Riku Hagiwara Finally Brings His First Fan Meeting to Seoul

Riku Hagiwara is heading to Seoul — and for fans in Korea who have been watching his career from a distance, the wait is finally over. The 23-year-old Japanese actor will hold his first-ever Korean fan meeting at CG Art Hall in Gangnam on July 25, 2026, as part of a three-country Asia Fan Meeting Tour. Ticket sales open tomorrow, May 12, at 6 PM KST via Ticket Link.

This moment has been a long time coming. Hagiwara's popularity in Korea has grown steadily over the past few years — driven by streaming, word of mouth, and most recently his work in Korean-Japanese co-productions. But until now, there had been no official event where Korean fans could see him in person. July 25 changes that.

Who Is Riku Hagiwara?

Riku Hagiwara (萩原利久) began his career as a child actor and built his craft steadily through television and film roles throughout his teens. In Japan, he was already considered a promising young performer — technically skilled, emotionally precise, with a screen presence that punched above his age. But it was a single drama series that introduced him to audiences across Asia.

Utsukushii Kare (美しい彼), known internationally as Beautiful Him or He's Beautiful, premiered in 2021 and became a quiet phenomenon. Adapted from a BL novel by Nagira Yuu, the story follows a high school student who finds himself helplessly drawn to the most popular person in school. Hagiwara played the lead, Kiritani Hira, and delivered a performance that was precise, emotionally controlled, and quietly magnetic. The drama spread rapidly through fan communities in Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and beyond, and turned Hagiwara into a genuine international name without any of the traditional K-entertainment machinery behind it.

A theatrical film sequel followed, and both entries in the Utsukushii Kare franchise are now considered touchstones of the BL genre's mainstream expansion in Asia. Hagiwara himself has spoken about how unexpected the international response was — and how it reshaped his understanding of what his career could become.

Awards and Growing Recognition

The industry recognition has followed. In 2024, Hagiwara won the Elle Girl Rising Star Award at the prestigious Elle Cinema Awards — a prize that spotlights actors whose careers are on the cusp of a significant breakthrough. The following year, he won Best New Actor at the 17th TAMA Film Awards, held annually in Japan and recognized for its track record in identifying emerging talent before they break through to mainstream recognition.

By the time those awards arrived, Hagiwara had already expanded well beyond his Utsukushii Kare origins. His range — from intense emotional drama to lighter romantic comedy — had been on display across multiple projects, and industry observers in both Japan and Korea were paying attention.

The Korean Connection

Hagiwara's path into the Korean market has been unusually organic. Rather than being introduced through a concert or fan event, he arrived through content — through dramas that Korean audiences were already watching, or which Korean production companies had a direct hand in creating.

The most prominent of these is 첫사랑DOGs (First Love DOGs), a tvN drama produced as a co-production between Studio Dragon — one of Korea's most respected drama production houses — and Japan's TBS. Hagiwara appears in a significant role, and the show has aired for Korean audiences who, for many of them, encountered him directly in their own language context for the first time.

Additionally, his Japanese project 고등어 통조림, 우주에 가다 (Mackerel Canned in the Universe) — a drama that generated considerable buzz in Japan upon its release — has been broadcast in Korea through Channel J. The dual-channel presence means that Korean fans have had multiple, distinct windows into his work over the past year, without having to seek it out in Japanese.

That kind of cross-platform exposure, building gradually through genuine content rather than promotional push, is exactly how lasting international fanbases tend to form.

The Fan Meeting Details

The Seoul fan meeting will be held at CG Art Hall in Gangnam-gu — a mid-sized venue well suited for the kind of intimate, high-touch event format that Korean fan meeting culture tends to favor. There will be two sessions on July 25: 2 PM and 6 PM KST. Attending both in a single day is possible for dedicated fans who secure tickets to each session separately.

The Seoul leg is part of Hagiwara's Riku Hagiwara ASIA Fan Meeting Tour 2026, which spans Japan, Taiwan, and Korea. This is the first time the tour officially includes a Korean date — reflecting both the growth of his Korean fanbase and the demand from fans who have been asking for an event here since his popularity began rising.

One highlight already confirmed is a hi-bye event (하이바이 / 배웅회) for all audience members across both sessions. In Korean fan meeting culture, this format means the artist personally sees off every single attendee at the end of the event — a one-on-one moment, however brief, that is often remembered as the emotional high point of the entire experience. Confirming this for all audience members, not just a ticketed tier, signals that Hagiwara and his team want the Seoul event to feel personal and close, not transactional.

Tickets go on sale through Ticket Link on May 12 at 6 PM KST. Given the compressed timeline between the announcement and the ticket sale, Korean fans have roughly 24 hours to prepare. Competition is expected to be fierce — this is his first event in Korea, demand has been building for years, and the venue's capacity is limited.

What Fans Can Expect

For Korean fans who have been following Hagiwara through streaming and social media, July 25 represents something genuinely rare: the first chance to be in the same room with him. Fan meeting formats in Korea typically include live performances, segment-based games, Q&A sessions, and interaction events — all designed to create the feeling of access that regular concerts don't provide. The hi-bye event in particular, confirmed for all attendees here, tends to generate the posts and memories that circulate online long after an event ends.

Hagiwara has spoken in Korean interviews about his connection to Korean content and his appreciation for the reception his work has received here. Whether that translates into Korean language moments or nods to his Korean drama work during the event remains to be seen — but fans will undoubtedly be hoping for both.

The Asia Fan Meeting Tour marks a new chapter for Hagiwara in terms of his regional profile. He has made the transition from word-of-mouth streaming favorite to mainstream event performer — and Seoul, the city that arguably did the most to amplify his international reputation through fan communities, will be where that new chapter begins in earnest.