I loved Dam Duk and Sujini in the drama.
One of my favorite dramas :)

Oh btw Yonsama has such a perfect smile :)

I don't have an opinion of Bae Yong Joon as an actor. But I LOVE LOVE LOVE Yonsama!!!! Neither my mom and I can explain it; he just has an . . . aura. Haley Joel Osment sees dead people, we see his aura.

Feeling you ajuhmmas of Japan!!

OMG! If I hadn't read the title, I would have thought that was a woman.
No opinion...never seen him act.
Have resisted Winter Sonata like plague.

When I first saw that top picture, I was getting a woman's vibe. But no, it's Yonsama. *bows down* Never really seen any of his work though, not to my tastes. But I must admit, there's something about the guy.

After watching Winter Sonata, I finally understood John Lennon. No really!

haha ta doo i thought at first the person on the picture is a women then I red Yonsama then .... aaaah.... that is Bae Yong Joon. Resently I saw "The Legend" and it was worth watching it. Didn't accept he would fit the character but he surpriesed me and did a good job!

Heh, I have to agree with belleza (nice screenname, btw!)... I really did not want to like Bae Yong Joon because of all this crazy popularity, but... he just has this uncanny charisma. It's pretty irresistible.

BYJ as an actor:

Have to say, BYJ's acting skills have improved significantly over the years.

I watched many of his earlier dramas, including Winter Sonata.....I couldnt stand Winter Sonata with its slow melody and his face was like....frozen without any emotion. I fast-forwarded most of Winter Sonata....

Then I saw The Legend and he was so much better.

BYJ as a person:

I dont know him personally but I have loved his handsome face for as long as I remember :). His face has been the sole reason for me to watch all of his dramas.

wait? it's a guy? I thought he was a woman! no kidding....geeezzz....someone please give his stylist a raise.

lmao "yonsama"

bae looks so feminine it's starting to get disturbing :|

and whoa love the new banner! is that korea's little sister i see on the top corner? so pretty!

Obasan united!
I adore them; I'm not sure why, but I think it's adorable.

Ewwww... gives me the shivers.

Just like Rain...

You know, the very last picture, I thought that guy (in grey t-shirt) was the real BYJ.

who is he?

BYJ has a certain charm that makes him irresistable. I like him best in Hotelier, my of my top favorites but WS is far too draggy and melodrama for me.

Leanie, I agree with you that it’s starting to get disturbing that he's so feminine these days. It's time for his stylist to do him another makeover.

why do ajamuhs love BYJ? is it weird for a 17 year-old to like him?

is it just me or he really look quite different from his role as Frank in Hotelier??

I can't put my finger on it but........he does look quite feminine now as that King in TWSSG. Not to my taste but I am very curious of how the transformation happens?

As an actor:
I've seen Winter Sonata, which was supposed to be the reason for his massive appeal and popularity in Japan (to ajummas really). I'd say it was okay but no particular impact on me, especially when compared to Autumn Fairy Tale (I cried throughout the end). In fact, him and CJW playing high schoolers were clearly unbelievable. He was better in Hotelier, though, but nothing really special like Rain/Bi in that movie Cyborg (he was really playing his part as a crazy patient) and A Love to Kill (you'd hate Rain there but would also understand him).

As a person:
Again, nothing particularly interesting. But since I don't know him personally, I cannot say anything.

His appearance:
Appearance, as everybody knows, is important if you are an actor. He is no doubt goodlooking but a little too feminine for me. Probably because I'm a girl who appreciates the beauty of a masculine looking actor (for instance So Ji Sub LOL!).

Summary:
I do not understand his appeal at all.

Winter Sonata was first broadcast in Japan on NHK in 2004 and has had an incredible impact on Japanese society. It was so popular that it was aired twice in the same year (which was very unusual - first dubbed, then subtitled), and ignited a red-hot Korean boom. Anything related to the series or Korean culture became extremely popular - including Korean food, Korean language learning and tours to Korea to visit sites related to Korean dramas.

Four years later the Korean boom is still going strong. There is a cable TV channel devoted solely to Korean dramas and Korean TV dramas can easily be found on any regular TV station. There are MANY serious Kdrama fans/fanclubs. Many middle-aged ladies study Korean and can read it a bit. Korean restaurants continue to be very popular (influenced by the popularity of Jewel in the Palace as well) and my local supermarket has a much larger selection of Korean food that it used to. I can even buy kimichi based soup stock to make "traditional" Japanese nabe (soup/stew) as well as kimichi-flavored potato chips.

Although it may sound like an exaggeration, Winter Sonata has been credited with doing more to melt the cultural & political barriers between Japan and Korea than anything else in recent history. Personally, I think that's a fair assessment. I was introduced to Korean dramas through the NHK broadcasts and the mania was INCREDIBLE! It has certainly influenced the way the average Japanese person views Korean society and culture. And I don't think there is a person in Japan over the age of 15 who wouldn't recognize Yon Sama or the drama's theme music if they heard it... (Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating a bit...)

