‘Nanta Tourism’ attracting attention in Japan… “The reason why it is so popular”｜The Dong-A Ilbo

As this year marks the 20th anniversary of the Korean wave entering Japan, ‘Nanta’ is attracting attention from Japanese tourists once again. If Winter Sonata caused the K-drama syndrome, Nanta led the ‘K-performance tourism’ craze.

Recently, the Korea Tourism Organization, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, in cooperation with Nanta (PMC Production), Japanese travel agency HIS, and Lotte Outlet started a ‘Memories of Hallyu’ promotion for 1,000 Japanese tourists, and interest is growing.

On the first day, on the 31st of last month, Song Seung-hwan, the planner of ‘Nanta’ and general director, personally told various stories about ‘Nanta’.

“(Before Corona 19) I was loved a lot by Japanese audiences. Enthusiastic Japanese spectators watched the Nanta performance every day for 4 days and 3 nights, and 6 days and 5 nights.”

In an interview with held at the Myeongdong Nanta Theater in Jung-gu, Seoul, Song Seung-hwan, general director of Nanta and CEO of PMC Production, said, “Now that the corona is over, many foreign tourists have started visiting Korea, and this event is especially prepared for Japanese tourists.”

Since its premiere in 1997, about 11.5 million foreign audiences have watched ‘Nanta’ performances, of which about 2.5 million are Japanese. In the case of Nanta-only theaters, the proportion of Japanese visitors was 70-80%, far more than Koreans. In Japan, it has established itself as the pinnacle of the Korean wave of performances, and has periodically toured the archipelago.

It hurts to say it again, but the reason why Nanta became popular all over the world is openly ‘non-verbal’ (non-verbal) and active ‘communication’ between performers and audience. Nanta has been performed in 60 countries and 320 cities over the past 26 years.

Among them, the reason why it was especially popular in Japan was the ‘Korean element’.

General Director Song Seung-hwan said, “When I first entered Japan, I was very surprised that Japanese audiences were preemptively performing performances with the tradition of ‘Samulnori'”. It’s something I haven’t tried,” he said.

He added, “Japanese female viewers especially gave a lot of love to the male actors.

With the start of Endemic, Nanta is again attracting attention as a Korean Wave content. It’s only been 5 months since the concert, which was suspended due to the corona pandemic, resumed in November of last year, but love calls from all over the world are continuing.

Director Song said, “There are performances in Mongolia in August, the United States in September, and Hiroshima in Japan in October.” Previously, in November of last year, he was back on the stage of Broadway in New York, the center of performances.

He added, “Recently, as more and more tourists visit Korea from Southeast Asia, such as Vietnam, Malaysia, and Indonesia, there are a lot of visitors to the Nanta concert hall.”

Lastly, Director Song also voiced his hopes to further highlight ‘performance’ as a new tourism element in line with the resumption of the tourism market for foreigners visiting Korea.

He said, “Interest in K-Culture is growing rapidly around the world, and it is performance that you can experience when you come to Korea.” Emphasized.

In addition, “There was a past where dumping tourism was prevalent and admission fees were not paid properly,” he said. do,” he added.

(Seoul = News 1)