REPOST- [KEYEAST]Entry of Korea's Alcoholic Beverage Into The Global Market

April 8, 2009

Hi Baesisters, I want to share to you again the news I found in KeyEast News --press release just today. Here it is, read....

First news....



2009. 4.8

Entry of Korea¡¯s alcoholic beverage into the global market

Commencement of sales of ¡°Gosire Makgeolli¡± in Japan by Keyeast subsidiary BOFi and Kooksoondang

- Development of high quality traditional makgeolli by the Korean traditional restaurant Gosire and Kooksoondang
- Sales to begin on March 28 in food stores throughout Japan
- Third item of Gosire¡¯s original food series

BOF International Inc., a subsidiary of the Asian cultural content company Keyeast Co., Ltd. (www.keyeast.co.kr), officially announced that it will begin to sell throughout Japan ¡°Gosire Makgeolli,¡± which was developed by the traditional Korean restaurant Gosire and by Kooksoondang Brewery Co., Ltd. with the assistance of Bae Yong Joon.

Gosire Makgeolli is made from 100% high quality Korean rice from Incheon, Kyungki-do, and Goheung, Jeonla-do and other similar areas and its amino acid content is higher than other makgeolli brands due to its steam-less raw rice fermentation method. In addition, Gosire Makgeolli does not contain any sugars or additives and therefore the natural sweet taste of rice is not lost.

Gosire Makgeolli sales are to begin on March 28 in food stores throughout Japan.

Gosire began operations in Tokyo in August of 2006 and it introduces Korean culture to Japan with a focus on customer satisfaction. Gosire has garnered much attention with the original food products it has developed and it now plans to introduce makgeolli to the world with Gosire Makgeolli.

A spokesperson involved in the development of Gosire Makgeolli stated ¡°we are planning to use our best efforts to give the Japanese public a chance to get to know Korean culture at a deeper level through Gosire Makgeolli, which you can enjoy with all types of foods.¡±

Product Gosire Makgeolli
Category Brewage
Alcohol Content 7%
Volume 320ml
Country Korea
Expected Price 480 yen£¨excluding taxes£©

Gosire
In August of 2006, Gosire opened its doors in Tokyo and has since introduced Korean culture to Japan with its focus on customer satisfaction and with its development of original food products.

Kooksoondang
Kooksoondang is Korea¡¯s representative traditional alcoholic beverages manufacturer with 70% of the Korean traditional alcoholic beverage market.

Then the second news...



2009. 4.8

Merger between Keyeast subsidiary BOFi and listed Japanese
company DA

¡°Asian Wave global entertainment content company¡±

- Merger between Keyeast subsidiary BOFi and the Japanese company DA, final approval of general meeting of shareholders
- Keyeast and special related person to become largest shareholders of DA with 13,875,620 shares (25.5%)
- Reorganization resulting in Yajima Shigehiko and Bae Sung Woong at the helm


The Asian cultural content company Keyeast Co., Ltd. (www.keyeast.co.kr) officially announced that the merger between subsidiary BOF International Inc.(¡°BOFi¡±) and the listed Japanese company Digital Adventure Inc. (¡°DA¡±) received final approval on March 19 at the DA extraordinary general meeting of shareholders.

This transaction will be a merger of BOFi into DA and will result in the BOFi shareholder Keyeast and a special related person holding 13,875,620 common shares of DA.

This means that Keyeast and the special related person will be the largest shareholders of DA (25.5% shareholding ratio) and that through this exceptional case whereby a domestic entertainment company becomes a shareholder of a listed Japanese company, Keyeast will be able to participate in the Asian Wave cultural and entertainment businesses with a more strategic approach.

In May when the merger is expected to be completed, Yajima Shigehiko (current CEO of DA) and Bae Sung Woong (current CEO of BOFi) will lead the new company. The companies plan to utilize the current businesses of DA and the superior content of BOFi to create a profitable business model based on company synergies.

A spokesperson for BOFi stated that ¡°both parties agreed upon and caused this merger to happen to form a mutually beneficial partnership through the utilization of DA¡¯s know-how regarding the Japanese market and its vast distribution network plus BOFi¡¯s superior content.¡± In addition, the spokesperson said that ¡°we will focus on making this merger a significant contributing element to our overall vision of being the leading cultural/entertainment company of Asia.¡±

DA is the leading Japanese digital content distribution enterprise, which was established in 1971 and which, among other things, is involved in the distribution of digital content, licensing businesses with a focus on Korean television series, and the broadcast business. It recently recorded sales of 4,171,095,000 yen and a net profit of 323,587,000 yen (March 2008 accounting period and based upon consolidated financial statements).

