KCON JAPAN 2025 Concluded Successfully with 33 Artists and 110,000 Attendees Over Three Days

KCON JAPAN 2025, organized by CJ ENM, successfully closed its three-day event after attracting approximately 110,000 on-site attendees. Held from May 9 to 11 at Makuhari Messe in Chiba Prefecture, Japan, the festival featured a total of 33 artist teams and included around 74 performances and programs. Various stages were set up across five locations, allowing attendees to watch performances according to their preferred schedules. Designed under the theme of “KLOVER’S CLUB FAIR,” the event moved beyond traditional convention booth formats to create a vibrant club fair atmosphere. With MZ generation visitors dominating the crowd, 270 booths were available covering K-POP, food, lifestyle, and beauty categories. Thirteen sponsors participated, marking an increase from the previous year and further solidifying KCON’s position as a prominent global platform. This year, a new signature feature was introduced: a “showcase” that introduced 13 emerging artist teams. The “Dance Stage” was designed for dance-loving fans, enabling them to learn key choreography directly from artists and enjoy random dance sessions. The “MEET & GREET” segment provided special opportunities for fans to interact personally with their favorite artists, while the “ARTIST STAGE” allowed fans and artists to form closer connections through 360-degree performances. An “M Countdown” waiting room area was recreated using the popular “Dae-Chin-So Live” content from the global K-POP platform Mnet Plus, serving as a favored hideout and hidden space for K-POP fans. Special events were also organized. To celebrate KCON reaching 2 million attendees in its 13-year history, on May 9, a lucky winner was selected from the on-site audience at the M Countdown stage and awarded “KCON past event tickets” along with a Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra. Participating brands also left a strong impression. Samsung Galaxy served as the title sponsor, offering unique experiences through product trials and various related events. CJ Olive Young hosted an on-site experience event titled “K-Beauty Olive Young School,” where attendees could explore the latest K-beauty trends and see showcases by promising new brands. CJ ONSTYLE operated a “K-Trend Live” booth, featuring K-lifestyle brands that aligned with recent trends such as bag customization and water bottle decoration, which are particularly popular among Japan’s MZ generation. CJ CheilJedang’s Bibigo ran a “Bibigo School” booth targeted at Japan’s MZ crowd, offering tastings of products like dumplings, tteokbokki, kimbap, and micho in a food truck-style area, along with various interactive events such as TikTok and Instagram verification campaigns and the distribution of Bibigo student ID cards. Booths from Sanyang Foods, Nongshim, and Daesang Jongga also provided product tastings alongside diverse participation-based events. Additionally, 13 sponsors including Mediphil, Fontapass, Häagen-Dazs, PNCA, and the Korean Cultural Center contributed to enriching the event experience. The “K-COLLECTION with KCON JAPAN 2025,” a collaborative program between the Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises and Startups and the Korea Business-Farm Cooperation Foundation, also received enthusiastic responses. Thirty-nine small and medium-sized enterprises from the beauty, food, fashion, and content industries participated, allowing them to directly observe local customer reactions and promote their brands globally. KCON JAPAN 2025 attracted attention from Japanese media, highlighting the “4th Hallyu wave,” while digital platforms such as Mnet Plus, TVING, and YouTube enabled fans around the world to join in the festivities.