Translated & Posted in BYJ Quilt by Yoon
(It is a long article, so I will have to divide it 10 to 15 parts. )

[size=18]Part 1

"Why did you write a false article?"


Japanese fans are going crazy as BYJ appears in the event hall in Tokyo in November 2004.

A little girl, a first grader in a public elementary school in Japan, threw her bag and shouted as soon as she came back from school. "Mom, who is Yonsama? They are making a big fuss at school over his coming to Japan."

"Yonsama is Korean. You know he appears in Fuyu Sona (shortened Japanese title for WS). Who is excited at his coming?"

"Seno-san's mom and mom of my friend next to me..anyway they are so excited. They say their moms are going crazy at home."

Whenever I sent an article like 'The Korean wave fever in Japan is tremendous' to Korea, I receive a lot of protesting emails and calls from Korea. Even my senior colleague in the company called me to say, "what kind of false report is that?". While I wrote a 5-episode series about 'Korean Wave fever' on Chosun Daily, I daily received mails like "'Don't say preposterious things when I know how much Japanese people look down on Koreans." and "Don't give Koreans any illusions with such false article that they are culturally advanced."

Gohari Susumu, a professor renowned for analysis of Korean Wave at Shizuoka university in Japan said, "We even have housewives in her 50's saying 'I want to immigrate to Korea.' but Koreans don't believe it." It was hard to convince Koreans who think they know Japan of the Korean Wave, while Japanese people don't understand why Koreans can't believe in the Korean Wave phenomenon.

It was hard for Koreans, who have heard about discriminated and dispised Korean residents in Japan for the past 50 years, to understand that Japanese people are accepting Korean culture without prejudice.

The phenomenon of Korean Wave in Japan was not caused by superiority of one culture over another. It is rather a phenomenon of cultural exchange between two countries whose culture are subtly different and a phonemonon of extreme manifestation of cultural diversity.

The Korean Wave sweeping Japan now is not a situation where Japanese middle-aged women love one pop star named BYJ and cry and chase him when he comes, and silent majority is looking at it disagreeably.

The Korean Wave in Japan is not a story about overzealous fans, but a boom that ordinary people can feel in daily life. The Korean Wave in Japan is moving on to the level of Japanese people rediscovering a country called Korea and paying attention to it.

[size=18]Part 2

[b]The source of the Korean Wave is cultural diversity


One day, my wife, who came back from a parent meeting, said "The drama called WS must be really popular." She said in the middle of the parent-teacher meeting my child's teacher said out of the blue, "a Korean drama named WS is so interesting that I was touched. I recommend you watch it."

The female teacher in her 50's was disappointed when her suggestion was met with few positive responses, saying, "Gee, you have to see it to understand..you guys must be young." It was around the time when WS was aired through NHK aerial wave.

I told her, "She must have said it out of courtesy because she has a Korean student." but I got curious and told her to rent the video.

The video shop in my neighborhood had a big corner reserved for Korean dramas around the entrance. They had the 2, 3 sets of 7 or 8 whole drama series like 'Winter Sonata', 'First Love'. The final episodes of WS were all rented out.

We couldn't rent the WS videos the next week nor the week after either. It was baffling that I couldn't rent the video when it was broadcasted on TV 3 times, and DVD and videos were sold like hot cakes, and when most of people interested must have seen it already by downloading it from the internet.

I didn't watch WS yet, but I could meet WS anywhere. I was having my car fixed at a car center, and the same music was playing for an hour while I was waiting. I asked, "Why are you playing this music continuously?" It was the music of WS. The employee at the car center said, "I play it because I like it."

I could hear it again at the playground of my child's school. They were using the theme song of WS as background music for the mass game on their PE day. There were only 3 or 4 Korean kids in this elementary school.

As the summer drew to an end, broadcasting of WS ended, but 'Yonfluenza', which is known to infect BYJ syndrome, was spreading like a plague. This plague that had infected the teacher in 50's sneakily moved onto parents in their 30's.

One day a housewife downstairs made a suggestion to my wife. She said she would recruit a few parents and asked my wife to teach Korean to them. When asked, "why Korean?" the housewife answered, "How could you ask why? Of course it's to listen to Yonsama's voice in Korean."