Sorry, didn't mean to make this sound like a wikipedia entry! It's just that Yon Sama really does have special status in the Japan. On the Osaka TV talk shows this morning, they were saying that tickets for today's event were being sold by internet auction for up to $3,000! (Originally $85.) I'm sure tomorrow's news will reveal that someone paid even more than that!

(Personally find Yon Sama much more appealing than Bae Yong Joon! Just too girly right now!)

isn't BYJ really old?

*LOL* javabeans. your captions killed me! XD

He is looking so gay to me, even his mannerism.
Wonder when he will put on his bra?

I've seen everything the guy is in and I love him! I agree with some of the previous comments, there's just something about him that's absolutely irresistible and I can't put my finger on it. Everyone in my household is a fan - from grandpa & granny to lil' sis. I mean come on, the korean wave wouldnt be as huge as it is now if it werent partly for him and winter sonata. The japanese are so lucky!

It procupante female appearance

Yeah, I'm completely with Nonbirira on this. Whenever I visit Mitsuwa, I always peek at the Korean/Hallyu section of the magazine stand to see what's being promoted. Which is the point . . . to even have Korean men as a whole viewed as very attractive or ideal to Japanese women was unprecedented. Also, through Choi Ji Woo's popularity, Kwon Sang Woo and Lee Byung Hun became popular in Japan too.

A lot of it is timing, and a lot of it reflects different translation sensibilities. Winter Sonata happened when junai was still very popular in Japan. And the seasonal dramas like WS were similar, in both length and its quiet, unassuming style, to how Japanese tearjerkers were done in the mid-90s. So for what a Korean audience may see as formulaic and dull, a Japanese audience views as "deep" and classicist, a nsotaglic throwback to when the piano-themed melos they watched pre-marraige. Even the notion of men professing emotional, undying love to a woman is a novelty in J-drama. For me, the seasonal dramas reminds me of Douglas Kirk's housewife melodramas and stuff like Splendor in the Grass, and I can't say that of Asian dramas, let alone Korean dramas in general.

And this is most reflective in Bae Yon Joong. Yonsama is the most perfect Japanese man ever. To a normal K-drama audience, he seems to have limited emotional range and plays variation of the same part. But to a Japanese (and to a degree, mainland and Taiwanese audiences), Bae Yong Joon in Winter Sonata was John Lennon. He's Kimura Takuya meets Buddha! First, for the show, his hair, his choice in clothes, and even his glasses . . .to a normal Korean audience, not remarkable and maybe a little gaudy. To a Japanese audience, it's like watching SMAP fully, fully dressed up as successful gentlemen, rather than middle aged rockers. But, more than that, to experience Bae Yong Joong properly is to be greeted by his likeness to J-idols and then be mesmerized by the Otherness of Yonsama.

Which is to say, Yonsama is the most perfect Japanese man ever. He doesn't have emotional reactions toward heartache; no, that is beneath Yonsama. He has contemplative, meditative, PROFOUND reactions toward heartache! His serenity, his almost Confucian-like playful curiosity and piercing insight, the way he approach basic character development with the weight AND whimsy of Zen philosophy is like nothing else I've ever seen with any other actor.

Love isn't emotional to him; love is spiritual! Winter Sonata isn't just a melodrama to a Japanese housewife. It is the story of how, through walking through the Eightfold Path of Korean Melodrama, a normal man purifies himself (through the most basic questions of love, friendship, and loyalty) into a Saint, reaches the regal, regal state of Yonsama, that celluloid nirvana where a man is beyond pain, and simply is bathed in his compassionate, spiritual love for you. Yes, you may find this ridiculous, as would most of your normal viewers; but it is that sublime to us. It is not merely acting -- how he acts cannot be judged by theatrical or TV notions of such -- rather it is a contemplative state of being that bathes the Yonsama! It is to take the phrase "I love you" as a multifaceted riddle, to inquire to your partner and the world upon the profundity in the banal, the elusive truths beneath a life spent together. Some see actor; but Japan sees Philosopher King.

Yes, you may say Yonsama is a dreamer, but he's not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us and the ajuhmmas of Japan and the world will live as one!

^ sorry Belleza, that's very well written....but I think dramabeans should really use 'cult leader' instead of 'idol star' or even 'Philosopher King'?! o_0 after reading your post. And all the spirituality mentioned... left me baffled.

I dont particularly have a prob with BYJ, but I have a prob with all the fem K male stars in general. I have to start to retort it to a cultural difference in taste in men. (same with the obsessions with overtly plasticized actresses)

Speaking of cult, neighbor is blasting Dark Side of Moon right now. Actually I like pre-73 Floyd a lot, but their fans (like Tool and oh God Radiohead fans) can be uhhhh . . .

