Update on the Progress of Hallyu

Recently, more and more Korean idols are making their debut in Japan. As Kara and Girl's Generation who are making huge successes in Japan, more and more K-Pop stars are hoping to get more fans and become widely know all over the world. As I have stated in the older posts, Japan has the second largest music industry in the world. Therefore, if Korean stars become successful in Japan, it means more than becoming popular in a small country, it means that they've proved that they are the best in the world and that they can be the top of such a big market.
Recently, the Hallyu wave seems to be flowing very smoothly. Girl's Generation released their first album in Japan on May 31st and they have started their Japan tour from a few days ago. Their newly released album is ranked as the best seller for several days and they seem to be the one to make number one on the weekly chart too. Moreover, their first tour has been going very well and all television programs are introducing and explaining their first tour. The tickets are all sold out and they seem to be making a large progress.
The Hallyu wave seems to be getting stronger and bigger since new K-Pop stars are planning their debut and albums soon. For example, a boy band named BEAST and a girl group named Afterschool are making their debut this month and SHINee is also making their debut soon. Along with the consistent popularity of Korean music, Korean dramas are also gaining popularity once again. After the Winter Sonata about 10 years ago, Korean dramas were not gaining popularity; however, recently new dramas such as You are Beautiful gained a lot of popularity and it is being remade in Japan. Korean dramas are gaining popularity once again because Korean idol stars are starring as main or sub roles in these dramas. For example in this drama, You are Beautiful, a member of a boy band FT Island and CNBlue are starring as main roles. Moreover, Korean dramas have become much more sophisticated which is the reason why so many Japanese people are attracted to them.

Rivalry in East Asia

When the Olympics or any other world competitions come near, East Asian countries are sparked up in cheering on their athletes. Especially swimming, figure skating, baseball, and soccer are the big events for Koreans.
In the swimming competitions, there is a fierce rivalry between Korea and China. Tae Hwuan Park, a South Korean athlete and Jiang Lin, a Chinese athlete have been big rivals in swimming. During the Beijing Olympics and the Guangzhou Asian Games, all Koreans watched the games and cheered for him to win a gold medal. East Asians in general have great competition in sports. The sports competitions are not a simple game but it also includes the national pride of the country.
Another major event for Asians is baseball. The strong baseball teams in Asia started with Japan's baseball team, which started to appear during the period of western imperialism. Korea, after gaining their independence, also started to support baseball and formed one of the world's strongest baseball teams. Korea and Japan continuously met each other in world wide baseball games, proving that the Asian baseball teams have dominated the world.
Although Asians are not very good at soccer, it became very popular in Korea and Japan after the World Cup in 2002. During the time, Korea made it to the top four and it was the hottest event of the year. All television programs, commercials, songs, and other things revolved around the world cup and thousands of Korean and Japanese citizens came out to the streets and cheered for their teams. From 2002, soccer has become one of the most popular sports in Korea.
The most competitive of all is the figure skating season. From Korea, Yu-na Kim and from Japan, Mao Asada and recently Miki Ando are competing for the top figure skater. During the Vancouver Olympics, Yuna Kim won a gold medal and Mao Asada won silver. During this game, all of Korea and Japan was watching the game and cheering for the skater representing their country. I remember the same happened in our school. Yuna Kim's long program was on during our passing period so nobody moved even when the bell rang. Moreover, students were secretly watching Mao Asada's skating during class on their computers. When we watched Yuna's performance, everyone was not even breathing. They were all frozen and praying that Yuna wouldn't make a mistake and win gold medal. Yuna wining gold was not just about wining a gold medal in the Olympics, it was a kind of evidence that Korea would show to Japan and prove that they were not inferior to them in any way and take revenge on the Japanese for what they have done during the period of annexation.