Tokyo office of Chosun daily was bustling from early summer with Japanese reporters who came to write about the Korean Wave. I was not interested in entertainment, so I didn't have much to say about our hero BYJ. From reporters of major daily newspapers to those of women's weekly magazines to those from some radical party's official papers, most reporters were watching more Korean dramas and knew more Korean actors than me.

[size=18]Part 3

Korean Wave moving down to 20's

As the fall neared, sometimes I began to be greeted by a janitor and a cleaning lady in Korean. They said "I started to learn Korean but it's a little difficult." As I walked up and down the stairs of my office I could easily find zealous Korean studying employees who attempted to strike a conversation in clumsy Korean.

From then on, a lot of 'sama's started to appear, in addition to 'Yonsama'. Japanese housewives who only had had Yonsama now had some options to choose from.

The evening edition of Mainichi newspaper discussed the matter of military service of Korean actors as a front page topic, titled 'Song-sama(Song Seunghun), Don't go to the army'. Mainichi subsequently reported that over 1000 emails were sent to the Military Service Bureau in Korea. Lee Byunghun was called 'Byon-sama'.

Korean boom changed from WS boom to Korean Wave boom and moved down to the 20's. Even when I interviewed someone on a different subject, the subject of 'Korean Wave' always came up and once the topic came up, interviewees talked about their own views on the 'Korean Wave' even past their scheduled slot.

Sometimes I even got interviewed when I went for an interview.

"Why is it that Koreans turn around to the side when they drink in the drama?"

"There is a scene in Korean drama that someone visits his friend's house and his friend's mom makes him work in the kitchen. It can't happen in Japan..Is that how it is in Korea?"

"I saw a scene in the drama that a girl makes her bf kimchi jjige(kimchi stew with pork). Is it common in Korea? In Japan, one wouldn't make such common food like Kimchi jjige (for her bf).."

[size=18]Part 4

Korean resident employees in Japan, "Let's give Yonsama a medal."

'The experiences in daily life' that I experienced are a very important matter that feels real and close to Koreans living in Japan. Interests in the Korean Wave are a big advantage to Korean employees working in Japanese companies. It brings a big turning point in personal relationships.

A woman working in local broadcasting bureau in Japan said, "No one was interested in Korean employees before but since the drama boom, more people are competing to make friends with them. The status of Korean employees in Japanese companies must have changed a lot."

This is a big asset that can't be easily explained simply with a word 'economic effect'. Korean reporters say "Shouldn't we chip in and give Yonsama an award" whenever they meet.

From 2003, starting from Okuta Hiroshi, CEO of Toyota automobiles who is also a chairman of Japanese business group association. many politicians and business people publicly started to say "I like Korean dramas."

Koizumi Junichiro, the prime minister of Japan joked, "Nowadays Yonsama is more popular than 'Junsama'" at 'dinner for the future of Asia' held in June 2004. 'Junsama' is prime minister himself, so what he said was that BYJ was more popular than himself.

Koizumi started to talk often about culture since 2004 and at the Korea-Japan summit meeting, he brought up Winter Sonata. The prime minister's happy face when he met Choi Jiwoo, the heroine or WS, was broadly reported in Japan.

Within the Democratic Party, the biggest opposition party which made a big advance in senator's election in 2003, they named the boom of WS as one of the reasons for their victory. Okata Katsuya, the representative of the Democratic party, has an image of a sincere person. Recently the atmosphere in Japan was such that such a sincere image worked as a minus. But they said that thanks to the WS boom, sincere love became popular and hence brought out the advancement of the Democratic party.

[size=18]Part 5

WS, used as a teaching material for returnees from North Korea


Japanese poster of movie 'Shiri'. 'Shiri' was the beginnign of Korean Wave fever.

In May 2004, the day of prime minister Koizumi's second visit to North Korea coincided with the day of broadcasting WS. On the day when it became a huge issue of interest whether they could bring back Japanese families kidnapped by North Korea, NHK skipped one episode because of the special about this North Korean visit. As a result, NHK received more than 3000 protesting phone calls.

To victims of kidnapping who returned to Japan, WS became a good teaching material. Their middle or high school-aged children of the victims who they gave birth after marrying in North Korea hated topics about Korea when they arrived in Japan, mother land of their parents.

