Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Hallyu Research Interview

Hi hi sisters ..... done something a bit unusual today, hehe you can even say, on the verge of being 'serious'. Remember a few months ago, a US Phd student has posted in Quilt asking for subjects (specifically Japanese fans) to participate in her research on the Korean Wave? Well, after finished conducting her interview with some N. American and Korean subjects, this past week Hyejung has arrived in Tokyo to interview some volunteers from the Japanese family.


Dear cloudnine is nice enough to ask me to join them for the interview. I know I don't really fit into the subject category that Hyejung is targeting, but as a diligent blogger (or you can say, a nosy body), I welcome any interesting topic that I might come across. So armed with my camera and a lot of enthusiasm, I rushed to where all the sisters were supposed to meet - Shin-Okubo Station. Now for those frequent Tokyo visitors like bb, you know this is the famous Korean town where you can practically find any BYJ goodies; CD case, tissue holder, socks! You name it, they have it. Ok except BYJ himself of course.


You know another reason that compelled me to go is Kiyomi has reserved a 'Yong Joon' room for our lunch! Yeah yeah, I know it's the decor that gives it the name, not that HRH has graced that eatery. After a short walk, we arrived at a small restaurant on a narrow laneway. Frankly, I have no idea how to return to that same spot again, so I took a picture of the front entrance. Hehe, I feel like those little rabbits making a mark in the forest to avoid getting lost :)


The restaurant is posted with pictures of Korean hunks. Not that I am complaining, wink wink ;)

But this is the only one I have my @@ for. The walls of the 'Yong Joon' room :

May I borrow your interior decorator, Mr. Restaurant owner?


Now before I get carried away with too much HRH talk, I should say a little about Hyejung. She is a Korean student studies in University of Oklahoma working on her Phd degree in communications. Her research study is to examine the globalization and localization of Korean Wave in E. Asia (haha told ya, it's serious stuff!). She is obviously a very intelligent and open-minded young woman. She came focused with her objectives in mind, so the questions are very logical in terms of order and flow.


She started with asking how we get attracted to BYJ/Korean drama and what qualities do we treasure him most, the impact of BYJ on our daily lives, to what extent does this lead us to Korean culture ....... etc etc. Well, I'm not going to summarize or conclude all the Q&As here, why? Because if I do, I might as well get the Phd degree myself! Hahaha, just kidding, the truth is I haven't really asked Hyejung for her permission to write about her research.


What I want to applaud also is our Japanese sisters came very well prepared. Of course the smart and quick cloudnine has done her homework and translated some related JOB posts for Hyejung. The calm and cool Kiyomi obviously has all the information clearly processed in her mind, and the wise and diligent moichan even has notes for her answers! The other 2 sisters YonYon-san and OK-san are so sincere and sweet, I can feel their genuine hearts and love for Yong Joon in their responses. Hyejung is amazed at the calibers of the Japanese BYJ fans and thier unwavering dedication to Yong Joon. What strikes me is a few of them mentioned that Yong Joon captured their hearts the moment he put his hands close to his heart on his first visit to Japan 2004, so touching!


The interview lasted for an amazingly long 3 hours without us even feeling it. What's interesting about it was amid the Q&As, we had a lot of offline discussions on the Japanese-Korean political relationship, Korean family values and this new generation's culture. Hyejung shed some lights on how Korean traditional values still shape the family behaviour while our Japanese sisters also share the recent history of Japanese entertainment. I am sure all the sisters present will agree that, we have indeed witness a bilateral exchange in culture.

HyeJung ssi, I wish you all the success in your future endeavours.


Hehe, one cute thing I want to share is : when I bid my sisters goodbye after the interview, we all waved to each other and said, "See you in Osaka!" and stuck our thumbs up!! Hahaha, see how positive and confident we are!

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Jaime,

Thank you so much for posting about the interview. I can tell everyone enjoys talking about HIM. I wish I could have joined you.
Well, Osaka, I decided not to come for the event, but my mind is getting unsettled???!!! What shall I do if I get a ticket????
Hoping all of you can get ticket for the event.

Take care!
ba-ba

Anonymous said...

Hi Chinggu!

Awwww! I can almost feel the excitement that you had with all the wonderful Japanese sisters during the interview.

And my oh my! The walls of the resto is really to-die-for! What a lovely sight to behold if we ever get to have a wall like this in each of our homes. Tsk, tsk, tsk... maybe drooling & fainting will be a regular event? Hehehheh!

Hope that you'll get a ticket too for Osaka in June. Have fun & thanx for all the wonderful report & pix!

Love,
judy

jaime said...

dear baba-san

You will come if yo get a ticket? I do hope you'll get it :)

love ... jaime

jaime said...

dear chinggu,

hehe, i am sure we'll have a sweet dream if our 4 walls are covered in HRH's closeups :)

love .. jaime

Anonymous said...

How could anyone eat in that room?! I'd be too busy walking around and staring. LOL!

Anonymous said...

Hi Jaime,

The other sister's name was OK-san, as her initial is O.K. I think it was moichan who brought some translated pieces from JOB.
My homework?, haha as I told you I'm a type of person who doesn't move until the very last moment.
I've wanted to translate the article of AERA magazine, April 28th issue, but couldn't finish till yesterday, will post it on Quilt when I'm done.

