INKIGAYO Takes K-Pop to Tokyo’s Dome Stage

A Korean weekly music show is becoming something much bigger in Japan: a live-event brand built for the dome era.

SBS’s INKIGAYO LIVE in TOKYO opens at Belluna Dome in Saitama on September 22, bringing together K-pop acts including TOMORROW X TOGETHER, RIIZE, CORTIS, KickFlip and KiiiKiii alongside Japanese artists such as Lilas Ikuta, NiziU and =LOVE.

A second night on September 23 expands that crossover further, with IVE, Hearts2Hearts, &TEAM, BE:FIRST, INI, HANA, ALPHA DRIVE ONE and others on the bill.

On the surface, it is another major K-pop concert in Japan.

But the more interesting story is the name above the lineup: INKIGAYO.

From a Weekly TV Show to a Live-Event Brand

For decades, Inkigayo has been known primarily as SBS’s weekly Korean music program — a place where artists promote new releases, perform on television and compete for a No. 1 trophy.

INKIGAYO LIVE in TOKYO takes that familiar television identity and gives it a very different function.

Instead of asking Japanese fans to consume a Korean broadcast from abroad, the brand itself travels to Japan and becomes a large-scale physical event.

The venue makes that transformation difficult to miss.

Belluna Dome is not a television studio or a small overseas showcase venue. The two-day event is designed as a major live festival, with performances beginning at 6 p.m. on both nights.

The official event site lists the September 23 show as sold out.

That makes Inkigayo increasingly useful not only as a Korean broadcast program, but as an exportable K-pop event brand.

The Lineup Is Part of the Strategy

The artist mix is equally significant.

Rather than building the event entirely around Korean acts, INKIGAYO LIVE in TOKYO deliberately crosses the K-pop and Japanese music markets.

DAY 1 combines artists including TOMORROW X TOGETHER, RIIZE, CORTIS, KickFlip and KiiiKiii with Lilas Ikuta, NiziU and =LOVE.

DAY 2 brings together IVE and Hearts2Hearts with Japanese-market acts including BE:FIRST, INI and HANA, as well as the Japan-based multinational group &TEAM.

Ado is also scheduled to appear on the second day.

This is not simply K-pop being exported to Japan. It is a Korean entertainment brand positioning itself as a platform where Korean and Japanese pop audiences can overlap.

That distinction matters.

Japan has long been one of the most important overseas markets for K-pop. What is changing is the way Korean entertainment properties can operate inside that market.

The product is no longer necessarily just an album, a fan meeting or an individual artist tour.

The brand around K-pop itself can become the product.

INKIGAYO Without the Television Screen

There is another layer to the Tokyo event.

Sky PerfecTV! is exclusively livestreaming both days in Japan, extending the Belluna Dome performances beyond the physical venue.

That creates an unusual circle.

Inkigayo began as television content. Its name is now being used to create a large live event, which in turn becomes digital live content for audiences outside the venue.

TV show → live festival → streaming product.

That is a much broader business model than the traditional weekly music-show format.

Why Japan Makes Sense

K-pop companies have spent years building artist-specific audiences in Japan through Japanese releases, arena and dome tours, fan events and local promotions.

An event such as INKIGAYO LIVE in TOKYO approaches the market from another direction.

Instead of relying on one fandom to fill an entire program, it combines multiple fandoms — and increasingly multiple music scenes — under a recognizable Korean entertainment brand.

The September 2026 lineup illustrates that clearly.

Established names such as TXT and IVE can draw broad attention, while younger acts including CORTIS, KickFlip, KiiiKiii, Hearts2Hearts and ALPHA DRIVE ONE gain exposure within the same large-scale event ecosystem.

For newer groups, that can make the festival more than another overseas schedule. It places them in front of an audience assembled by a brand larger than any individual rookie act.

Original Context: K-Pop Is Exporting Its Infrastructure

For years, the most visible global expansion of K-pop was the expansion of its artists.

Groups went abroad. Tours became larger. Albums entered more markets.

INKIGAYO LIVE in TOKYO points toward another stage of that process.

K-pop can now export some of the infrastructure surrounding the artists — music-show brands, festival formats, production systems and the audience communities attached to them.

That does not mean television music shows are suddenly becoming concert companies.

It does suggest that a long-running broadcast identity can have commercial and cultural value far beyond its original Sunday television slot.

At Belluna Dome this week, Inkigayo is not merely documenting K-pop.

It is becoming part of the live K-pop product itself.

And in Japan, one of the industry’s most established overseas markets, that may be the more important story than any single performance on the lineup.

Sources: Official INKIGAYO LIVE in TOKYO event information; SBS World News; Sky PerfecTV! event information.