Those kidnapped showed WS to their children as a way of educating them. Japanese media reported that as they watched WS, they became to open their minds to Korea and Japan little by little.

BYJ paralyzed Haneda airport when he visited Japan in April 2004. At that time, Haneda airport was panicked at the unprecedented situation and asked him to use Narita at the next visit. But Narita airport, which takes more than an hour and half by train from downtown Tokyo, also was covered with greeting fans. Two Japanese private broadcating companies broadcasted his 'arrival', not his 'activities' live. It was private broadcasters who are said to feed on viewing rates, not NHK, which specializes news. TBS flew a helicopter.

4000 people entered on the first day at BYJ's photo exhibition held at Roppongi Hills, which newly became a celebrity place, Tickets for the day were all sold out one hour before opening.

There was a limit to a number of people who can enter because Roppongi Hills had a system of allowing visitors a limited stay in order of numbers. But the line was 1km long with 5000 people one hour before opening. The first person in line came at 6pm the day before and stayed up in her sleeping bag. People who had to go back because they couldn't get the ticket said, "I am happy thinking I am breathing the same Tokyo air as Yonsama is."

'Red-White' broadcasted on December 31st in NHK is almost like a year-end custom for Japanese people as they wrap up a year. Japanese say a year passes only when they eat 'Doshikoshi soba' and watch Red-White.

Through 1980s and 1990s, one or two Korean singers appeared in this Red-White. It was a big honor for Korean singers to be recognized in Japan. NHK Red-White publicly requested BYJ, CJW and Lee BH's appearance and desperately waited.

At a talk show commemorating publication of 2005 edition of 'Jiejo', a collection of current vocabulary yearly published by a company affiliated with Asahi newspaper, 'Yonsama' was selected as 'word of the year'.

SMBC consulting affiliated with Mitsui Sumitomo bank has announced the biggest hit product in Japan every early December and it ranked 'Korea-related merchandise including WS' as #1. SMBC, taking after ranking of sumo, Japanese wrestling, designated two 'Yokozuna's (#1) in east army and in west army and two 'Ozeki's (#2) in east and west.

But in 2004, SMBC ranked Korean Wave as #1 in east and left #1 spot in west empty, thus ending up leaving the Korean Wave as the only #1 biggest hit product. Mainichi newspaper's headline read, 'Korean Wave unquestionable #1'

Part 6

How on earth did the Korean Wave start?


A Japanese actress Kuroda Fukumi. She became a fan of Kang Mangoo, a volleyball player in1980s, and wrote books like 'An expert in Seoul', 'Seoul, My heart'.

How on earth did the Korean Wave start?

If we define the Korean Wave as some actors having devoted fans or some youg Koreans falling for Japanese style as they do, the Korean Wavet started long ago. So it means the current Korean Wave is totally different from it.

If we look back, we find Kang Mansoo, a national representative volleyball player in early 1980s. Japanese high school and college girls were smitten by him and some visited Korea to see his games.

At that time, Korean media considered them as a peculiar and unusual bunch. Those who are spreading the Korean Wave the most fervently nowadays are those manias from that era.

A veteran actress Kuroda Fukumi has published several books about Korea and has worked hard for Korea-Japan friendship. She was Kang Mansoo's fan.

Kuroda said, "Korea in early 1980s was a country which was almost intentionally ignored in Japan." Before the Seoul Olympic in 1988, the image of Korea wasn't much better than that of North Korea.

As Japanese tourists came to Korea for sightseeing in 1990s, Korean manias gradually began to appear. Some fan clubs for rock singers were organized in Japan, and people started to visit to Korea for some singer's concert. But those were all movements 'under water', so it was no more than some people beginning to understand Korean culture.

It was not untill 2000 that the Korean boom was brought up above surface. Interest in Korea among Japanese rose as Korea held the World Cup together with Japan. Some Japanese people began to enjoy eating kimchi, and TV programs like variety shows which introduces good Korean restaurants became abundant.

[size=18]Part 7

Lee Youngae's Korean sounds like nice French.


Koreans wildly cheering as the Korean team won in a soccer game against Italy at Korea-Japan World Cup in 2002. The World Cup became an opportunity to show bright and wholesome Korean image to Japanese people. Many Japanese people said the sight of cheerful Koreans was a cultural shock to them.