Korea and Japan's Relationship

Although Korea and Japan are located extremely close to each other, many Koreans do not like Japanese people. The major reason for this hatred is Korea and Japan's relationship in history.
All throughout history, Japan constantly invaded Korea to gain more resources and to set up their way to China. Since Japan is a small island, they do not have much natural resources except rice, fish, and silver. Therefore, they had to get resources by invading other countries that were near. Korea was Japan's main target for a long period of time. However, Koreans did not form this strong hatred until Japan's annexation in the 20th century. When Japan annexed Korea in 1910, they forced Koreans to completely erase their national identity and to follow Japanese culture. From 1910 to 1945, when Korea gained independence, Koreans were suppressed and terribly treated by the Japanese. During the Japanese occupation, Koreans were forced to speak Japanese, women were often forced to work as prostitutes and Korean pregnant women were used for scientific experiments by the Japanese. The Japanese government also tortured nationalists/rebellious leaders by cutting off their fingers or by using electric chairs. Moreover, Japan took most of the rice that was produced in Korea to feed their growing population and left hundreds of thousands of Koreans starving to death. Due to this tragic event during the Japanese occupation, many Koreans still hate Japanese people just by the fact that they are Japanese.
Even after Korea was free, the conflict between Korea and Japan continued for several reasons. First of all, Korea and Japan are constantly declaring their right and control over an island called Dokdo or Takeshima. The two nations are even disputing on what the island should be called.

Since the annexation of Korea, or even from before then, Koreans continued to have a bad image and stereotype of Japanese people. However, the exchange of popular culture between Korea and Japan improved the views of Japanese people from Korea. In the late 1900s, Japanese pop music (J-Pop) became extremely popular in Korea and Japanese dramas are widely known and popular in Korea. In the early 2000s, Korean dramas made a big hit in Japan and recently, Korean pop music (K-Pop) has become extremely popular in Japan. I started to change my view towards Japan because I started to like a Japanese boy band, Arashi. Before I became their fan, I had a negative view on Japanese people just like most Koreans. However, after I became their fan, I wanted to know more about Japan and from watching their dramas, movies, and television shows, my negative view changed extremely positively. It is amazing how pop culture can have huge effects on politics and international relationships. If cultural exchanges continue, I think Korea and Japan's relationship will improve and I hope someday Japanese and Korean people would have a positive view on each other.

Hallyu in the Future

Just like how the Hallyu boom disappeared slowly after 2002, several people are also predicting this second Hallyu boom, especially focused on K-pop will disappear too. However, some people disagree since Japan currently has no idol group that can beat these well-trained and highly skilled Korean idol groups. Although there are controversial ideas about how it will lead to in the future, most people believe, including myself, believe this boom will last a pretty long amount of time. I will explain why..
First of all, as I have stated above, currently, Japanese idols are do not have high quality skills to produce something that would be better than the Korean stars. They need at least four years of intensive training in order to become a successful Korean stars. Another reason is that Japanese music industries are not interested in making an idol group that would beat the current K-Pop stars. It is not necessary because the Japanese people believe K-Pop can just become a portion of J-Pop culture. However, this is something that the Koreans want to prevent from happening because Japanese people might actually call K-Pop J-Pop and including a high quality music in their industry. Moreover, it is cheaper and more efficient to just make contracts and hire the already trained idols instead of creating their own. It is also safer since they already had success in Korea and they might have fans that access them from the internet. Since the economy overall is pretty bad right now, the Japanese investors want to invest in a safer place, which are K-Pop artists.

Reasons for K-Pop Boom!!

