Yohan Yukiya Sese Cuneta 사요한🦣@wlf_warren Not defending her or anything. Merchs and fan meets, and similar, are actually older than GenXennials today. There were already fan meets and merchs in the 70s, probably as early as the 60s. Even fandoms itself, they were called "fan clubs" in the early days of popular music.
Even if we only consider Asian popular music, the Japanese idol industry is more likely the first since the first Japanese idol was in the 50s (or was it 60s? I can't recall correctly). Last I heard, she is active again even at her age. 😉 For her, it was practically a fan meet everyday. People lined up to see and interact with her.
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