon as we step down from stage and eat everything from sushi to cake once we enter our dressing room. We line up everything we want to eat in a row, and then consume all of it.”

DJ Hong then asked, “Don’t you care that other people will see you guys eating like that?”, to which the members responded, “No, because… well, the food is delicious!”

Meanwhile, Park Gyuri wasn’t present on this day due to a scheduling conflict, while Seungyeon, Nicole, Goo Hara, and Jiyoung were present.

[PHOTOS] 120103 KARA at Hong Jin Kyung’s 2:00

CREDIT: KARAfacts@twitter

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[NEWS] KARA’s ‘MBC Gayo Daejaejun’ stage is worth $17 million USD

Source: TV Report via Nate
CREDIT: phenom / allkpop.com
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It’s been revealed that KARA‘s pre-recorded stage for the ‘MBC Gayo Daejaejun‘ cost a whopping 20 billion won (~$17 million USD).

On January 31st, KARA attended Japan’s ‘NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen‘, which forced them to miss out on performing a live stage for the ’2011 MBC Gayo Daejaejun’.

Instead, KARA presented viewers with a video of their hit songs ‘Jumping‘ and ‘Step‘. The cruise ship they performed on for their pre-recording was said to be worth $17 million USD, and to rent it for one day cost thousands of dollars.

A representative from KARA stated, “Because we felt sorry for being unable to attend the ‘Gayo Daejaejun’, we thought it would be nice to give our all for the video. By chance, we were able to make a deal with Japan’s leading shipping company, and so we shot the video for ‘Jumping’ and ‘Step’ there. This was a busy season where we got to know KARA’s status in Japan.”

KARA garnered much attention and popularity in Japan by attending several special year-end programs, such as the ‘Kohaku Uta Gassen’, ‘Japan Record Awards‘, ‘Music Station Super Live‘, and ‘FNS Festival‘.

[NEWS] Asian Pop Addict Radio reveals the winners of their ‘Melo’ Awards 2011

SOURCE: asianpopaddict.com
CREDIT: liime_arix / aramatheydidnt
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Asian Pop Addict is a weekly podcast radio show centered around Asian music. While the name does contain ‘Pop’, they also focus on rock, rap, hip hop and other forms of Asian music.

Once again they hosted their own awards that centered around Asian entertainment from the past year. Last year it was the Fuckery Awards, but this year, it is known as the Mamamelo or Melo Awards. The categories were provided by the hosts of the shows and listeners were encouraged to nominate and vote for who they wanted to win in each category.

GTFO My TV!
Japanese: SNSD

Biggest WTF of the Year
Japanese: Earthquake/Tsunami

Douchebag of the year
Japanese: Arama They Didn’t users

Twitter whore of the year
Japanese: Gackt

Artist Who Needs More Airplay
Japanese: Daichi Miura

Best comeback
Japanese: Koda Kumi

Worst comeback
Japanese: Anything from AKB48

Most Improved Artist or Group
Japanese: KAT-TUN

The ultimate BAMF of the year
Japanese: Koda Kumi

Worst dressed of the year
Japanese: Jang Geun Suk

Worst hair style
Japanese: Ueda (KAT-TUN) “shaved head”

Most rigid award show
Japanese: MTV “VMA’s”

Most “FABULOUS” male
Japanese: Matsumoto Jun (Arashi)

Best Drama
Japanese: Ikemen Desu Ne

Best Crossover Artist or Group Into Japan
Kara

Song of the Year
Japanese: Koda Kumi “KO SO KO SO”