Why K-Pop? You might wonder.. Ten years ago, Japanese music was the most sophisticated and popular; however, now things have changed. Along with Korea’s rapid development in technology, trends move extremely fast. Some trends can include fashion, arts, food, and the most famous of all, Korean music, also know as K-Pop.
K-Pop (Korean Pop Music) has been heavily influenced by pop music in the U.S. and partially some Japanese (but not a major one). Korean music industries are small and therefore competitive. Due to such fierce competition, before Korean idols make their debut, they go through a long period of training period. If they are not trained, they cannot survive in the industry. First of all, as I mentioned, the market is extremely competitive and numerous Korean citizens, even the common people, have amazing singing and dancing skills. Therefore, if a singer does not seem professional on stage, the citizens do not embrace them. In order to attract fans and gain popularity, idol stars in Korea must have the talent and the looks.
On the other hand, popular Japanese idols have don't have high quality skills in singing. This is because Japanese people don't consider idols as artists/singers, they consider idols as entertainers. The main role of an idol in Japan is to make people happy and to be on television shows. This perspective is very different from that of Korea, where idols are also expected to perform at the level of an artist and also be a good entertainer.
Another possible reason of the K-Pop boom is the small Korean music market. Along with the fierce competition, Korean idols have to expand their market to Japan and other Asian countries. Although the Korean music industry is full of amazing artists, they all cannot profit from Korea's small music industry. Moreover, since illegal downloading is widely spread in Korea, Korean artists cannot earn much profit by selling albums just in Korea. Therefore, many artists aim for the Japanese music market or the Chinese/Taiwanese markets. In order to succeed in these foreign markets, K-Pop stars must produce high quality music and perform well on stage.
With these reasons being said, K-Pop stars having such a dominant role in the whole Asian music industry is not an unusual result.

The Moving Trend of the Hallyu Boom

Although Japan and Korea are located so closely, Japan and Korea are very different culturally. For example, when Korean and Japanese people eat rice, Korea people use spoons and leave the rice bowl on the table but Japanese people bring their rice bowl close to the face and use the chopsticks to eat the rice. However, they also share similar characteristic such as respecting the elders and some of the words spoken in both languages. Some of the same words include promise, which is 約束 (pronounced as yakusoku) in Japanese and 약속 (pronounced as yaksok) in Korean. Korea and Japan share numerous similarities and differences.
Recently, Korean culture is spreading to Japan once again. In 2002, the first hallyu boom took place in Japan with the famous drama Winter Sonata. Winter Sonata won great popularity among old Japanese women and this was the great hallyu boom of Korea. From then on, several Korean singers and actors/actresses visited and performed in Japan. However, after a few years, the hallyu boom started to diminish.

However, during the few years, many great idol stars in Korea won great popularity and once again made the hallyu boom in Japan. The second hallyu boom started with the increasing popularity of a Korean idol group, T.V.X.Q. They were easily seen on the top five songs in the Japanese Oricon chart and had a concert in Tokyo Dom, which is the biggest concert hall in Japan.


After T.V.X.Q., many other popular idol groups such as Kara and Girl's Generation released albums in Japan and came out on TV shows many times. The significance of this second hallyu boom is that this time, Korean stars are gaining popularity among young teenage girls. Are you wondering why Korean stars became so popular in Japan? I'll explain about the reason of the popularity of Korean stars in my next entry!:)

Eita&Kimura Kaela is Getting Married!

http://blog.naver.com/choco221?Redirect=Log&logNo=110087251385

Eita, a very popular Japanese actor is getting married soon. His fiance is Kimura Kaela who is a very popular Japanese singer. She is a very talented musician and she’s been going out with Eita for about a year. They’ve just announced that Kimura Kaela is pregnant with Eita’s baby for five months already. Having a baby before they get married is getting really common in Asia. Before, Asians used to be really conservative and they thought getting pregnant before getting married was a very bad thing. They reacted as if they did something illegal but now they’re more open minded. Just like Eita and Kimura Keala, couples like Kwon Sang Woo and Son Tae Young, and Jang Dong Kun and Ko So Young in Korea got a baby before getting married. The news of Eita and Kimura Keala’s marriage is spreading all through out Asia because Eita is a rising Japanese star, who is also very popular in Korea. They’re both also fairly young to get married, Eita is twenty-eight years-old and Kimura Keala is twenty-six. Currently, Eita is starring in a drama that I’m watching, Hard to Say I Love You. I wonder how Eita’s marriage would affect the drama because Asian stars tend to loose a little bit of popularity when they get married. However, I really support their marriage and they look so cute together. They’re such a good couple!

