Violation of the (c) what would they expect, cookies? :P

That's why SE games are so overpriced.

what a kill joy, square are

Very true. The crap is everywhere ...

I'm not an expert in fashion but I do know there are plenty of notable Japanese designers who are recognized internationally but Korean ones I'm not so knowledgeable of.

As far as music, I do think some of the most well-known Asian artists internationally are from Korea, but I still don't think based on market size and sophistication that Korea is the one blazing the trail. For me the biggest artists sound too much like their American counterparts.

Having said all that, I don't want to sound like I'm going "tit for tat" about Japan and Korea. Korea has come a long way in a short amount of time and incidents like this lawsuit/verdict shouldn't put a blemish on a whole country. But for the studio and the artist herself, I'm a little embarrassed seeing how they blatantly ripped off FFVII. But like I said, I wouldn't indict a "whole" country for something like this.

The music market may be larger in Japan, but the genres of music you listed is what Korea is exporting. Contrasting those genres between Japanese and Korean, and many will give the nod to Korean KPOP over JPOP (however subjective it may be).

My whole point though is to sum up that while Korea is behind Japan, we are only just behind and in seen in other respects, many could argue that we have finally caught up.

Music and fashion? Hmmm, you don't really hear much about Korean fashion having influence on a global scale, I would think Japan has the edge there. Music, Japan has the 2nd largest music market in the world and it's diversity in musical genres is greater than that of Korea, so I would have to say Korea at this point isn't "superior" as you see it. In reality, Japan is more sophisticated musically than Korea, just look at the Pop charts of both nations. Most of the top acts of Korea are Boy bands, Idol groups, Hip-hop acts, R&B, or a mixture of those. If Korea truly considers itself to be influential musically than they should showcase more real musicians/bands who write their own music instead of just performers and idols who dance and sing pop songs.