The KARA Spring takes off in Japan as girl group tours six cities

KARA kicked off the Japanese leg of its Asian tour “Karasia” on Saturday in Yokohama. The band moves on to Nagoya for shows on Wednesday and Thursday followed by performances in Osaka, Fukuoka, Tokyo and Saitama, keeping the girl group busy until late May.

In all, KARA will visit six cities in Japan and perform in front of more than 130,000 fans. 

The girl group held a press conference ahead of its Yokohama concert and talked about the upcoming tour, including the difficulty in performing so many shows in front of such large audiences.

“It’s been five years since we made our debut,” Seung-yeon said. “We’ve improved a lot, but there were difficult times too. We gave it our best and there were times when we were absolutely exhausted. But we needed to go through those difficult moments to get to where we are now.”

The “Karasia” tour began in Seoul on Feb. 18 and will take the group to Japan, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Thailand.

KARA member’s chin in the spotlight

Though plastic surgery has become almost routine for many Korean celebrities, some netizens still have tempers when they think their favorite stars have gone under the knife. 

KARA’s Han Seung-yeon is the latest star to fall under their scrutiny, and her seemingly altered face shape has drawn much attention in recent days. 

Netizens are comparing images of the star from 2009 to those taken during her latest television appearances, and to many, the difference is obvious.

“From chubby face to V line” is the title of one post that is making rounds online. It shows present-day Han with a visibly pointy chin set in contrast to a photo from 2009 that highlights her rounder jaw line.

“Her chin is way too pointy now,” said one disgruntled netizen. 

Han is not without defenders who say that the singer has simply lost some baby fat. But, for the most part, netizens remain undeterred. 

“It can’t be just the weight loss. One can’t obtain a new chin by losing weight,” another comment read.