An introductory course on the history of Japanese and Korean popular songs and music. It explores the formation and transformation of popular music in the socio-historical contexts of Japan and Korea from a comparative perspective as well as cultural relations and exchanges between the two countries. It aims at combining fact-based and issue-oriented approaches so as to enable reflections upon popular music in different socio-historical contexts including Taiwan. As such, while the lecture covers a variety of music genres and scenes in Japan and Korea including enka, rock, folk, idols, J-pop, hip hop, among many, it is also organized around more general issues in cultural theory such as colonialism, modernity, warfare and military, governmental censorship, political activism, decolonization, globalization and localization, exoticism and cultural otherness, femininity and masculinity, national and ethnic identity, authenticity and hybridity, language and translation, the music industry and mass media, new technologies, major/indie dichotomy, active audiences and subcultural practices, etc.