Translated & Posted in BYJ Quilt by Yoon

This is also part of the special report about the Korean Wave featured in Chosun Monthly. This report is specifically about BYJ's Korean fans. I divided it into 8 shorter pieces.

Reporter: Lee Geunmi

[size=18]Part 1

Epicenter of Yonsama fever- BYJ's Korean fans
[Monthly Chosun January Issue]

A Japanese woman who accepted a Korean daughter-in-law after becoming BYJ's fan


Members of 'Bae-to-mi-sa' gathered when the operator Suh Surhee, who lives in Toronto Canada, came to Korea.

"Why on earth would Japanese women fall for BYJ like that?"

"How long will the Yonsama fever last?

An incident that made me believe that Yonsama fever wouldn't cool down easily happened around me. Lee Sinjung(33), an airline stewardess in J-air and also my junior in school, has gone out with a Japanese man(an architect) whom she met on the plane 2 years ago.

She almost gave up on marrying him because of stubborn objection of her boyfriend's father, a college professor, and his mother, a head nurse in university hospital. But she got a sudden permission from them on marriage and got married on December 24th, 2004.

The marriage was achieved because her future mother-in-law became BYJ's fan after watching the WS and changed her perception about Korea. Lee happily said, "I am BYJ's fan too, but I never imagined that I would get married thanks to BYJ."

I went into 'Baetomisa cafe' on the internet, where BYJ's devoted fans gather, and asked the members why Japanese women are going crazy and what will become of Yonsama fever. They answered as follows:

"Isn't it rather strange not to fall for BYJ? We were crazier than Japanese fans. Yonsama fever will calm down as time passes. But it won't go away easily. As time goes by, fans who will stay with him for life, like us, will emerge."

Housewives in their 30's and 40's who responded all said, "We never liked an entertainer before. I sometimes feel sorry for myself, but I love BYJ so much. He awoke my sensibility. I can totally understand Japanese fans who came to Choonchun to clean up. Whatever can't we do for BYJ's sake?"

When I met BYJ in Japan in April 2004 and asked him why he had unusually tight relationship with his fans, he said, "We are mafias." BYJ always refers to his fans as 'my family'.

Korean fans say, "We are his protectors and his family. We are tighter than mafia." Suh Surhee, who is operating 'Baetomisa Cafe' at a portal internet site 'Daum', said:"We are in for life. We will protect BYJ till the end."

[size=18]Part 2

How many of BYJ's Korean fans are there? Director Yang Keunwhan, BYJ's manager, said BYJ's official Korean homepage(www.byj.co.kr) have around 40,000-50.000 members. They say his official Japanese HP have around 200,000 members at present.

His Korean fan sites operated by fans reach 30 and among them, about 10 sites have actively interacting members.

Among BYJ's sites operated by his fans, the site which has the most members is BYJ cafe(cafe.daum.net/byj) at Daum with 38,553 members. BYJ fan cafe(cafe.daum.net/byjfan) has 8,611, 'Baetomisa'(/byjintoronto. it stands for 'Toronto's 4 beauties who love BYJ) has 4,968, and 'Baesaamo'(/llovebyj. it stands for 'Group of housewives who love BYJ) has 4,671 members. 'City of Yongjoon'」(www. yongjunie. net), which is said to have the highest level of fans among entertainers' fan sites, have 6 to 7 thousand visitors daily.

BYJ's fans said: "Ages of fans spread in wide range from 20's to 70's. There are also many BYJ fans among people who don't use internet. Many fans are quiet and hate to draw attention just like BYJ, so we don't exactly know how many fans are out there."

How many Korean fans, who would say 'I will protect BYJ as a fan for life.", are there among BYJ's fans? Jung Yoonhee(35. ID Zec), who is operating 'City of Yongjoon' estimated the number would be around 10,000. When I chatted with 30 members of 'Baetomisa' on line, lots of them said 'the number would be somewhere bewteen 5,000 and 20,000."

His fans said, "Many of his devoted fans have been by his side since he first debuted in 1994. It wouldn't be hard to go for life."