Very cute commercial starring Kimura Kaela!


My favorite commercial of Eita!


They're both very cute and handsome. I wonder how they're baby would look like!

Where to Get Access to J-Pop, K-Pop, and C-Pop

http://www.jpopasia.com/

While I was looking through my blog, I noticed that I have lots of postings that are related to Korean, Japanese, and Chinese music. I think Asian pop music is really good and it’s becoming world wide now. Therefore, I want to tell you how you could be ahead of the trend, “Asian Pop”!
This website is specialize in Japanese music but it also has Korean and Chinese music too!

http://www.jpopasia.com/

This website is very up to date so you can check out the new released albums and singles! They have the ranking for every country's music! Isn't that cool?

http://www.jpopasia.com/

If you don’t live in that country, it’s really hard to get access to that country’s recent music but this website is great. This website also provides you with pronunciation of the lyrics in alphabets and the English translation.

http://www.jpopasia.com/

On this website you can also search for the song or the artist that you like. I wish everyone could find their favorite artist in every country from this website!

Download
If you want to download the music and put it into you ipod, unfortunately, you can’t get access to most of them. However, there is a fantastic website that allow you to download almost every kind of music. The link below will take you there!
The Best Website Ever!
All you have to do is just search the artist or the name of the song!

If you want to get more specific, visit the websites below.
Japanese:
A blog that is specialized for Japanese music for download is this website!
Korean:
A blog that is specialized for Korean music for download is this website!

Hard to Say I Love You

http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=sec&sid1=106&oid=015&aid=0002225598

Today, I want to you introduce a Japanese drama that I'm watching these days. The English title is Hard to Say I Love You and the Japanese title is 素直になれなくて (Sunao ni Narenakute-meaning because I can’t be honest if you translate it directly). I started watching this drama because a member of T.V.X.Q(my favorite boy band), Jae Joong is starring as one of the main characters. This drama is about the love, life, and friendship about the five people who meet through the twitter. Let me introduce the main characters!

(Character names are nicknames that they use in their twitter!)
1. Ueno Juri as Haru:

http://blog.naver.com/94sosi?Redirect=Log&logNo=100105449456

She is very famous as Nodame, from the drama Nodame Cantabile. I was a big fan of Nodame Cantabile and Ueno Jurin so I had to watch this drama no matter what. In the drama, she's going to form a love triangle with Jae Joong and Eita! Haru becomes to like Nakaji (the character acted by Eita) but he already has a girlfriend so... I'm not going to explain further because I don't want to ruin it for you! You should watch it yourself, it's a great drama!

2. Eita as Nakaji:

http://blog.naver.com/howkun?Redirect=Log&logNo=150085144229

Eita is well known for his unique fashion and good acting skills. He has a girlfriend in the drama but she is already married. He gets close with Haru as a friend, ignoring the fact that Haru sort of like him.

3. Jae Joong as Doctor:

http://blog.naver.com/orage04?Redirect=Log&logNo=60106421434

Jae Joong is starring as a Korean guy who came to Japan for some reason. He lives with his sister and works in as a salesman. He likes Haru but Haru actually like Nakaji. However, many things happen to them..!!!

4. Seki Megumi as Peach:

http://blog.naver.com/dutmfrl21?Redirect=Log&logNo=50087031890

I've never seen Seki Megumi in any other dramas but when I first saw her in this drama, I thought she was really pretty. She is pregnant with a married man and she tries to commit suicide.. She's Haru's best friend; she often gives advice to Haru about what to do with her feelings.

5. Tamayama Tetsuji as Linda:

http://blog.naver.com/dutmfrl21?Redirect=Log&logNo=50087031890

He is a magazine editor but he is not very successful. He has a very strict father who is against his career so he lives isolated from his father. However, after meeting the other four through the twitter, he opens up to his father and rebuilds the relationship.