@mookie,

Ain't no thing. I've also heard Bae Yong Joon described as "Whatever. He smiles like a pothead. With makeup." And I can't completely disagree with that either! ;) Note: same friend was like that during her "Lee Jung Jae Oppa!!!" phase in the mid-90s. So, whatever back! :D

@javabeans,

Hmm, this is very true. I'm sure Bae Yong Joon in real life probably spends all his time working out and consulting his beautician. (Actually I'm almost sure of this) But if dude readies his Mother Ship, I'm SO there! Beam me up oppa!!

I waiting for twssg 2 please

@javabeans,

On potheads and makeup: Haha. TRUE. Now excuse me while I take out the Phish and put in Ani Difranco . . .

I think during and after Amnesiac, Radiohead became the millennium's version of Steely Dan. So much aural pleasure, but little climax. Still love the band, but I always go through my 2 week "omg omg omg this album is their best", but then it's never as good after that.

But, for the record, Kid A is the best record of the 00s. That or Justified. Drumz!

Actually my friend was in love with both Choi Min Soo (well at least before he beat up old people) and Lee Jung Jae. I called her a two timing whore, but what can you do?

@javabeans,

That was me, haha!! Yes, *I* took your Bends album, but that was because I know *you* took my Grace album. Jeff (and Jordan Catalano and James Iha and Damon Albarn and . . . ) belongs to ME!!!

(Actually this is kinda true. I didn't own a copy of the Bends, Melon Collie, or Odelay, but I sure enjoyed everybody else's. Sometimes I even returned them. Haha, I suck. :D )

I actually think The Bends is really, really underrated. And people in the States don't realized how much it influenced lad acts like Travis, Long Pigs, Mansun, early Muse, etc. to be arena-as-bedroom alternatives to the mod wave of Britpop. The Bends was the AOR record the Pixies were too ironic to make, My Bloody Valentine too blissed out to make, and Ride too maligned to make. Finally, dream pop had their Queen, and finally the UK and USA had a common interest after so many years after the Smiths split the neighborhood.

Initially, I docked down Kid A, partially out of provincial self-defense against a band taking imperial license with Warp Record idioms. And I was then in love with Sigus Ros (before they became insufferably precious.) But Kid A stood the test of time for me, and its Joy Division-meets-Boards of Canada mission statement has aged beautifully for me, give or take a shronk moment. However I resent the media's recursive apologia for everything that followed that record. "Okay, this time Radiohead is making our rawk record. Best since OK Computer, promise!!"

OK Computer was love at first Laika. Then Nigel Godrich was abducted to make The Man Who. Then Coldplay happened. Then every frontman fell in love with their voice in rrrrreeeeevveeerrrb. So screw you OK Computer. You're totally hysterical and useless to me!

Yeah, she was in high school when Sandglass Mania happened. (18 vs 29 isn't a comedy; it's autobiography.) As she likes to say, everything she knows about love, she learned from K-drama! Mm hmm.

OMG, this so random today!! Anyway, Yonsama Yonsama Yonsama!! Say it three more times and his hair will come down from the ceiling. You've been warned!

@belleza:

ROTFLMAO at your Bae Yong Joon - John Lennon/Zen master comparisons! He is a cult leader for japanese housewives looking to escape from their boring lives into a fantasy-world filled with romance. Japanese men are hardly as romantic as k-drama heroes. BYJ is the posterboy for the korean SNAG. He is elusive, untouchable and magnetically serene......a potent formula to put ahjummas under his spell. :D

#21 Nonbirira, I've never understood the Yonsama fandom, but you've done an excellent job explaining it.^^

#29 javabeans: "But I also think he is attributed with more depth than is his due."

In other words, "overrated." Which I totally agree. Also, I think I would like the guy slightly more if he just concentrated on acting instead of merchandising. Nothing wrong with the latter but when it starts looking opportunistic and mercenary, that's when it gets really distasteful. An actor ought to concentrate on honing his craft, not on churning out more products and earning more yen. *hides behind javabeans as the rotten fruits come flying*

Why do I always think of Michael Jackson whenever I see him in his long hair?....
a co-worker once said "he is too pretty to be a man"....while my other friend is just going gaga over him....

@javabeans,

In fact, not many non-Radiohead fans know this, but Grace was enormously influential to Thom while they were making the Bends. The Buckley influences seemed to stop during Kid A, and well he kinda became the long lost Bee Gee brother after that.

I get my Buckley fix nowadays with The Ours. And I actually like Jimmy's voice more than Jeff ; his tonality is warmer.