His fans call him in many different ways. They call him 'Yong Joon-nim' at his official homepage. It was different from one page to another. Older fans call him 'my Jooni'. Many fans said, "I am not his fan. I am on BYJ's side. I am forever on his side."

Most of BYJ's fans are on the border of being manias. More than 90% of his fans are women.

[size=18]Part 3

BYJ, image of a prince on a white horse

Many people around me say, "I don't understand why Japaense women buy the Winter Sonata DVD and watch it over and over again in tears and say that they found a new joy of life because of him." But this is what his Korean fans have already gone through.

I have watched BYJ's official homepage for 3 years out of curiosity since I watched the WS after I was told that it was a heart-wrenching drama.

'The Winter Sonata' was aired from January to March in 2002. It pulled down the program rating of 'Women World'(*then the most popular drama) from 40% to 20%, and reached top rating in 4 episodes. Viewing rating of home shopping channels dropped by 50% during the air time of the WS.

As watching dramas again on line became possible around that time, there were more people who watched the WS again on line than on TV. The 'BYJ syndrome' took shape through this drama. The twisted muffler BYJ wore in the WS sold like hot cakes, and hair salons prospered as women as well as men wanted to change the style and color of their hair like BYJ's. In Japan, BYJ's wig was popular, but in Korea, people ran to hair salons.

When the WS was aired, the WS home page would sometimes break down because the number of access surpassed 10 million a day. Nowadays when a drama is aired, fans of the drama form a group calling themselves 'manias', and the beginning was with the WS.

At that time, most postings were accessed more than 10,000 times and several hundred postings were uploaded every day. Some fans posted several drawings of BYJ's face. The billboard of the WS, still saved at KBS home page, was operated till January 30, 2003 and the total postings number as many as 261,116.

There were various stories by fans but their conclusions were the same. It was, 'I rediscovered my lost sensibility after watching the WS describe the first love. I came to look at myself again, which I have forgotten in busy life.' Also stories like 'I am so busy following him around drama sets that I can't live normally. I am totally immersed in the WS all day. I feel like I am dreaming.' accounted for a majority of postings.

Along with them, a lot of people said, 'The role and BYJ are a perfect match. If a different actor had taken up the role, the drama would have become a different one.' Producer Yoon Sukho said in one interview, "BYJ has an image of the hero of a romance comic, a prince on a white horse. I maximized such image in this drama."

As they watched the WS, fans confessed without reserve, "BYJ became my lover in my heart. Now I can't part with him." There were bold confessions like, "I can't meet someone like him in reality so I will love him from afar all my life.", "I truly love my husband but he is not really my type.", "I am not in a position to be able to meet a man like BYJ, so I will satisfy my desire by loving BYJ for life."

One 73 year old Korean woman living in the US wrote a long letter with a confession that she got to live a new life through the WS.

[size=18]Part 4

Emergence of housewife fans

After it ended, the WS fell out of media's interest and we couldn't hear often about BYJ because he didn't do interviews often. But BYJ's fans' activities became more vehement after the WS ended.

When the WS ended, fans entranced by BYJ gathered at BYJ's official HP. What was different from before was that housewives appeared in throngs on line and started to post every day.

On March 31 in 2002, a fan with ID 'Angel' wrote under the title 'Housewife fans in HP that are not very helpful to YJ': "This HP is like a neighborhood hairshop. 'He has lots of housewife fans' is clearly different from 'Most of his fans are housewives.'. Please behave carefully if you really like and value BYJ." Immediately a housewife fan with ID 'jean' posted a refuting passage:

"It takes a lot of courage and determination for housewives to reveal themselves and show their faces even if this is on line. Are you saying those housewife fans are of no help to Yongjoon-nim? As a young girl, you might feel annoyed because housewives' image doesn't go well with YJ's simple and cool image. But I think it would be housewives' warm and open heart that will stay long by his side rather than hot boiling young blood."

A fan with ID 'somang' wrote: "We are excited because we experienced love and BYJ completed our love and the memory of our love. And housewives are not a strange race nor a subject of research."

