Can ZUNO live up to younger twin Xiah Junsu's success?

ZUNO - Can the older brother live up to the younger sibling's success?

On April 18, Tohoshinki fans in Japan will likely be seeing the brothers Xiah Junsu and ZUNO together on the same stage for Xiah Junsu's twin Kim Junho will be making his singing debut in Japan under the stage name ZUNO. Like the event's title "ZUNO JAPAN 1st SHOWCASE 2010 in TOKYO - Special Guest Junsu," Xiah Junsu will be appearing at the showcase to support his older brother. ZUNO, well-known among Japanese fans as "the older twin of Xiah Junsu who used to be a baseball player," already made his debut at the "Beijing Showcase" held in China on March 28. This was the official debut performance in China for the singer even though he had already been making himself known in the region by appearing on Chinese variety programs since quite a while ago. Of course, Xiah Junsu also made a guest appearance at this event and received cheers from many fans.

ZUNO's debut is a big issue among [Tohoshinki's] Japanese fans as well. The promotional teaser video of his debut single "Nothing to Lose," released prior to the China showcase, recorded over 10,000 hits within several hours of its release on Youtube. And entertainment magazine "Hallyupia," which featured an exclusive interview with ZUNO in its recent issue, is also showing a lot of interest in the singer. The tickets for the showcase, which went on sale on March 14, have completely sold out. Rumor has it that the number of applicants for the showcase were several times the amount of people that can be held at Tokyo's JCB Hall, the venue for the showcase. Concert organizers ended up deciding to hold additional concerts by request of fans who were unable to get tickets. However, Xiah Junsu will not be appearing in this additional gig, which takes place at 1 p.m. prior to the main showcase performance.

It is hard to deny that ZUNO is getting more attention just because he is the twin brother of Xiah Junsu, the member of Korean idol group Tohoshinki. It is very possible that tickets for the showcase sold out in such a short time thanks to the promotional strategy to visibly add the subtitle "Special Guest Xiah Junsu" for the event. However, if he -- who has revealed his aspiration to "become a star throughout Asia including China and Japan" -- wants to grow into Hallyu star ZUNO, he might need to listen attentively to the careful advice by Japanese netizens who have said on Yahoo! Japan, "Every article about you includes the modifier 'Xiah Junsu's twin brother'. Publicity is necessary but how about getting a little more evaluation on your own talent and presence?"

Reporter : Im Da-ham (Tokyo correspondent)
Editor : Lynn Kim lynn2878@asiae.co.kr, Lee Ji-Hye seven@10asia.co.kr