[KEYEAST]

Palm Sunday Tradition

April 6, 2009

We Filipinos , especially the Roman Catholics, value the Holy Week so much. Yesterday , the first day of Holy Week, and we called it Palm Sunday or "Palaspas" day in our dialect (Tagalog). Palm Sunday - The sixth and the last Sunday of Lenten Season and the beginning of Holy Week and a Sunday before Easter Sunday.

Palm Sunday commemorates Jesus entrance into Jerusalem, he rode on a donkey in the city and the people or the crowds welcomed him by waving and laying some fresh palm fronds on his way or path.

During Palm Sunday, Filipino Catholics bring their Palaspas or decorated palm fronds to the church to be blessed by the priests.People wave their palms as the priests passes by to bless them. The sight and the smell of young fresh coconut leaves and sometimes buri palm fronds heralds.



Sorry I can't take nice view 'coz there's lots of people, bumping side by side. We are on the right wing of the church . And I can't take photos of the front altar because I can't pass through, it's so hot, hot Sunday. Me and my 3 children were so exhausted. After the mass we went to the nearest restaurant right away to cool our selves and of course have our lunch there because it's already 11:40.




I took our old "Palaspas" and attached the new one on our gate, it symbolizes that we welcome Jesus Christ in our home all the time.

BYJ's AD Impressed Japanese

April 2, 2009

Hi , I've just read this news just this morning and I want it to share to you too.


Source: Korea Herald
Thursday April 2, 2009


[CELEBRITY LOUNGE]Bae Yong-joon tourism ad given praise

A full page print ad featuring top Hallyu-star Bae Yong-joon posing at Gyeongbok Palace has been selected by Japan's Yomiuri Shinbun as a "good advertisement," Bae's management company Boundaries of Forest said Tuesday. The ad shows the 37-year-old actor standing in front of the open Geumjeongmun gate on the foreground, looking much like his "Winter Sonata" character that catapulted him to fame throughout Asia, with the prominent view of the throne hall in the background. The ad, which had been sponsored by the Korea Tourism Organization, has been shown in Japan's major newspaper outlets such as the Yomiuri and Asahi dailies since last month. The copy on the ad includes a quote from Bae saying, "Come visit Korea where future and tradition coexist, with a variety of attractions at your finger tips." According to BOF, "The ad recorded a 70 percent rating based on a reader survey and was given merit for boosting interest in and creating favorable impressions of (Korea)." They further added that newspapers containing the full-page advertisement had been sold out due to Japanese fans buying up existing hard copies. (kws@heraldm.com)



Source: English. chosun.com Cultural / Sports
April 1, 2009 11:59 KST


Photos credit as labeled -- thanks

Japanese Impressed by Bae Yong-joon Advert

A Korea Tourism Organization's advertisement featuring Korean Wave star Bae Yong-joon has been singled out for quality by the Yomiuri Shimbun, the actor's agency said Tuesday. Major Japanese newspapers including the Yomiuri and Asahi Shimbun carried the full-page advert titled "Korean Palaces" by the KTO on Feb. 12. The actor's agency claimed 70 percent of Yomiuri readers paid attention to it. "Since it enhanced people's interest in the advertised subject and made a favorable impression, it has been selected as a good advertisement," it said. It claimed Bae's fans, who know the actor as Yonsama, flocked to collect the advert, causing the day's copies of the paper to sell out.

BYJ Signed A New Contract

March 26, 2009


Hi my dear friends,

I've just heard that our Prince BYJ or my "Honey Baebs BYJ", have just signed a contract to represent as overseas model of TFS or The Face Shop. I think the contract will start next month (April) and will last for 18 months.

And I've heard too that there are 19 overseas countries and that includes Japan, China, Singapore, Taiwan, UAE and of course the "The Pearl of the Orient" Philippines... and many others.

The last model of TFS was Kwon Sang Woo, he came here in the Philippines to promote the product. So I'm hoping that Bae Yong Joon too will come here despite of his hectic schedules.
I'm so excited to wait for that moment, I wish I could catch even a glimpse of him if that time comes.

Source: Flor --- BYJ Quilt/ Freeboard/ Freeboard--#55887 3/25
Thanks for the photo from BYJ Gallerystyle

Recycled Newspaper

March 23, 2009


Hi friends and to my Bae family, you know I've done recycling last week. I recycled some of our old news paper.

For those who have problems on how to get rid of their old newspaper, here is one way of making use of them than just throwing them in the garbage.

According to Sierra Club.org/energy/tenthings,
One of the Ten Things You Can Do To Help Curb Global Warming is....
#9 - Reduce, Reuse, and RecycleProducing news paper, glass and metal product from recycled materials saves you to 90% of energy and pollution including CO2 that would result if the product came from virgin materials. Recycling a stock of news paper only , four feet high, will save a good sized tree....


It's so easy and simple, just by folding and simple weaving, you can have a finish product like bags or baskets or tray or any form you want to do and design.