A decisive turning point was when the movie 'Shiri' became a big hit in Japan in 2000. Japanese people put it this way: "Korean movies got Japanese citizenship as 'Shiri' became a hit." After that, 'Joint Security Area' brought a good result and thus began full-scale Korean boom.

Ever since, the word 'Korea' reminded Japanese people of 'movies' and 'actors'. One government official who I met at Fukuoka in 2002 said, "When Lee Youngae speaks, Korean sounds like nice French." Broad supporter groups for Korean stars like Song Kangho were formed.

Korean media featured many special reports on 'Korean Wave boom in Asia'. Resident reporters in Japan were also instructed to report on the Korean Wave phenomenon in Japan, but most of Korean reporters in Tokyo thought, 'It is not significant enough to be called 'Korean Wave'.

They thought popularity of 'Shiri' or 'JSA' is a temporary boom as Japanese people's interest didn't extend to Korea the nation.

The Korean boom was expanded as Korea and Japan held a joint World Cup in 2002.

There were a lot of special reports on Korea before the World Cup. On TV, Korea-Japan joint drama 'Friends' was aired and a fan group for Won Bin was formed. BoA rose to become a top singer, and actress Yoon Sonha found her niche in Japan.

Until the opening of Korea-Japan Worldcup, Japanese media viewed fthat Japan, whivh held the World Cup in the system of provincial autonomy, more strictly observed the spirit of sports and that of the World Cup.

But as the Korea Japan Worldcup progressed halfway, Japanese media began to say, 'We lost to Korea in all aspects including enthusiasm, management and athletic skills." Some Japanese media even printed an article saying, 'Let's follow kindness of Korean.'

Korea's ability and image shown through management of the World Cup changed their preconceptions about Korea to the extent that Japan, a nation known for kindness, wanted to follow the Korean example.

Nowadays when I meet experts on Korea WAve, they say, "The WS boom was possible only because there has been a steady Korean boom since the 1988 olympics." It means that however well the WS humoured Japanese people's emotions, such a boom would have been impossible if the image of Korea had been bad in Korea.

Masato, then editor of Mainichi newspaper (currently president) said at the conference held by Chosun daily right after Korea-Japan joint World cup in 2002, "It is meaningful that the vivid facial expressions of Koreans were delivered to Japanese living rooms." He said, the fact that Korean could smile that brightly was new to Japanese people, who only had seen Koreans in street demonstrations or cry over accidents.

Streets in Seoul and cheerful Koreans shown on TV screen shook up Japanese people's preconceptions about Korea. President Kitamura always reminds of 'the story in the World Cup' whenever we talk about the Korean Wave boom.

Till now, most Koreans brought up historical matters when they met Japanese people, and Japanese people who are relatively not used to talking about this topic had no way but to be quiet. So they say all they could remember was Koreans' angry faces. They say that therefore cheerful faces of Koreans on TV was like a 'culture shock'.
[/b]

[size=18]Part 8

Rising from a country behind to a friend

It was the summer of 2004 that the WS boom turned into an interest in Korea.

Two years ago they said, "It sounds like French when Lee Youngae speaks.", but a Korean drama mania who I met in 2004 told me, "BYJ's Korean rings so nice."

Till only a few years ago, Korea was a subject of indifference to ordinary Japanese people. They would go tour, eat bulgogi(Korean style teriyaki meat) and go to spa, but they were not interested in Korean people. But now it changed.

They started seriously thinking and wondering what Koreans think, how Korean customes are. Korea, which was to them a country lagging one step behind unlike the US or Europe, now rose to a level of an equal friend. The genuine Korean Wave was born.

Students who take Korean classes in colleges in Japan increased more than 3 times in last 5 years and it is said it's a reason behind the sharp decrease of students stying German and French.

When told "Japanese people's perception toward Korea changed by the Korean Wave.", most of my Korean friends say, "Japanese people are not that way. It can't be." They say, "What Japanese people have in mind and what they show to outside are different. The Korean Wave is what they show to Koreans out of courtesy."

What Korean people think isn't true and nor is it fair to Japanese people. The majority of Japanese are innocent and serious about the Korean Wave and WS boom.

