Second, with exceptions such as semi-nude 17-year-old model Choi Eun-jung aside, who notoriously said that “10-19 are the perfect ages to reveal a lot of skin,” whenever claims of female empowerment or sexual expression are made of girl groups, just a little investigation reveals the conspicuous absence of the voices of the girls themselves. Rather, you find that it’s the entertainment companies speaking for them, which certainly don’t want to challenge Japanese fans’ perception of them as “more mature” than Japanese groups when, according to DFSB Kollective head Bernie Cho, “many top artists make more money from one week in Japan than they do in one year in Korea.”