This drama is actually only half way done. I look forward to what will happen. I personally wish Haru and Nakaji becomes couples since they look so good together. I wish everyone in the drama becomes happy. This drama is really entertaining with the great actors/actresses and the great storyline. It's not too late to catch up! You should start watching it now!

Best Boy Band in Aisa, TVXQ!!!

"동방신기, 히읗히읗 개그 ㅋㅋㅋ ." Paran ∽ 블로그. N.p., 1 Dec. 2008. Web. 30 Apr. 2010. .

TVXQ is a very famous Korean boy band consisting five very talented members. The five members are: Junsoo, Yunho, Yuchun, Jaejoong, and Changmin. TVXQ made their debut in Korea in 2004 with their song, "Hug". They're very well known for their handsome looks and good singing and dancing skills. Unlike other idol groups in Korea, all the member of TVXQ are all very skilled dancers and singers. TVXQ is not only famous in Korea, but also very famous in Japan with the name, Tohoshinki. They have many fans all over Asia, especially in Korea and Japan. Even though all of the members are Korean, they're all very fluent in Japanese.
Few famous songs of TVXQ:
1. どうして君を好きになってしまったんだろう？ (why did I fall in love with you? )

2. Wrong Number

3. Love in the Ice + Mirotic



I love TVXQ!

Yamashita Tomohisa

~ellygirl95. "Yamashita Tomohisa." deviantART. N.p., 15 June 2009. Web. 14 Apr. 2010. .

Profile:
Name: Yamashita Tomohisa
Occupation: Singer, Actor
Born: April 9th, 1985
Height/Weight: 175cm, 64kg
Group: NewS
Entertainment Company: Johnny's Entertainment
Graduated: Meiji University
Debut: 1996 Johnny's Junior
Award: 2006, 9th Nikkan Sports Drama Grand Prize the best actor award

"MIROTInnovation // in hiatus - ☆　that's me talking.." MIROTInnovation // in hiatus . N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2010. .

Yamashita Tomohisa's nickname is Yamapi. The Pi stands for the color pink and it was made while he was a Johny's Junior. You might be wondering what a Johnny's Junior is. Johnny's Entertainment has many talented and good looking boys that are wishing to debut. Before they can debut as a singer, they're all Johnny's Juniors. Johnny's Juniors are all boys who're getting ready to make their debut. While they're a Johnny's Junior, they form small, unofficial groups called "units" and play small roles in dramas. By doing this, they're trained and getting experience in many areas, which helps them when they make their official debut. However, not all Johnny's Juniors get to debut, only a few, most talented boys get to make their debut. Yamapi is very well known for his good looks all over Asia. In Korea, he's one of the most well known Japanese actor because he looks very similar to Kim Hyun Joong, a member of a very famous boy band, SS501.

Yamapi is very famous for his great acting in Japan. Almost all of his dramas were successful and he's called the next Kimura Takuya, who is a legendary Japanese idol, a member of SMAP. Since he's still fairly young, lots people have very high expectations on him. He has the perfect looks and the skills to become the next no.1 top star in Japan. I've watched many of his dramas: Nobuta wo Produce, Code Blue 1&2, Dragon Zakura, Buzzer Beat, and so on. His dramas are really great! I love Yamapi!

My Favorite Actresses in Korea and Japan!

Korea
1. Ye Jin Son
I really like how she has a pure and cute image. I really love her eyes when she smiles. If you're interested in her, you should watch her recent drama, Personal Taste. I really recommend this drama because it's really funny!

2. Ji Won Ha
She became famous all around Korea with the drama, The Bali Story. This drama actually created many famous star actors, such as: Ji sub So and In Sung Cho.