After hot debates, BYJ's fans concluded: "Let's talk only about BYJ, leaving talks about households behind. Anyone, whether a housewife or a single girl, can be BYJ's fan." After that Anyone from teens to 60s could talk with each other and grandmother could talk with granddaughters in one space.

BYJ's fans continued to upload touching scenes from the WS to the HP billboard to share their feelings. They also discussed all his previous works again.

Every article which mentioned BYJ even in passing became news at his official HP. All his previous photos printed in the press and scenes in CFs were also shared.

Around October 2002, 6 months after the WS ended, BYJ's official HP had more than 1000 postings a day and total replies numbered over 5,000. Number of total access to these postings far exceeded 300,000.

[size=18]Part 5

Thanks to internet



One of BYJ's fan sites his fans made.

While they communicated with each other, some of BYJ's fans who shared the same thoughts made their own homepages.

Most of screen clips and photos were modified by fans who were computer experts. Clips were captured scene by scene and turned into many forms like photos, posters, cards, schedules, letter papers and photo slides.His fans collected these works and held a visual image presentation at Kyobo bookstore.

Fans who were good at computer would give various lectures on the HP while other fans would practiced at the same time. So most of BYJ manias are good at handling a computer.

BYJ's fans said, "Had it not been for a space of internet after the WS ended, my love would have ended where it was." Jung Yoonhee, operator of 'City of Yong Joon' said, "I think Japanese women could gather altogether at the airport because they knew through internet that they would not be alone."

Because copy right laws are strictly imposed in Japan, they can't upload photos or music to internet sites. So Japanese fans access many of BYJ's Korean sites run by Korean fans in large numbers and look over BYJ-related materials. His fans think it is somewhat true that BYJ's Korean fan sites are managing foreign fans.

According to the data that BYJ's fans analyzed and presented at his HP on their own, the largest age group of fans is those close to BYJ's age, born in 1972. Over all, the largest group was 30something and there were similar number of fans in 20s and 40s. Amazingly there were a 70 year old(born in 1930) and a 14 year old. Those who operate his fansites are full time housewives who can relatively freely manage their time.

Jung Yoonhee, who operates 'City of YongJon', said that her husband didn't react favorably at first.

[size=18]Part 6

BYJ fans are single-track minded


Jung Yoonhee, operator of 'City of Yongjoon'

"I have to pay web-hosting expense of 70,000 won every month and pay for using the domain once a year. On top of that I have to spend about 2 hours every day to manage the site, so it's no wonder that my husband hated it. When the WS was aired, one fan's husband wrote on the bulletinboard. 'I am going crazy because my wife weeps and goes blank every day and all day thinking only of BYJ as she watches the WS.' Later I found out my husband replied on the board without letting me know as follows: 'I am the husband of the operator of this fan site. There are people like me, so bear with your wife.'

When BYJ goes for outdoor filming, his devoted fans visit the sets with bundles of food even prepared for staffs. There is even a saying, 'You don't have to worry about food when you film with BYJ." Many times they have to just hand over the food and come back without seeing him, but they prepare food and go nonetheless. Fans bring various food and one housewife fan with good cooking skill once brought 100 servings of loach soup.

Jung Yoonhee, who made 'City of Yongjoon' in June or 2001 before the WS started, analyzed characteristics of BYJ fans as follows:

"BYJ's fans are mostly single-minded. They don't sway. They usually lie low but they actively support BYJ when he appears. Don't take my word for it because it is well known throughout portal sites. They say 'BYJ fans consider themselves as family and last as such for life.' I think BYJ is blessed (to have fans like them). He has this inexplicable charm that attracts people. It's an intense charisma which others don't have. He was born with it."

Jung said the secret is 'BYJ's infinite potential'. It's his face that can handle from a romantic role to a role of a villain, and his appeal to stir up women's sensitivity.
She predicted that Japanese women's fever wouldn't cool down soon.

"My son got sick and had to have a surgery while I was operating the site. I couldn't think of anything else when my child was ill. So I closed this site for 6 months. But as my kid's surgery went well and I felt relieved, I started to think about him again. So I reopened the site. It will revive some day as you get touched and reminded. Japanese women might cool down and stay away from BYJ after a while, but some day when they hear the theme song of the WS and feel fluttered, they will come back."

