Philip Patrick

Japan’s weird celebrity culture is coming to Britain

Matsumoto Jun is the Asian equivalent of Harry Styles

  • From Spectator Life
Love in Action (Sadler’s Wells)

The Japanese singer, actor and heartthrob Matsumoto Jun, who I’ve always thought of as an Oriental David Cassidy (thus showing my age), will make his UK acting debut later this year when he appears in acclaimed playwright Hideki Noda’s very loose adaptation of the Brothers Karamazof at Sadler’s Wells. Jun is, not to sell him short, a superstar in Japan. It should be quite an event.

In many ways, Japan (and South Korea’s) talent factory is like a throwback to the Hollywood star system of the 1920s to 1960s

If you can’t get your head round the David Cassidy analogy, perhaps Harry Styles would be more meaningful, though even the former One Direction star would struggle to attract the kind of devotion inspired by Jun (it really is more like Cassidy – look him up). In fact, it is entirely possible that the tickets for the London shows will sell out in hours or even minutes, with many snapped up by his legions of scarily fervent fans in Japan (Jun has 1.2

Comments

Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months

Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.

Already a subscriber? Log in