3. Se Kyung Shin
Se Kyung Shin is a rising young actress in Korea. She just turned twenty years-old this year. She recently starred in a really famous television show, High Kick Through the Rooftop. She made her debut in a music video of a legendary Korean pop singer, Taiji Seo in 1998.

Japan
1. Erika Toda
I really like Erika because she has a really pretty face, she's very good at acting, and she seems to have a very good personality. Compared to most Japanese women, her voice is low and husky voice. I think this makes her really unique actress in Japan.

2. Keiko Kitagawa
I think Keiko is the prettiest actress in Japan. I first saw her in a drama, Buzzer Beat and she was just gorgeous. Her long hair, big eyes, and small face made her look like a well made Barbie doll. She made her debut as a model of a magazine and slowly moved on to become an actress. Although she is not very good at acting yet, I think she has a lot of potential of becoming the number one actress in Japan soon. I'll be supporting her until then!

3. Yuko Takeuchi
Takeuch Yuko is actually not very young; she turned thirty years-old this year! However, she is still gorgeous. She is very famous for the movie Be With You.

Do You Like Classical Music?

"File:Nodame-Cantabile-banner.jpg - DramaWiki." DramaWiki. N.p., 6 July 2007. Web. 3 Apr. 2010. .
(Click picture for more information!)

If your answer to the question is yes, this will be a perfect drama for you. Even though you hate classical music, I recommend you to watch it because my perspective on classical music changed after watching this drama. This drama that I'm talking about is "Nodame Cantabille". This was originally written as a comic by a Japanese author due to it's popularity, it was made into a drama in 2006.

Synopsis: This drama is basically about a girl named Noda Megumi and a guy named Chiaki Shinichi who attends to a same university. Noda Megumi (Nodame) is a genius in playing piano but refuses to learn music theories. She wants to enjoy and learn music with her ears instead of reading the complicated scores and getting stressed while playing piano. She is a very cute, unique, and messy character. On the other hand, Chiaki Shinichi is a guy who seems to be perfect who secretly dreams of becoming a conductor. Even though Chiaki has all the talents, he has a bad memory about airplanes while he was young which makes him trapped in Japan. Which doesn't help him improve. Noda becomes to like Chiaki and because of him, Noda enters a piano competition which makes her improve tremendously.

I really like this drama because it has great amount of humor. The events that Noda and Chiaki go through and their relationship is very cute and funny. The video below is my favorite scene from Nodame Cantabile. It's Chiaki's debut as a conductor and it gave me goose bumps. I think this drama makes classical music entertaining. I actually thought classical music was boring but after watching this drama, classical music was more familiar and fun for me! I think it's a great drama!



This drama was a big hit in Japan and a movie version was released just a few months ago. I didn't watch it yet, but I'm looking forward to it!

Hottest Japanese Idol Star!

KAT-TUN is a very famous boy band in Japan. They are from the Johnny's Entertainment company (same entertainment with Arashi). There are six members of KAT-TUN and one of them, Kamenashi Kazuya, is one of the hottest Japanese idol star. He's one of my favorite celebrities too!

"Dann wird alles gut. :: ." Dann wird alles gut. :: . N.p., 16 Feb. 2009. Web. 29 Mar. 2010. .

Profile
Birth: February 23rd, 1986
Height/Weight: 172cm, 58kg
Debut: 2006 KAT-TUN single album "Real Face"
*2006 was when he made his debut as a singer. He actually started as an actor in 1999, when he was only 13 years-old!

"♥ AKAME LOVE ♥ - J-WEB PHOTO SHOP.." ♥ AKAME LOVE ♥. N.p., 19 Jan. 2009. Web. 29 Mar. 2010. .

He looks like a typical Japanese person which attracts me. The pictures above are captures of a music video of KAT-TUN's song "White X'Mas". I provided you with the music video below, if you wish to listen to the song!

Series. "Crunchyroll - Forum - actors and actresses in uniform - Page 2." Crunchyroll - Watch Naruto and Anime Videos free online. N.p., 1 July 2008. Web. 29 Mar. 2010. .