NHK broadcasting culture research center took a poll last September taking 2200 adults as subjects. In analysis of responses from 1289 people, WS viewers were estimated as 38%, and it was revealed that 50% of them experienced other Korean cultural products after viewing the WS.

Those who learned Korean or those who went to Korea as a result of viewing the WS were also 2% respectively. This supports the view that Korean Wave is not just a boom about a drama, but it is changing the image of Korea.

In the multiple choice survey, 26% of viewers said, "The image of Korea was changed." and positive responses like "I got greater interest in Korea." (22%) and "My view on Korean culture has changed." scored high percentage.

[size=18]Part 9

[b]Japanese people feel very close to Koreans

To Japanese, Korea is a country emotionally closer than Koreans think. Japan administrates a 'diplomatic survey' with Japanese once every year. It is a survey which asks how close they feel toward other countries in the world.

The 2003 survey shows that 55% of Japanese feel close to Korea. It was next to the US(78%). Australia and New Zealand were the third at 54.8%, and EU was 51%.China scored 48%. In the ranking of countries that they feel repulsed to, Korea ranked 3rd next to the US, Australia and New Zealand.

It is predicted that the friendly feeling would have increased In 2004 with the Korean Wave.

It was a shock to Japanese people that 41% of Korean named Japan as 'the country they dislike most' with a large margin to the US, the second in ranking (24%) in a recent poll in Korea..

Some Japanese media printed columns that were blatantly callous toward the Korean Wave, saying "See? Koreans don't like Japanese even though Japanese people are smitten with Yonsama. It's no time to chase Yonsama when our national interest matters more."

What's unusual in the Korean Wave boom in 2004 is that the epicenter of the boom is the age group that hated Korea the most. The group that disliked Korea the most was housewives in their 30's and up and elderly people in their 60s and up. The fact that the Korean boom started with them has the potential power to fundamentally change the history of Korea Japan relationship.

In Japan they sometimes compare this Korean boom with the boom of envoys in Chosun era. After Japanese invation of Korea in 1592, they accepted envoys from Chosun as an attempt to restore the relationship. Their visit was recorded as a culture shock of the era in Japan. It is said that a huge crowd of Japanese people gathered to get envoys' caligraphies wherever they went.

[size=18]Part 10

Korean dramas are unrealistic


Korean Wave-related merchandise on streets in Tokyo

Although there is a tremendous Korean Wave fever going on, whether Korean dramas are sophisticated as a drama is being disputed among experts in Japan. One employee in the broadcasting bureau said, "If we produced the same drama as WS in Japan, we wouldn't get good evaluations." It's because the drama is fraught with unreasonable story development and the conversations were unrealistic. He said it was a style of drama that used to be made more than 10 years ago in Japan.

"The concept that a man and a girl, both beautiful as a picture appear and they fall in love seems unrealistic."

The responses from the Japanese who saw Korean dramas for the first time and those of Koreans who saw Japanese dramas for the first time are similar. They all say it's unrealistic like in comics. Koreans who saw Japanese dramas say "The basic set up itself is like in comics."

They say there are many dramas which are about, for example, a teacher who is a motor cycle gang member, or about a phenomenon or an incident that can't exist in real world. They point out that actors' acting too is often rigid and unnatural like scenes in comic strips.

[size=18]Part 11

Japanese media people say WS is like a comic

On the other hand, Japanese people say that the way Korean dramas progress is unnatural and unrealistic. They say that a few unrealistic concepts like 'secrets about birth' and 'amnesia' remind them of romance comics of 1970s in Japan.

There are a few Japanese dramas comparable to the WS. When the WS just became a hit, Ebisawa Katsuji, chairman of NHK, said, "It reminds me of 'Your name is..' a big hit drama in 1950's." It is said that public bath houses in Japan were empty around the time this drama was aired. People over mid 50's would compare this drama with the WS.

More younger generations compare it with the 'Red~' series starring Yamaguchi Momoe in 1970s. They say that at that time there were a lot of dramatic factors like secrets about birth.

Why could Korean dramas have such a big impact on Japanese society even though they looked to Japanese unrealistic and old-fashioned?

What shocked Japanese media in last April when BYJ first visited Japan was not the fact that Haneda airport was paralyzed. It was rather the fact that throngs of women who had never chased after singers or actors before showed up.

