Fuck modern K-pop.
I had personal involvement in 1990s K-pop with FinKL. (They could really sing and they didn't spit all over the place when they belted it out either.) It's all Avis vs Hertz... Korea is still very competitive with Japan.
J-pop rules.
This is from SMAP's 12th album... It features an American group of musicians like session bassist extraordinaire Will Lee. When the Japanese ¥ was up high against the dollar, a lot of Japanese albums were recorded here in the states. ¡Viva Amigos! Was one smash album that really should have gotten some American attention.
This was the first single from the album.
Here's FinKL's Ruby: