On Penlights and Lightsticks
God made the two great lights--the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night--and the stars. God set them in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. (The book of Genesis)
One of the fan traditions that has evolved in both Korean and Japanese idol culture is what’s called the penlight (ペンライト) in Japanese and lightstick (~봉 or ~bong) in Korean.
The penlight/lightstick is essentially a flashlight designed to be used by audience members to enhance the concert going experience at an idol concert. There are some big differences between the penlights and lightsticks that are specific to the traditions of Korean idols vs Japanese idols but the basic function is the same.
Conventional wisdom says that the tradition began with Saijo Hideki and his fans at the 1974 concert in Osaka Stadium and everything I’ve read and seen has backed this up. You can see his fans with their lights (what appears to be glow sticks or possibly small flashlights) in concert footage in Blow Up Hideki (1975). In response to my review of the film, one of his fans said:
ペンライト発祥は秀樹と思い出しました
応援する為でなく
暗くて皆の顔が見えないから
見えるように懐中電灯持ってきて❗
秀樹はいつもファンと繋がろうとしてくれた
(I’m reminded of the origin of the penlight with Hideki
It wasn’t for cheering him on
Because he couldn’t see everybody’s faces in the dark
He said to bring a flashlight so he could see us
Hideki was always looking to connect with his fans.)
This sentiment from Hideki’s fan really stuck with me as I saw outsiders to idol fandom dismiss penlights/lightsticks as simply expensive pieces of plastic over the last few weeks but to be honest I’d seen this going back a few years as I saw fans of western pop start to trickle into idol concerts.
In Japan, fans adopted the concert going tradition from Hideki fans and through the 1980s and into the 1990s would bring glow sticks or similar with them to the venue and eventually, in the late 1990s, idol companies began selling official lights for use in concerts.
Here’s SMAP’s 1999 Mr. BIRDMAN penlight (photo from Yahoo Auctions).
The adoption of member colors by idol groups in Japan--something inspired by the Super Sentai Series (more popularly known as Power Rangers in English speaking countries)--really sparked a penlight renaissance and today if you attend a concert where the members have member colors, you had better be prepared to use your penlight properly or risk ruining the mood for everyone.
My personal experience is mainly with Johnny’s & Associates concerts but each idol group will have their own traditions, which have developed and changed over time. For my favorite group, A.B.C-Z, fans are pretty equally divided among the members so at a concert you turn your penlight to the color representing your favorite (purple for Kawai Fumito in my case) for most of the time. But there will be specific times in the setlist that call for audience coordination of penlight color changes so you will often find fans practicing with their penlights outside of the venue. Typically A.B.C-Z fans will also turn their penlights to the color of the member speaking during both the opening and closing remarks as well as during the solo songs.
A.B.C-Z’s infamous Wolverine claw penlight (Photo from Ebay).
One of the most memorable concert experiences I’ve had was at an A.B.C-Z hall show in Nagoya during the 5 years 5 stars concert tour. Kawai had everybody in the audience turn their lights off, plunging the crowd into pitch black darkness. Then on his cue we all turned them back on, bathing us in a sea of red light. (Red for Hashimoto!) It felt like magic, standing in that venue surrounded by the warm glow of the penlights of fellow A.B.C-Z fans.
Arashi, who worked on a much bigger scale than my A.B.C-Z, pioneered the idea of using the audience and their penlights as an extension of the stage lighting with 2014’s Digitalian tour. Fans had to pair their ticket with the penlight as they entered the venue.
It’s important to note that penlights, especially for Johnny’s idols, are tour specific rather than artist specific.
In Korea, idol fans initially used balloons rather than lightsticks as their way to connect but the balloons eventually gave way to lights, possibly as idol culture was being absorbed from idols crossing over to Japan in the early to mid-2000s.
The first modern Kpop lightstick was BigBang’s 2007 “Bang Bong” and every other Kpop group swiftly adopted the artist-specific lightsticks as standard--with some charming variations like these TVXQ member lightsticks.
(TVXQ lighsticks from here.)
Penlights/lightsticks are more than just expensive souvenirs. They’re meant to create atmosphere and signal to the idols that their fans are here, in person, not passively consuming an entertainment product but creating something wonderful together.