121107 Another Year-End Japanese Music Award Show Reveals No K-Pop Artists in Lineup

K-Pop artists have seemingly been given the cold shoulder by Japan’s year-end music award shows once more.

Just a week after the FNS Music Awards revealed its K-Pop artist-less lineup this year, the second of Japan’s top three year-end music award shows, Japan’s Best Hit Music Awards, revealed this year’s lineup of 20 artists, and K-Pop stars were nowhere to be seen on the list yet again.

Performers for the Best Hit Music Awards this year, as revealed by the award show’s homepage, shows a lineup that includes the likes of aiko, AKB48, EXILE, SKE48 and more, but none of this year’s best-selling K-Pop artists such as Kara, DBSK or SNSD were invited, raising the question once more if K-Pop artists are being shunned by the Japanese broadcasters due to ongoing political tensions between the Korean and Japanese governments.

It marked a stark contrast to last year, when Kara and 2NE1 performed at the Best Hit Music Awards, while Kara, DBSK and SNSD all took part in the FNS Music Awards.

The last of the three major music awards, the annual Kohaku Uta Gassen or the ‘Red and White Song Battle’ on NHK, has yet to announce its lineup, but many are saying it is likely it will not invite any Korean artists this year as well.

NHK’s president, Matsumoto Masayuki has previously expressed his criticism of South Korean president, Lee Myung Bak, and his recent actions pertaining to the disputed Dokdo Islands and had voiced his opposition to having Korean artists appear as a result of the political strife.

Last year, DBSK, Kara and SNSD took part in NHK’s Koharku Uta Gassen.

Photo Credit: NHK