When I chatted with members of 'Baetomisa', they said BYJ's fans stay quiet under water but they come out when needed. A fan with ID 'darkred' summarized BYJ fans' disposition as follows:

"Do you know how Buddhist monks were when Japan invaded Korea in 1592? They were ordinary monks in the temple in peaceful times, but when invaded they fought with enemies leaving everything behind.. and when the war ended they went back to being monks as if nothing happened.."

BYJ's Korean fans expressed their opinion that they would understand the ferver of Japanese fans but would like to ask them to be more careful:

"I get really upset when I see them touch and tug BYJ when he passes by them. We never do that even when he is right in front of us. We try to look at him from afar, because we understand how tired he must be without having any privacy. We try not to bother him except in official autographing sessions. It's our consideration as a fan."

[size=18]Part 7

I will support BYJ till 70


Suh Surhee, operator of Baetomisa

The reason that BYJ did a lot of CF shooting in Japan is because his Japanese fans are middle-aged women who have purching power. It is the same in Korea. A person in charge of promotion of a company which BYJ modeled for said they chose a model who potential buyer-class of their products liked the most.

When 'Twinmon', co-operator of 'Baetomisa' said "I saw a report that the 74 year old president of Elvis Presley's fan club had led the fan club for 30 years. We will do the same. We will stay as his fans till we become grandmothers.", other fans who participated in chatting agreed.

BYJ's fans say they don't like the way the media reports these days. They say they hate it that although BYJ had been wildly welcomed too in Southeast Asia, the media started to make a big fuss only when he was welcomed in rich country Japan.

They said it is also a problem that the media doesn't accept Japanese women's welcoming BYJ it is and tries to interpret it in economic sense. Suh Surhee said she didn't like it that Korean media is referring to him as 'Yonsama' as Japanese media does:

"Nowadays according to Korean media, it is as if there are only Japanese fans, but in fact there are a huge number of fans in Southeast Asia. His Southeast Asia fans would feel out of place with the name 'Yonsama'."

When BYJ went to console her family and stayed for 3 hours when one fan in Pusan died of cancer, it left a big impression on his fans. His fans said they feel they should work hard because BYJ does.

[size=18]Part 8 (Final)

His Japanese fans will become manias

What his fans count as his strong but also weak point is his 'overcautiousness'. They said that he could have come till now without a failure thanks to the cautiousness, but to fans, his too long hiatus is hard to bear. They say hence not-devoted fans leave him, running out of patience.

There are people among his core fans who say they don't watch other dramas. A fan with ID 'Cherry flavor candy' said she didn't even watch 'Lovers in Paris', a drama which got close to 50% of program rating. Other fans say, "We wait and get frustrated so we watch other dramas, but we always come back, only thinking, 'What would it be like if YongJoon-nim played the role?"

His fans worry that he might not do many works because of his cautiousness. They said with a sigh, "BYJ is now 32 and there will be at most only 3 or 4 more movies till 40 if he marries then." The overcautiousness makes his fans exhausted from waiting, but they said it also made them to want him more.

When asked, 'what will become of his Japanese fans?', many of his fans confidently said, "His boom won't disappear soon because there is no one like BYJ whether in Japan or Southeast Asia. " 'Rulurala', one of his fans, predicted: "Japanese fans are going through the path we already walked through. After a few years, core fans will remain and will be doing an interview just like us."

Another fan, 'Julmun unni(young sis)' defined BYJ boom as 'expressed emotions due to expanding internet are being knocked down on Jooni' and said, "Once they fall for his unique face, gentleness and manly beauty, it would be hard to fall out of it."

BYJ fans unanimously said as they observed 'Yonsama typhoon':

"It is a natural consequence with his personality and potential. We have thought he was someone quietly standing close to us. but as many people love him now, it is true that we feel a little distant from him. We fans are determined to behave carefully. We think we should write responsibly on his HP. We will forever stay as his fan who can help and support him."