2025.03.17
So, have you ever wondered what kind of activities KPOP fans (commonly known as "otaku activities") engage in? This time, I would like to present a special feature focusing on my own otaku activities.
To start with, the most obvious activities are:
1. Buying CDs
2. Going to concerts
These are likely the top two activities that anyone can imagine when it comes to being a fan.
Furthermore, the essence of KPOP fan activities can be summed up in the following two points:
3. Attending offline events (often referred to as "off events")
4. Participating in online video calls (commonly known as "yonton")
As the name suggests, off events are face-to-face gatherings where you can meet your favorite idols, while online video calls are events that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic when direct meetings were not possible, and they have continued to thrive even after the pandemic.
This might raise a question for some of you.
Why would you choose to do a video call when you can meet in person? If you can meet face-to-face, wouldn’t that be better than talking over a video call?
You might have forgotten, but these idols live in Korea.
And KPOP now has fans all over the world, many of whom cannot easily meet them.
The establishment of video call events after the pandemic serves as a solution for those who want to meet but cannot.
Moreover, during face-to-face events, you can only talk for about a minute at most, but in video calls, you can chat for two and a half to three minutes.
When there’s a lot you want to say or discuss, you might intentionally choose a video call.
Additionally, the ability to record the call is a significant advantage.
You can replay the video call with your idol indefinitely.
Furthermore, I personally believe that the biggest advantage of video calls is that they allow for things that are absolutely impossible during face-to-face events.
That is, you can introduce your pet to your idol.
This is 100% impossible at face-to-face events, and if you were to try to force it, you would definitely be banned from future events.
As for me, I have fond memories of introducing my cat during a video call.
※ The attached video shows the reaction of my favorite, Kep1er’s Yujin, when I showed her my cat.
It’s a clip of her saying, “Ah! So cute!” followed by an air petting gesture.
As you can see, there are unique experiences that can only be enjoyed through video calls.
However, it cannot be denied that the main event is the fan signing event.
A fan signing event is a divine event where you can get signatures from all members on an album while chatting, and during the event, you are allowed to take photos not only with your smartphone but also with a DSLR camera.
However, being a divine event, it does come with a considerable cost.
Typically, when a KPOP group makes a comeback, several fan signing events are held, but to participate in these events, you need to buy multiple albums.
This is because, in Korea, a border system is employed, where winners are selected based on the number of albums purchased.
The winning threshold varies depending on the group's popularity, but for extremely popular groups, it can be the case that even buying hundreds of albums may not guarantee participation. By the way, albums typically cost around 2000 to 2500 yen each, so if you consider that you need to buy hundreds to get a ticket for one fan signing event, it can easily exceed 200,000 yen, which is an amount that casual fans cannot afford.
These fan signing events are generally held in Korea, but occasionally there are events in Japan. Due to the legal prohibition of the border system in Japan, winners are selected through a lottery.
That said, the more albums you buy, the higher your chances of winning, so ultimately, it doesn’t change the fact that you need to buy a lot in Japan as well. However, the good thing about Japanese events is that there is a possibility of winning even with just one or two albums, which adds a sense of hope.
And the highlight of this fan signing event is that you can bring an item you want your idol to wear, and you can take a photo of your idol wearing that item.
To explain for those who might not understand, when I participated in the fan signing event for Kep1er in Japan in January, the item I brought for my favorite, Yujin, is shown in the photo below.
This is a photo taken while wearing these items.
You can probably understand how amazing this event is now.
Yes. They give you their attention for the camera.
You can get a unique photo of your favorite person in this world.
Moreover, since they take multiple shots in burst mode, countless photos are recorded on the SD card. You can either print them as regular L-size photos, create your own Cheki cards, or make original trading cards—it's all up to you.
And of course, you can talk to each member and get their autographs, so for fans of that group, it’s an experience that can’t be anything but fun.
Therefore, it’s not surprising that some people would want to buy hundreds of CDs to attend, and whether they think the price is high or low depends entirely on their personal values.
With this, I hope you have a better understanding of why KPOP fans spend so much money.
Finally, I would like to conclude this article with a cute group shot of Kep1er taken by the author during the fan signing event.
Done
Neko Machi Peko
SKOOTA KPOP Team Leader
Originally a Western rock music enthusiast, I even considered working at Rockin' On for a while. I started listening to KPOP thanks to BTS, then got hooked on BLACKPINK, and dipped my toes into the KPOP world. I became completely engrossed in the survival audition show 'Girls Planet 999', also known as Galpra, and as a result, I became a hardcore fan of Kep1er, fully immersing myself in the KPOP scene.