Young people in their 10's and 20s have their own rules because they had experiences of chasing their idols. So there wasn't big risk of security accidents for them. But BYJ's fans had no such experiences and no such rules.

At the early stage of 'Yonsama boom', words such as 'WS divorce' sometimes came up. A quiet housewife starts to spend money after falling for Korean dramas.
The story goes: First she subscribes for a satellite channels that air Korean dramas, installs internet for internet broadcasting, and buys DVDs and photo collections. She ends up spending more money as a result, and quarrels with her husband and finally a divorce ensue.

Occasionally there were negative incidents, but the most remarkable characteristics of Japanese women chasing Yonsama is that most of them have a happy household.

The first thing a woman who went to see Yonsama does, after she sees Yonsama's face right in front of her, is calling her husband. "Honey, I really saw Yonsama. It's so impressive!." The husband says, "Good, good. Are you happy now?"

Japanese women don't hide from their husbands the fact that they are following around Yonsama. They go on a WS tour with their husband. They go to see Yonsama without reserve holding their children's hand.

Husband can't help but asking sadly, 'What in Yonsama makes you like him that much?', to his wife, who, after spending all her life for her husband and kids, is going wild over Yonsama. He thinks 'isn't it good to have an object of such passion?'" but at the same time, he gets to wonder, 'What was so wanting for her all this time?"

[size=18]Part 12

Pure love

The WS fever that swept through Japan made Japanese people ask many questions about themselves.

In Japan, they view the 'WS boom' is related to the 'pure love boom'. There are two cultural products that evoked a huge sensation in 2004 in Japan. One is the WS and the other is a novel, 'Shouting love at the center of the world' written by Katayama Kyoichi. The novel is a romance novel about pure love between high school student couple, of which a girl dies from a cancer. It broke the sales record in the history of Japanese novels and was adapted to a movie and also became a big hit.

Two of them were about 'pure love'. The WS was popular mainly among women over 30, and the novel was explosively popular among people in 20's and below. Asahi newspaper, putting them together, ran a special article titled, 'About pure love stories in modern times'

In Japan, they used to say 'love became instantized as they went through1980s to 1990s. As personal relationship became formal in a densely organized society, romance dramas also came to describe 'cool' personal relationships in that they slept together as soon as they met and then they parted ways.

They analyze that the stories that retain the then-forgetten pure mind were the WS and the 'Shouting'. Asahi Newspaper analyzed that both stories evoked 'nostalgia'.

The novel 'Shouting' deals with high school students' love, but it consist of the main character's recollections. One psychiatrist pointed out, "In a fast changing society, an incident that occurred only a few month ago is felt like one long time ago to young people and that brings out nostalgia."

For the past few years, Japan had a revival boom called 'Showa boom'. which is looking back to times between1950 and 1960s. If the previous Showa boom was nostalgia about historical facts, the two stories of pure love was nostalgia about mind of that era.

[size=18]Part 13

It's not 'I like him', but 'I thank him'

Emotions of BYJ's Japanese fans toward BYJ are closer to 'I feel grateful' than to 'he is stylish' or 'i like him'. It is why they refer to him with the utmost honorific 'sama', which is ordinarily reserved only for royalty.

The reason that they were entranced by the WS was not because 'BYJ looked so good'. It was told that one of fans found a hope of life and felt rewarded after watching the WS, a hope which she had lost after she lost her parents who she had nursed so long. It was said that another fan watches the drama with tears because she feels as if her dead daughter is still alive somewhere, just like the heroine meets her first love she had long lost because of amnesia.

In the WS-related events, it is often seen that a mother in her 50's come with her daughter in 20's hand in hand. There is another beautiful story in that a woman and her daughter-in-law, who rarely conversed with each other, began to communicate because of the WS and the family became happy.

Fans of the WS are almost religious. Business of all restaurants BYJ stopped by in April 2004 is booming. The pork shabushabu restaurant where BYJ had visited restored the seat BYJ took and the food BYJ ate as they were in preparation for Japanese reporters' inquiries.

"People come from Southeast Asia in throngs not to mention Japan to eat at Yonsama's seat. But they quietly shed tears without eating the pork in front of them."