1. Gather up several newspaper and fold about 6" wide or half the newspaper for small one(like mine) and quarter for bigger newspaper.


2. Then cut by tearing or you can use scissor if you want to.

3. Then fold and fold until you can make a half an inch strip of newspaper.

4. Put glue so that it will not loose.


5. If you think that your news paper strips are enough for your needs then you can start to make a weave.

6. Make a few start...


7. Then add as wide as you desire.


8. Make it tighter, be sure there's no holes...

9. Then form as what ever you want to make... I want a simple bag, so I made it like this.

10. I did the braiding system of 3 strips of newspaper to make a handle.

11. Then I paint it with Plastic Varnish and let it dry the whole day.

12. I select the paper twine to accessorize my basket ( sorry , I want other color but there's no choice, it's the only one left in my stocks)

13. I loosen the twisted twine....

14. And make it as a ribbon on my basket. Actually you can use any thing you want to accessorize your basket. You can use a real ribbon or even scarf.

15. I just picked one flower to my flower vase ( I don't want to buy new one)

16. I got ready my glue gun to fix the flower.

17. Jang jang..... Here's my finish product. How does it look.

18. Oh... there's another one.... he he he he, my youngest did that basket....

19. Actually, she did it first for her school project and she also picked those sun flowers in my other flower vase too ( like daughter like mother)... I just copied her, he he he he...

20. Oh again... our family bears want to join the pictorial...he he he he.

Well, well, well that's our ecologically friendly bag and basket. How do you like it. It's perfect for the environmentally conscious people like me or us.

P.S. I forgot to mention that if the news paper contain an articles about my "Honey Baeb" BYJ, for sure I won't include that in recycling, I'll keep that for life...he he he he...

Japanese Josei Jishin 3?31 -- YJ's 12 days visit in Japan

March 23, 2009

Original :(Japanese woman's weekly) Josei Jishin March 31, 2009 issue
Japanese to Chinese : SNOW (www.byjfamily.net)
Chinese to English : cam/ BYJ Quilt/ freeboard/freeboard #23901 - 3/22
Photo credits as labeled
Thank you , thank you so much my dear sisters !!!!!

[Trans] a few accounts of YJ’s 12 days stay in Japan as disclosed by BYJ’s manager

BYJ’s manager Shim Bom Soku, of BOFi in Japan, spoke to the magazine, “after we heard that he (YJ) was coming to Japan, our staff were jumping for joy, but feeling a bit anxious at the same time. Nevertheless everyone was very happy. Now after he has returned home, we’ve became lonely again”.

On the 26th of last month, BYJ came to Japan to carry out some interviews and photo shoots for his forthcoming book, provisionally called “the beauty of Korea” which introduces Korean Culture. Mr Shim shared 12 days with him like a family.

Our magazine interviewed Mr Shim. Here we will cover some small stories about YJ during his stay in Japan, which has never been covered elsewhere.

After landed in Sendai airport, YJ rushed to Morioka straight away. He stayed in Mr Jun Yong Bok’s house, a traditional lacquer painter, for a week.

“He was not only interested in lacquer painting, but also in the work of Korean craftsmen and Korean traditional culture. He has previously visited Mr Jun in South Korea. This time he came to Morioka especially as he was longing for the life of a lacquer painter”.




Living locally with Mr Jun who is also the Manager of the Iwayama Urushi Art Museum, all the meals were prepared by Mr Jun, with dishes such as chicken soup, made from chicken and glutinous rice, and sushi. In order to work, YJ was very happy to share everything without going out at all.

Mr Jun said to YJ, “creativity can’t be formed purely from the imagination, one needs to go out to visit mountains and see the ocean. This is a very important part of creativity.” YJ followed Mr Jun’s advice and went out there to feel and to see all the beautiful scenery, devoting himself fully to being creative. He was wholly absorbed in the learning experience, sometimes working until 6am. He visited the Miyako seashore and the cape of the so called Bear’s nose, where hidden between the beach rocks, there blooms seasonal flowers such as primrose.







He also visited the Koiwai farm and Chusonji. YJ said, “I’m so happy to see such a snow scenery without human footsteps”. He took many photos as well.
(leny --- Koiwai Farm founded by Masaru Inoue since 1891, largest private farm in Japan)

Chusonji Temple entrance

Initially when Mr Shim heard that BYJ wished to take a walk, he was concerned whether YJ’s outing would cause a commotion. Something suddenly came to mind from YJ’s last May visit. [Last time YJ visited Japan and said “I can only take a walk in front of the family if I become more accustomed to Japan….” “I would love to take a walk on the street”. Up until now no matter what he does, it is always done inside the hotel. Except for pre-scheduled venues, he has not been to any other pla-ces. This time around, he said it again “I would like to be more accustomed to the Japanese society”. Hence I thought this could be a perfect experience for him.]