Thank you for your accoun of this intensive meeting and 'that picture', too!!

Well let us just wait for tomorrow, Jaime take a deep breath!

cloud nine

jaime said...

hehe tamar,

you're so right, that's why I was starving to death afterwards.

btw, I had kimchi pancake, bad choice, it tasted awful :( wish you could come to the rescue.

love .. jaime

jaime said...

hi dear cloudnine,

thanks, OK-san, OK easy enough!

Yeah, that was an intense meeting, eh? I had a big headache after wards, might be the hunger though.
It's past midnight May 1 now, how come I still haven't received anything from BOFi? :(

love ... jaime

Anonymous said...

How could a restaurant with BYJ photos all over the place serve bad food?! OTOH, I think they know that many Bae-sisters go there to look at BYJ not eat their food. ; )

I think BYJ, as a public service of course, should send one of his chef's there to teach them how to make good korean food. *giggle*

Or they can pay for my airplane ticket and I'd go there to teach them a thing or two.

gosijo said...

Dear Jaime,

Whoa! I so wish I had been a fly on the wall to hear all this interesting talk (and maybe rest on YJ's heart)!

Here's hoping 'May 1st' is good to you and cloud nine and ba-ba-san and Kiyomi and Moichan and OK-san and, and, and...!!

jaime said...

hehe tamar,

you have a point, the intention to go there is not to feed the stomach, but the eyes :) But I think maybe it's just my dish, the others sure looked yummy to me, (swallowing saliva).

love ... jaime

jaime said...

hehe dear gosijo,

be careful loh! A fly in the restaurant? and on HRH's heart?! Our sisters might squash you to a piece of gum :)

Hehe actually, we have heard and read so many love confession stories for BYJ already, but I never get tired of listening to one more. They are all so heart warming, and you can't help nodding your head and say, "me too, me too" to everything our sisters say.

Have fun in your gathering tomorrow!

love ... Jaime

Anonymous said...

Well, I'd still go over and teach them a thing or two if they'd pay the airplane ticket and the hotel. No salary.... Just to be able to look at those BYJ posters would be payment enough.

jaime said...

hehe tamar ... while u are here, may I stand at the side and watch? I sure can learn a few things here and there from your cooking too :)

love ... jaime

gosijo said...

Hi Jaime,

Thanks for your good wishes for our gathering tomorrow. We'll sure miss you!

Can I ammend my earlier comment to 'butterfly on the wall'? After all, those are allowed at Gosireh. Come to think of it, maybe that's what they are, souls of far-away sisters visiting in the only way they can.

bbmag said...

oh man... finally i can leave a comment! i was having problem leaving a comment all of last night and today :(

thanks much much for the account... i too saw the posting on quilt and was in fact abit worried for her that no one would respond... so, some of the japanese fans did huh? good... :)

and am so glad you went... and shared the story. i wish i was there! how come all the nicest byj-related stuff are all happening in japan? am so envious :(

keke, gosijo... a fly on the wall, and resting on wuri yong joon's heart, no less! that was so cute! i'll rest on his lips then... and gosijo can tell me if his heartbeat got faster :p

p.s. i think i've been to that restaurant too... is it with a small entrance and the staircase is lined with his pics on both sides too?

Anonymous said...

Hi bb,

No it is a different restaurant. The one you went was much bigger, the whole restaurant was for BYJ, but this one is a single room (for 8 or so) in a restaurant.

I heard that the one you went had been closed due to re-construction. I wonder where all those pictures gone!!

cloud nine

jaime said...

Hi dear gosijo,

Those butterflies on the wall of Gosireh are so beautiful. I am so envious of you now :)

Have fun in your gathering, please tell us all about it, k?

love .. .jaime

jaime said...

Hi bb and cloudnine,

Thanks cloudnine for replying about the restaurant. Yeah, this is smaller scale and not entirely Yong Joon.

Princess, actually the response from the Japanese sisters to Hyejung is quite overwhelming. Me too, I guess it's the N. American (or just my own) mentality, I also thought nobody will want to be subjects of a study. The Japanese sisters are truly enthusiastic in expressing their love to Yong Joon.

love ... jaime

gosijo said...

Hi Jaime, bb and friends,

I was just wondering if Hyejung will publish her thesis one day. I would imagine there would be requests for translations as well. I missed the Quilt posting but it might be worthwhile to get her addy and suggest that to her.

Ahhh, bb, yes, I'm sure his heartbeat would accelerate. Must say, I had thought about the lips too.

Thanks for your good wishes for tonight, Jaime. We'll sure miss you!!

bbmag said...

now i'm thinking about his lips... mmm.... wonder if they'd taste sweet :p

i'll just lick his lips for him... just to help him out abit, since his lips seem to have a tendency to get abit dry. see how helpful this princess is? :p

gosijo said...

Eurrr, bb, sorry to be the first to pass on this vital piece of information but licking lips is not much help for dryness. If anything, it makes things worse, even if done by a princess.

Wait a minute. Is it because of YOU he has this problem???

'Sweet' you say? Okay, tell us MORE. Share with your sisters, han!