Coldplay actually makes good music (and I love Yellow, song and video); their first record answered the "what if Dave Matthews covered Jeff Buckley?" question that nobody asked. (But Parachutes works as a late-night record.) But Chris Martin started grating on me during and after their 3rd album. His po'faced "man of the people" lyrics became patronizing, and he started abusing his falsetto, like Mariah Carey with the mellisma. Then again, so has Thom.

Then again I also feel the same about the Arcade Fire. Echo and the Bunnymen fronted by David Byrne SOUNDS like a great idea, until you realize that isn't. :D

One of the things I give Bae Yong Joon credit for is that he was arguably the first Korean drama lead to feature a true gym-built body. He has one of the best physiques in the business, by virtue of him actually training his legs and stuff like that.

As for his merchandising career, that's all part of the Japanese idol business. You should see what goes on with Morning Musume . . .

As for Bae Yong Joon playing a true Man's Man (which I guess he kinda did in Untold Scandal), that's not going to happen anymore than Kanye West is going to be humble. Wow, I'd love to see when Kanye West meets His Maker at the Gates:

Hova: "Your cribbing of Daft Punk was dope. Ineth you goeth through the Gates to Paradise"
Kanye: "I knew it all along. Don't act like I never told ya!"
Hova: "Kidding. That Flashing Lights video was just wrong. Son, Father, Holy Ghost -- we all think you're sick. Say hello to Lucifer for me! Booya!!"

@Felicity,

Indeed! And when it comes to pachinko parlors, Bae Yong Joon is Mother Guadalupe. I love the Bae the Yong and the Joon.

@javabeans,

ROTFLMAO!!!! I *AM* that college roomie that stole all your music!! Hun, sorry about the Bends CD. It's probably underneath my Bae Yong Joon burial ground I mean shrine I mean "stuff."

Oh you know what, you were probably at a couple of shows he did at the Troubadour(?) this year then. He definitely has an extremely cult audience, but in a good way. (Yeah I've missed out on seeing solo and band Jimmy like 4 or 5 times already. Bleh.)

I've been a fan of Ours since Distorted Lullabies, so I get a little defensive with the Buckley comparisons. (For example, how he uses his falsetto comes from him studying Sarah Mclachlan.) I could say Nell apes Buckley even more, or that Matt Bellamy does Thom doing Freddie. His breath control and ability to transition into his head voice is as good as I've heard from a rock singer. And, again, *I* like the tonality of his tenor range more than Jeff's.

Actually I was going to mention Ours in your last free talk. The new Ours record is definitely a headphones record (and not always in a good way, Rick Rubin is a good producer, but he does some phased out stuff here that eats up the guitars.) It's closer to Distorted.

I think I'm neutral on Mars Volta. I like math rock (old DEP) and dada (i.e. Fantomas, Bungle, Boredoms) and I listen to some rock-en-espanol, but sometimes I think a lot of Mars love is collateral nepotism from the hype surrounding parent band ATDI, whom I felt was a touch overrated to begin with. Actually that's probably not accurate. I really, really like Vaya; but Relationship of Command was a step back, and that had nothing to do with any hipster backlash or anything. And it's hard to explain how I feel about the *idea* (vs. execution) of Mars Volta without talking about how I feel about the meaning of emotional hardcore and "real" post-hardcore changing in the 90s. And uhh that's WAY too topic for this blog lol! :D

Hahaha! Through howls of laughter I kept shouting Yes, YES and YESSSS as I read belleza's inspired description of Yon Sama! Not only was it absolutely hilarious, it was probably the most accurate description I've ever read of the Japanese obession with Yon Sama! Yon Sama as John Lennon, the Philospher King AND the most perfect Japanese man EVER?!! HAHAHAH!! Absolutely BRILLIANT!!

@Nonbirira,

Thank you thank you. See? I'm only half crazy!!! :D And when the time is right, I'll go into my rant about why Chinese housewives and the Ministers of the Mainland consider Jang Geum from Jewel in the Palace as the perfect *Chinese* daughter. Filial piety is great!! :D

See how Hallyu (and pan-Asia) works? One country's mastur . . erm . . love affair with itself makes everybody else happy when cultural moires are lost in translation! Oh and Korea, bring on more KSW-1000 "running after bus" scenes. I need my melo like Winehouse needs rehab!

Unfortunately, she'll be reincarnated as a dirty needle.

(love her as an artist tho)

It would be nice if Rain could channel BYJ's attitude towards fans. Then, he might see fans pledging undying love instead of having them drop off like flies.

He's one beautiful man... i've caught the vapors. He's beautiful in "look into my eyes and do what I say kind of way". I feel the same way about Prince.

@belleza

I think the same thing about Dae Jang Geum as one true daughter that Chinese would love to claim. The whole pan-Asian wave does provoke and connect at the same time.

@belleza

I think the same thing about Dae Jang Geum as one true daughter that Chinese would love to claim. The whole pan-Asian wave does provoke and connect at the same time.