He starred in several very famous dramas in Japan, such as Gokusen 2, Nobuta wo Produce, Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge, and much more. Gokusen is one of my favorite Japanese dramas and Kamenashi played the main role with Akanishi Jin, who is another member of KAT-TUN. Akanishi and Kamenashi are known as Akame to the fans! It's a nickname for those two. I don't really like Akanishi Jin because he had many scandals with female celebrities and he sort of has a play boy image. Even though Kamenashi sort of looks cold and self-centered, when he smiles, he looks really cute and kind. I like how his face can change so much.


Kamenashi is a great baseball player too. He participated in a world wide baseball championship as one of Japan's representative in elementary school. When Johnny's Entertainment holds a sports day, Kamenashi always wins the MVP in baseball. He looks really good in a baseball cap! Due to his great interest in baseball, he's recently become an emcee of a sports news. He has so much talents!

KAT-TUN is holding a concert in Korea this summer. I'm really looking forward to it! However, since there are many fans of KAT-TUN in Korea, it's going to be really hard to get tickets for the concert. I hope I'm lucky enough to get a good seat for the concert.

Hana Yori Dango (花より男子)

As I informed you before in the previous posting, today, I'll introduce you to a drama that is very popular all around Asia. This drama, "Hana Yori Dango" was made in Taiwan, Japan, and Korea. The original story was made as a comic in Japan but as it became popular, it was made into dramas all over Asia. I'm a really big fan of Hana Yori Dango so I read the original comic and watched all the different version it. It's a really fun love story and especially entertaining for teenage girls like me!

Synopsis: "Boys Over Flowers" is a love story between a boy who seems to be perfect, who is from a very wealthy family (Domyoji Tsukasa) and a normal girl from a common low class family (Makino Tsukushi). In the drama, there are four boys called the F4, who are sons of very rich families. The leader of F4 is the one who falls in love with the very poor girl but there are many events that separate them from loving each other. The story is about a series of conflicts and hardships that the two main characters go through to reach their happy ending.

F4 (Flower Four) - Four boys who are from extremely wealthy families (most popular boys in the school).
1. Domyoji Tsukasa
He falls in love with Makino(the main character) in the story.


2. Hanazawa Rui He's Domyoji’s best friend but they run into a conflict because Makino likes Rui in the beginning of the story.


3. Nishikado Sojiro
Makino's best friend, Yuki's admirer. He doesn't believe that true love exists.




4. Akira Mimasaka
A member of F4.





This is a video comparing the actors/actresses and the scenes from the three versions!



My favorite version of Hana Yori Dango is the Japanese version. It had a beautiful scenes and actresses were very good in acting out their parts. On the other hand, some of the actors and actresses in the Korean and Taiwanese version weren't experience which made their acting seem very awkward.
This is one of my favorite scene from the Japanese version! It's really beautiful!


Hana Yori Dango is a very famous comic/drama all over Asia. I wish more people watch or read this fantastic dramas or comic. If you're going to watch the drama, I recommend watching the Japanese version! I hope you enjoyed!

I love 嵐 (ARASHI)!

"아 라 시." naver. N.p., 22 Jan. 2010. Web. 9 Mar. 2010. .

Today, I want to introduce to you my favorite Japanese boy band, Arashi. They were formed by a very famous Japanese talent agency named the Johnny & Associates, Inc.. Johnny & Associates, Inc. is well known to only promote boy bands (no girl groups are promoted from this company). Members of Arashi got trained from this agency since they were ten to thirteen years-old.

There are five members in Arashi, they are:

1. Sho Sakurai

"Sho Sakurai." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Mar. 2010. .

"사쿠라이쇼 인화사진." naver. N.p., 6 Feb. 2009. Web. 9 Mar. 2010. .

