[BTS] The Last Great Power, India, Joins HYBE!! [Tour Countries]

[Update: 2025/10/22] Hindi has been officially adopted on Weverse, so adding this update.

The Expanding Territory of HYBE

I apologize for starting with a title like "Grappler Baki" out of pure excitement!
To be precise, the news is that HYBE plans to establish an Indian subsidiary by this autumn. Is "HYBE INDIA" about to explode onto the scene!?

They just established "HYBE CHINA" in April 2025 in China, which is showing signs of easing its "Hallyu ban," and now they are already moving to India!
I like the attitude of aiming for the big players. You have to aim high!

The reason I was paying attention to India

When I saw the news about the HYBE Indian subsidiary, I clenched my fist and thought, "It's here!!"
The reason is that I had been very curious for a long time about "when HYBE would get its hands on India."

What sparked my interest was tour data.
I like to compile everything, and I hoard data like a squirrel hoarding acorns, so naturally, I also collect concert information. I said "naturally," but please don't mind that.

Looking back at BTS's concert history, India is missing.
This was very surprising. They've even been to Saudi Arabia and Russia, so how could they not have been to India, a 1.4 billion person market that boasts the world's largest population!?

Since there are occasional stories of foreign artists holding concerts in India, it doesn't seem like there are absolutely no venues.
India has been eagerly awaiting a BTS concert for a long time, and I have the impression that they do a lot of interviews and BTS features, so I was observing with interest what conditions would need to be met for them to go.

By the way, this book was also interesting. I think you can get it cheaply used, so please check it out if you like!

Let's think about the distribution of BTS tours

Are there countries that are easier to perform in?

Why are BTS's host countries skewed toward Asia and America? This is a fun topic to think about.
Oh, and this is just a fan's speculation, so please take it with a grain of salt!

Looking back at the tour venue lists while recalling stories I've heard about BTS and their staff, there are clearly "countries that are easy to tour in."
Those are South Korea and Japan.

South Korea is their home base, so it's naturally easy to hold events there, but the number of performances in Japan exceeds that.
I think this is because Japan is an environment that could be called a concert paradise. There's talk lately about how it's hard to sell tickets, but setting that aside, in terms of venues, Japan is incredible.

In addition to the size of the music market, where you can do a dome tour just in Japan (and there are various sizes of venues, including arena-sized ones), it has good conditions like being close to Korea, having no time difference, and having good hygiene and public safety, so naturally, the number of performances skyrockets.
Because it's close, if necessary, they can return home in the middle of the tour for recordings or comeback activities and then come back to continue the tour. Jin even came back for a high-five event on a day trip ( ;∀;)

America is also vast and has plenty of venues. There are some issues, such as differences in fire codes by state law, but once you go there, it's easy to tour.
Paperwork like visa and work permit applications is also easier when there's less of it, and it's a huge plus that the language and currency are the same despite the vast size.

By the way, the reason I mentioned fire codes is because of safety standards for using venues. This also relates to reusing tour production elements.
For example, in Hobi's "Hope on the Stage," it affects things like whether or not a lift is used for "HANGSANG." Fireworks are the same.

What are the conditions for countries that are difficult to perform in?

In countries that BTS doesn't visit often, it seems the opposite conditions are present.
What's particularly interesting is Europe, where there are few performances. If you look at it as the EU, it doesn't feel like there's much of a difference from America, so what's different?

In the case of the EU, I think the big issue is "transportation." Regarding tour equipment, this tends to be a bottleneck, and it's just far away, isn't it?
I think the presence or absence of borders (customs) is quite significant. Perhaps the biggest appeal of Japan and America is being able to visit many venues without crossing borders.

Even though the movement of people within the EU (Schengen Area) is relaxed, equipment doesn't move that way, and there's also the risk of conflict, which affects insurance costs.
Since it's far, they can't easily go home, and I thought that the uniqueness of each country, such as laws and languages, might act like a body blow when trying to move a huge group of tour staff and crew.

