T-ara’s first Japanese tour ‘T-ara Japan Tour 2012: Jewelry Box’ made its last stop at Budokan. The group has successfully completed their first Japanese tour, covering a total of six cities from June to July.
Though K-pop acts such as TVXQ, F.T. Island, and Lee Seung Gi have performed at the famous venue, T-ara was the first K-pop girl group to ever hold a concert there.
The sold out ‘Jewelry Box’ concert was held at the Budokan from July 25 to the 26th with over 20,000 fans in attendance. While the majority of Japanese fans of K-pop who attend shows are reported to be women, many male fans were seen waiting in line to see T-ara perform.
T-ara excitedly stated, “We’re finally here at the Budokan. It’s such an honor for us to be here. We knew that a lot of female fans would come out to our show, but we didn’t expect so many male fans to be here as well!”
The girls then revealed, “To be honest, we weren’t sure whether we could stand on stage [at a venue like] the Budokan, but we did. Our confidence is boosted, and we’re now thinking that we might be able to perform at the Tokyo Dome later on.”
When asked about their popularity in Japan, the girls answered: “To be honest, we still can’t believe [the amount of interest we're receiving]. When our managers told us that the concert was sold out, that was when we really realized it. The thing about concert tickets is that the numbers affect [how we feel].”
T-ara first appeared in the J-pop scene in September of 2011, debuting with their dance hit “Bo Peep Bo Peep“ followed by remakes of their K-pop songs “Yayaya“, “Roly Poly“, and most recently, “Lovey-Dovey“.
“Though compared to Girls’ Generation and KARA sunbaes we’ve debuted in Japan later, we’ll try to show a variety of sides to ourselves to fans [to make up for it].”