Looking at YJ’s an upsurge in emotion of [I would love to take a walk on the street] we then decided to take the challenge to the streets of Iwate. In there, what caught his attention were….
(leny ---that's the province of the father of my children, he he he..and I like to eat ice drops and ice cream too although it's cold)
[He went into different stores, although it was cold, he had ice cream (smile). After that when he saw bakudanyaki (SNOW: a roasted meatball using more that 10 different ingredients, similar to the roasted octopus ball in Osaka), he then asked “What is this?” he seemed quite interested, also looked very happy.]

(leny --- a sample of Bakudan Yaki. It has a variety of flavor)

(I've heard also that his last evening in Morioka, BYJ had a dinner party at the famous Tonkatsu and Fugu restaurant-TAIGA )
The week in Iwate came to an end very quickly. YJ and the rest decided to go to Tokyo. [We asked him what would he prefer, a 7 hours drive or a ride on the Shinkansen? He said “this would be my first time catching the Shinkasen so I would love to try it”. Hence we caught the Shinkansen to Omiya and from there drove to Tokyo.] ( leny ---From Osaka I rode on Shinkansen to Tokyo then taxi from Tokyo to Omiya. I worked in Omiya too for 3 months before going to Fukuoka then to Tokyo.)







On the evening of the 4th, YJ went straight to the hotel in Tokyo. He went to bed after having a meeting with staff. The next day, he visited lacquer paintings in Meguro Gojoen, where Mr Jun carried out the restoration personally. [The elegant spiral garden elevator, the washroom and the VIP room in the dinning area where the fine craftsmanship of Mr Jun’s personal work can be witnessed in every corner, along with the balustrades (arm rests) and other pla-ces that come to sight. The museum personnel describe Mr Jun’s work as elegant and noted that it attracts many special organized viewing groups.( leny --- I regret that I haven't seen those places and museum.)





YJ went all over the garden, staring at all the lacquer work intently. Coincidentally, an exhibition of Japanese tradition painter Mr Hirayama Ikuo was also on at the time. YJ asked “if it is not too much trouble, may I see the exhibition…”. Shoes were prohibited inside the exhibition hall, so he changed to slippers and stayed for around an hour, appreciating the fine art warm heartedly. (leny --- It's a Japanese tradition not to wear shoes inside the house and other prohibited places, if you did they believe that your a thief and bad guy.)

After the visit ended, he went to the traditional Korean style restaurant Gosireh, owned by himself in Shirokanedai Minato-ku. In the restaurant, he tasted some new dishes and checked the ones in preparation for them being served to customers. He also toured each table and greeted all the visitors.



It was already 9:20pm when BYJ finished dining and meeting, on his way out he saw around 400 fans waiting outside.

He was surprised by the difference on entering vs leaving the restaurant. However he appeared to be extremely happy in the car on the way back. Although this is not an official visit to Japan, he is still hoping to see his family. He does not only wish to wave at them, but to shake hands with them. I believe when he was waving, he was also trying to greet them with eye contact. Perhaps this is his way of conveying his gratitude to the family.]


But at the same time, there were 2 things on his mind. Firstly, the families who wish to meet him in person, but had to refrain themselves from coming to the restaurant in order to avoid the chaos. Secondly, he was concerned about the nearby residents of Gosireh.

[He was “very grateful” for the families who came out to see him. But he was also concerned that the gathering might have caused some issues for the nearby residents. So he called the restaurant and asked the staff to “please pay the nearby residents a visit to convey our apologies”.

After the happy encounters (with his family), he headed to a nearby espresso coffee shop, then back to the hotel.








He was working in the hotel until the 9th, the day of his return, as the past 4 days have been raining every day, but he has not forgotten “that special taste…”

[On Saturday evening of the 7th after work we returned to the hotel. BYJ said: “it is not often that we come to Japan, let’s have ramen”. I was thinking of taking him to a different noodle shop, but he said “The noodle shop we visited previously is better. I would also like to greet them again”. Therefore we went to the one in Shibuya at 1am.





This noodle shop named Mennoboutorade is popular with celebrities. Its famous dishes are pork bone soup and tender roast pork. Our reporter visited the shop and ordered the “Yonsama’s meal”. The shop assistant presented “seaweed and half cooked egg ramen with some thinner noodles, it was slightly hard, but light in taste”. The shop assistant also mentioned that “Yonsama had this, with fry dumplings and rice ball previously. But this time he only had ramen. He is warm hearted just like the image on TV.






BYJ has tasted his favorite food and shared his last free night there.

Two days later, it was time to go home. BYJ was mumbling “ah.. I don’t wish to leave. I wish I could stay a bit longer. If I have become accustomed to Japan, I should be able to speak a bit of Japanese]

Let’s wait till then.