Also, I can't say this too loudly, but... why the EU and Southeast Asia are different, besides the penetration rate of K-POP, is perhaps a certain kind of looseness. The EU is strict about many things...

Regarding India, when I looked into the reasons why there were no performances before, one of the big reasons was the risk related to transportation infrastructure, which even included "paving of equipment transport routes."
I was worried about air and sea routes, but of course, once you arrive in the country, the rest is by land. I thought, "I see."

Which country will host the new BTS world tour?

The relationship between host countries and HYBE bases

Hobi's "Hope on the Stage" was mainly in Asia and North America. One of the reasons why Brazil, a powerhouse in South America, was left out and Mexico was included is likely the existence of "HYBE Latin America." This base is in Mexico, after all.

I feel that countries with bases are prioritized, so I'm interested to see if the number of visits to mainland China will increase following the establishment of "HYBE CHINA"!
By the way, in the case of China, the places that rack up the number of performances are almost exclusively the Special Administrative Regions (Hong Kong and Macau).

Which country will host the BTS world tour (Waltz)?

Thinking about the usual BTS flow, I predict the world tour will be in 2026, following the pattern of "album creation -> comeback -> world tour." Our Bangtan works incredibly hard, so I can't say for sure, though lol.
[Update: 2025/7/2] It's 2026!

In that case, since "HYBE INDIA" is already established, India becomes a candidate for a host country. They would want to promote their new base as well.
Assuming Japan and the US are locks, if "HYBE Latin America" and "HYBE CHINA" join the fray, Mexico and China also become candidates.

Honestly, this race is super interesting: how many shows can they do in the relatively neglected Europe or the K-pop-loving Southeast Asian countries, will Qatar show the pride of the Arab world, and can Brazil or Australia make a comeback?
Sorry for being so relaxed just because Japan is a lock lol.

Jin is heading to the UK and the Netherlands, where Hobi didn't go, for his "#RUNSEOKJIN_EP.TOUR".
Countries that Hobi and Jin haven't visited, and that they couldn't go to during the MOS tour, might be strong candidates!

There was also a huge hint in the "Tearful BTS Dinner." Thank you for letting me know, Kikimomo-san!!

What we can see here is the fortunate marriage between Bangtan's desire to meet the ARMY they haven't met yet and HYBE's goal of globalizing K-pop.
At the time of the tearful dinner, the company's scale hadn't caught up yet, but now they can go!

Language support is also progressing.

Previously, Weverse officially added support for Spanish.

Speaking of Spanish, it is a language that has entered the top 3 most used languages due to the spread of Latin American Spanish.
I think that was a global move with an eye on HYBE Latin America as well.

Now that India is within range, will the day come when Hindi is adopted? This also has a large population, so it's a language with a high ranking in terms of users. However, since English is quite widely spoken in India, they might decide that English is sufficient! I am watching this with great interest as well (*´艸｀)

I apologize for it being a minor language, but I sincerely ask HYBE / BIGHIT to please continue to advance Japanese support for BTS videos!!

[Update: 2025/10/22] Hindi has been officially adopted on Weverse. It's here...!

I can't wait

I love Bangtan, but I also love seeing ARMYs from all over the world. Japanese ARMYs are cute, the enthusiasm of Brazilian ARMYs is lovely, and the domestic ARMYs are so fired up—this fandom is just irresistible lol

I was surprised when I saw how many Muslim ARMYs were at Kyocera. It's truly amazing how Bangtan is captivating the whole world.
Thinking that we might soon see the frenzy of Indian ARMYs in concert footage, I just can't stop looking forward to it!!

Ah, there's something great about the large-scale dreams behind HYBE's globalization!
I can't help but pray for a future where people all over the world can equally fall for Bangtan. Once they conquer the great power of India, all that remains is the untapped African continent! The World Bangtanization Project is underway.