Japanese dramas are peculiar. A lot of dramas specifically target young people. The generation of housewives in 30's and over, neglected by TV dramas, was the generation that fell for Korean dramas.

Actress Kuroda says: "Fans of the WS were 'literary girls' who read romantic literatures in their youth. They dreamed about a love story, reading Holly Quinn novels which is equivalent to Korean 'Highteen romance'. As the recent Japanese dramas pursue 'reality', they became distant from the dreams that these women over 30 had in their youth. Korean dramas had what they couldn't find in Japanese dramas. Conversations in the WS were poetic and it excited the 'literary girls'.

The actor BYJ carried out the role of 'a prince on a white horse' in perfection. Even though he was contacted several times by Japanese media during several visits to Japan, his princely image was not damaged at all. One producer in Japan says, " BYJ has a face that makes it easy for viewers to empathize. There is no actor in Japan with such style.

Korean culture had the man who could fill the void that Japanese culture couldn't. We can say that the Korean Wave phenomenon was ultimately brought upon by a complementary effect between Korean and Japanese cultures.

Part 14

How far will the Korean Wave go?



How far will the Korean Wave boom go and where is the limit?

On November 9th, at the road show reception of 'DMZ', a Korean movie which had a preview in Japan thanks to the Korean boom, one of representative Japanese actors Matsukata Hiroki (62) said, "Korean dramas are booming, but Korean movies won't be as successful as dramas."

He was right. In 2004, the representative Korean movies such as 'Silmido', 'Waving Taegukgi' and 'Memories of murder' opened in Japan. They all underwent enough promotions in Japan and opened in rave reviews from Japanese critics, but the box office result was poor contrary to expectations.

Korean movies had no box office hit since 'Joint Security Area' in Japan. A general opinion in Japan is, "Korean movies are of high quality, but they are 'dark', 'serious' and 'political', which are all taboos in Japanese box office. They didn't do as well in box office because they had a lot of contents that only Koreans could understand."

Dramas are also in a slump. Since last September Korean dramas which were popular in satellite TVs or internet download services began to be aired through aerial wave, but no drama ranked high in viewing rate ranking to the exception of the WS.

Japanese broadcasters say, "'they are not doing as well as expected except 'Stairway to heaven' which aired since last October."

The same goes to music. The WS OST ranked #2 in sales with 750,000 albums sold and more than 1 million was sold with 3 sound tracks combined. Many songs from them are ranking high in cable network rankings. But other Korean singers who have nothing to do with dramas are not getting any attention. Of course, it is difficult for Korean singers to get an attention only with occasional visits and activities in the first place, when they have to compete with Japanese singers who work with meticulous planning. The album of Park Yongha, who sang the theme song of the WS, were sold more than 175,000 but it is also due to the WS.

Yomiuri newspaper analyzed: "If they can't break away from current ballad drama songs, Korean music boom will probably end as a one-time thing." BoA's case doesn't fit in the frame of 'Korean Wave; because she is working under Japanese entertainment system.

[size=18][/size]

[size=18]Part 15

Another momentum in need to continue the Korean Wave


Lee Byunghun, who visited Japan to promote his photo collection, is talking surrounded by his fans.

Considerable misunderstandings and side effects ensued, following the sudden Korean Wave boom.

The incident that a mega-size concert which was to be held at Seoul Jamshil stadium on October 31th was canceled, thereby sending back Japanese tourists who paid 60,000 and 65,000 yen for nothing, was widely reported as a mishap caused by sponsor's poor preparation.

In January 2004, JTB, the most representative travel company in Japan, planned a tour to meet the WS heroine Choi Ji Woo jointly with a Korean travel company. But the Korean partner failed in getting CJW and as a consequence 220 Japanese tourists ended up coming to Korea for nothing.

It is also said that there were some Korean stars who hurriedly planned to advance to Japanese market, only to come back to Korea because they couldn't even get an official schedule in Japan.

All disharmonies like these are reported in detail in Japan. Because the interest in Korean Wave is so intense, every incident makes headlines no mattere how insignificant it is.

It is only natural that this Korean boom will be some day extinguished because the Korean Wave rose basically in mass culture and popularity in mass culture is only temporary.

