BYJ with smile, in Tokyo @Marie Claire... part 1

Part 1 -Bae Yong Joon carries smile. 5D4N in Tokyo @ Marie Claire...

Trans from Suehan's blog ( thanks)

Bae Yong Joon was handsomely wearing a suit and a smile. He was still the same as before. Comfort comes from wearing skinny jeans and a loose t-shirt and exploding in laughter at a light joke. His ability to be in this comfortable mode shows him in another light.



Tokyo. “Yonsama” is a proper noun. It is only one word and has a huge impact just by the name itself. The reason he doesn’t show up that much in public is because of all of the “bad” responsibilities of having that name. Yonsama must be more cautious when he goes out because his outings affect not only the culture but the economy too. After the first visit, he wasn’t allowed to use Haneda airport because even the airport was affected by his appearance. Haneda allowed Bae Yong Joon to use their airport for his visit back to Japan since a year and three months ago.

Is there any other event which can make Haneda’s dignity, which was remodeled recently, proud? His fans filled the big lobby and surrounded the outside of airport. This surprising scene stirred drama and was spread throughout the media just like when he had visited Japan the first time. It is Bae Yong Joon who expresses his joy by raising his hand or lowering his head as usual to his 4,000 fans.

Tokyo; For Bae Yong Joon, Tokyo is like a mailman that brings the past to the present, and sends it to the future after Tokyo regenerates itself. Bae Yong Joon was Joon Sang of “Winter Sonata”. Who will he appear as next time?

Bae Yong Joon visited Japan in order to work on the “Smile Project”, a charity event to help the children in Asia. It is a concert where celebrities from all over Asia gather and donate their favorite items. This time, Bae Yong Joon not only hosted organizing the charity party but also took the task of caring for the invited guests on stage and in the crowd. Of five days in Tokyo, only one day is scheduled as his official activity day. The following day he is unofficially scheduled to take pictures with 5,000 Japanese fans that have been selected through a drawing.

Unofficial or official scheduling aside, his concerns are focused around only one thing. That is waiting for his fans, people he calls family. His fans would wait for hours regardless of weather or place if they could meet him. The weather of December in Tokyo was cold. He refrains from going out in consideration of his fans. He knows that the best return is to show his face to his fans, but he can’t always appear for them. Therefore his private time was limited during his stay in Japan. That private time was used to eat dinner with his brother, Kim Hyun Joong, who sang the theme song of the “Smile Project”.

Smile: It looks like his eyesight can’t be budged with excuses, his tightly closed lips show strong will. But his lips and eyesight look bright and cool when he returns to the average man. He always looks like this way if he is Bae Yong Joon instead of “Yonsama”.

They had a light dinner at the ramen shop where Kim Hyun Joong always goes to whenever he visits Japan. It was a surprise to see BYJ wearing high-top shoes and skinny jeans, instead of his usual neat suit. Many people probably want to see him relaxing like this. I remember that my friend, who is in the fashion industry, saw him in Cheongdam-dong. My friend talked about his superior height wearing a padded vest and baggy pants. He is quite a fashion star. If he wasn’t wearing “official” clothing he would be wearing a bulky knitwear, blouson, skinny jeans, and walker all the time. His fashion sense is excellent, it is beyond my imagination.

He finished his tight filming schedule of the drama “Dream High” right before he got on the plane. Even though it was co-produced, it was his first experience as a producer. His appearance as a guest star was an important part in the show and allowed for a smooth transition in the story line. Moreover, he hasn’t appeared on camera for a long time so he probably spent most of his saved energy in perfecting that small but important role.

(to be continued)