K-Pop and the Construction Industry

We installed the finished kitchen on site today.
The cabinet doors are made of Hokkaido-grown Japanese ash (Yachidamo).
The countertop will be finished with large-format marble tile.

It had been a while since I built a kitchen with solid wood doors, and honestly, it was tough.
Solid wood requires many machining steps from the raw board, and each piece has its own quirks. You have to predict which way it will warp or twist before cutting it into parts.

As you can see, even the slightest gap stands out.
With the colorful painted kitchens that have been trending lately, you can just fill the gaps with putty and paint over them as if nothing happened.
But solid wood cannot be hidden with putty. If you are not satisfied with it, your only option is to rebuild from scratch.
Of course, we are not rebuilding it (lol).

And here is the long-awaited new track.
Insanely good once again ♪

YG songs really are dangerously addictive.
Compared to other K-pop production companies like HYBE, SM, and JYP, YG’s approach produces an extremely small number of artists. It is a true single-point breakthrough strategy, which is why the money and passion they bet on a single act is on another level.
Looking at the artists they have launched so far:
1st: 2NE1 (2009)
2nd: BLACKPINK (2016)
3rd: BABYMONSTER (2024)
Just three groups, debuting once every seven years.

Speaking of which, when it comes to K-pop in America, BLACKPINK is still the absolute queen, isn’t she? Headlining Coachella, packing stadiums across the country. That is exactly the kind of one-of-a-kind power that YG keeps producing.

To be honest, my personal favorite is RORA from BABYMONSTER, but I also genuinely love BLACKPINK. JISOO’s visuals in particular are stunning, almost like a Japanese A-list actress with that classic, refined beauty. Absolutely my type.

I genuinely love the way YG crafts these rare gems.

Here is how I picture each K-pop production company in terms of the construction industry. .

HYBE = a major housing manufacturer. (Sekisui House, Daiwa House, Sumitomo Forestry)
Standardized, mass-produced, an advertising budget on a completely different scale, nationwide reach, and a subsidiary-label system that functions like branch offices.

SM = a major general contractor. (Kajima, Taisei)
The veteran that has set industry standards for decades. Conceptual, auteur-driven, and yes, with its share of internal power struggles.

JYP = an architectural design firm.
Sells under the name of the principal architect (Park Jin-young). Mid-sized, leaning into creative authorship.

YG = a local craftsman builder.
Maybe one new act a year, if that. One girl group every seven years. Obsessive about raw materials (the actual skill of the members). Quality of work over advertising.
When they hit, the level of craftsmanship is something a housing manufacturer could never produce.

But when I say craftsman builder, I do not mean those so-called local builders who do business with a smartphone and no tools. I mean a builder more like that legendary shop in Kitami that no longer takes on new construction (lol).

By the way, this reminds me of something.

YG = derived from Yang (the founder’s initial) and his nickname → company name linked to the founder’s name
SM = initials of Lee Soo-Man → company name linked to the founder’s name
JYP = initials of Jin-Young Park → company name linked to the founder’s name
HYBE = from Hybrid → no connection to the founder’s name

Huh. . This is just my personal hunch, but I suspect the same applies to trustworthy builders.
Evohome Ohira Limited Company.
The reason my company name is ridiculously long is that I wanted my own name to be part of it. .

Whether a company name includes the owner’s name or not is, ultimately, a question of resolve.
Putting your name in means that if anything goes wrong, your name goes down with it. It is the visible mark of having no escape route.
So. . what kind of builders are out there in Kitami, I wonder. . (lol)

Believe it or not, that’s up to you.