Sho is very well known for his intelligence. He graduated from Keio University, which is one of the top universities in Japan, while doing all the work as a member of Arashi. Since he is very smart, he also takes a job of an anchor in the news every Monday afternoon. It's really interesting how a singer could take a job as a new anchor. He says that he reads three newspapers everyday to be updated with new information for the news. I think he's doing a pretty good job. I proud of him!

2. Satoshi Ohno

"Ohno Satoshi." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Mar. 2010. .
"Satoshi Ohno - Nippon Cinema." Nippon Cinema. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Mar. 2010. . "오노사토시 수트." naver. N.p., 23 June 2008. Web. 9 Mar. 2010. .

Ohno is the leader of Arashi but he barely talks on television shows but he has a very calm personality which gathers all the members together. He is the oldest of all the members and he is very artistic, he even had an art exhibition with his own art work. His hobby is to go fishing, he says he goes fishing whenever he has free time.

3. Kazunari Ninomiya

"Kazunari Ninomiya." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Mar. 2010. .
"니노미야 카즈나리." naver. N.p., 10 Nov. 2009. Web. 9 Mar. 2010. .

He is very well known for his great acting skills. He even starred in a Hollywood film called "Letters From Iwo Jima" and was invited to the Berlin International Film Festival. He is also very good at playing baseball, his dream was to actually become a baseball player when he was young. I like him the most out of all the members of Arashi because he has a very cute face!

4. Jun Matsumoto

Valkyrie, akuya no. "Jun Matsumoto." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Mar. 2010. . Jin, Sun Kyung. "마츠모토준." naver. N.p., 25 Feb. 2007. Web. 9 Mar. 2010. .
"Love space." Love space. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Mar. 2010. .

Matsumoto is well known for his handsome face and fashion sense. He is also well known as "Domyoji", which is a character that he played in a very famous drama called "Hana Yori Dango (or Boy Over Flowers in English translation)". I really liked this drama! This drama is actually based on a very famous Japanese comic and it was formed into a drama three time already (once in Japan, once in Korea, and once in Taiwan). I'll tell you about this drama later on in my blog! Anyway, I like Matsumoto but he's not my favorite because he is not very good at singing. He has a nasal singing voice, which makes me frustrated sometimes. However, I really like him when he's acting!

5. Masaki Aiba

"Masaki Aiba." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Mar. 2010. .

"아이바 chou chou." naver. N.p., 6 Oct. 2009. Web. 9 Mar. 2010. . "아이바 마사키." naver. N.p., 1 Nov. 2009. Web. 9 Mar. 2010. .

Aiba is well known for his good personality. He always smiles and he is energetic all the time. When I look at him, he makes me feel happy! Aiba is the tallest of all the members of Arashi. He just finished filming a Japanese drama named "My Girl" a few months ago. I don't think the story of the drama was very entertaining but Aiba still looked really cute in it so I liked it!

Arashi is definitely the most popular group in Japan right now. They won first, second, fourth, and fifth place on the yearly J-pop chart last year and they have three television shows of their own.
1. Himitsu no Arashi-chan (ひみつの嵐ちゃん!)

<-----Click to watch
"Naver." Naver. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Mar. 2010. .
2. Arashi no Shukudai-kun (嵐の宿題くん)

<-----Click to watch
"Naver." Naver. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Mar. 2010. .

3. vs Arashi (VS嵐)







<-----Click to watch
"Naver." Naver. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Mar. 2010. .

This year, every song they've released was ranked number one on the J-pop chart and all the members are really busy with movies, dramas, television shows, singing, play performances, and more.

This is a new song by Arashi called "Troublemaker".

I really like this song! I think it's really cute which matches very well with Arashi's image. When I listen to songs by Arashi, it give me energy. I think that's the best part of Arashi and that's on of reasons that I like them.

I wish Arashi was interesting to read about! Ask me any questions or leave comments if you enjoyed this post or you're really interested about Arashi. I'll be more than happy to provide you some more resources!