But it is important to maintain this Korean boom for long enough to improve Japanese perception toward Korea. Also the longer it lasts, the more potential it will have to boom again in the future.

They predict in Japan that this Korean Wave will last at least till 2005. Year 2005 is 40th anniversary of the beginning of Korea-Japan diplomatic relationship. Hence there will be various events like 'Year of Korea-Japan friendship' planned by both governments. Through these events Korean stars will have many opportunities to be exposed to Japanese media, which will help Korean Wave to be recognized again and again.

It is also generally agreed that the Korean Wave needs another big hit to last. One reporter from a Japanese entertainment weekly magazine says, "So-called Yonsama's fans are a totally different group from fans of other Korean Wave stars. Popularity of other Korean actors except BYJ is similar to that of Japanese idol stars in that it is short-lived. They would need another momentum, whether it's a drama or a movie."

[size=18]Part 16

Increasing anti-Korean Wave articles since December 2004

Even if the Korean Wave boom slowly cools down, it is unlikely that once-ascended image of Korea will crash unless some unfortunate political incidents between two countries or economic situation in Korea and so on occur.

The Korean Wave did more than we expected. What matters now is the fact that the Korean Wave meets a backlash and people get disillusioned.

There is a proverb in Korea, 'A tall tree catches much wind' and there is also one in Japan, 'a protruding stake gets hammered'. The Korean Wave phenomenon is becoming a 'protruding stake'.

Since December 2004 right after BYJ came back from Japan, critical articles against BYJ and the Korean Wave visibly increased. It's because the frenzy over BYJ seemed 'too much' even for Japanese and some started to think it's 'national humiliation'.

Tokyo branch office of Chosun Daily gets calls from Japanese media asking, "Don't you think Japanese housewives are weird?" "Doesn't it look funny from Koreans' standpoint?" Most of them want negative comments on the Korean Wave from a Korean reporter's point of view.

There definitely exist diverse perspectives on the Korean Wave in Japan. There are an 'example theory', that they have to restore Japanese dramas by analyzing reasons for the Korean Wave, an 'Anti-Korean Wave' theory that there is no Korean Wave, 'caution theory' that the image of Korean Wave in southeast Asia will lead to the image of Korean products', and a view that wonders if it is really desirable that only Japanese people are smitten by Korea when Koreans hate Japan.

What arises the possibility of backlash on the Korean Wave is Japanese people's perception that Koreans hate Japan. Articles like 'Koreans feel proud as if they conquered Japan with the Korean wave." hurt their feelings.

[size=18]Part 17 (Final)

It's our turn to open our heart

Japan considered Korea's additional opening in early 2004 to Japanese culture, especially dramas, very significant. They had a high expectation that Koreans' deep-rooted anti-Japan sentiment and old prejudice could be eased in the long run once Japanese dramas give rise to 'Japanese Wave', just like Korean dramas changed Japanese perception about Korea,

Japan couldn't hide their disappointment because the expected Japanese boom wasn't as strong in Korea as they expected.

Until now, the Korean Wave stars and the planners have coped successfully. BYJ had an accident caused by fans during his visit to Japan, but he immediately held a press conference and said wiping tears, "I wanted too much. I believed that this kind of accident wouldn't happen. I feel really sorry that my family got hurt.", and it impressed Japanese people.

Stories of Choi Jiwoo's donation for victims of Niigata earthquake in the end of October, or CJW's offering her hotel room for an elderly couple who came to see her are widely talked about in Japan. So far Korean Wave stars didn't lose big points on their account.

The only way to overcome the backlash is 'modesty'. It is good to heighten national pride, but looking at Japanese love of the Korean Wave humbly with an intention of exchanging good culture would be a better way to keep the Korean Wave longer.

'Nihon TV', which aired a special program after closely covering BYJ during his Japan visit, aired another special counter-program titled 'Japanese Wave in Korea' in last December. Scenes in which Koreans were absorbed in Japanese culture and Koreans studied the Japanese language hard were aired.

Shiokawa Masazuro, the ex-minister of finance, and other casts in the program smiled broadly. Because it resolved their doubts that the Korean Wave in Japan is only a one-sided love. Japanese people opened the tight door to their mind and extended their hand. Now is our turn to open our mind with a smile.