Jo Hyun Jae

Dear Wulijohyunjae,

Hi~!

Today, we have an exciting news!!! ^^
We got back Ever mousepads from Hyunjae, on which there is Hyunjae’s signature.
Maybe he signed his own autograph before returning to his unit, packed and sent them himself. 
We intend to give them to you, Foreign Fansites.
You can feel his presence through them… ^^
We hope they may be nice presents which Hyunjae give to you.
 
Please be expecting them!!!
 
Everjohyunjae

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Wow!  That’s exciting news!  We’re so looking forward to receiving JHJ’s autographed EVER mousepad.  We will of course share it with you first thing.

JHJ wrote on the mousepad:  ~ Happy New Year!      Jo Hyun Jae      09.12.31

(Credit: EVERjohyunjae.co.kr.  Thanks!)

“Snowflakes are kisses from heaven.” ~ (Author unknown)

The day after the heaviest snow in many years here, my husband was going out to take some photos at the Forbidden City (Imperial Palace.)  “Wanna come take some more photos for JHJ?”  No, thank you, I’m not that crazy!  When I took that photo last week, I almost froze.  In any case, all photos have been mailed to EVER to send to JHJ.

When he came back, he looked a little sheepish.  “What happened?”  He said the snow was up to his calves but at least he could move, albeit with difficulty.  The car, however, got stuck!  So?  “So three young ladies helped push my car.”  Ha!Ha!Ha!  You’ve heard of heroes rescuing damsels in distress.  Now it’s three damsels rescuing a gentleman in distress!  He said: “Good thing you didn’t go, or your JHJ will only be able to see an ajuma icicle!”  Ajuma…..?  When did he pick that up?

Seoul which is more or less on the same latitude as Beijing has similar weather.  They also had the heaviest snowfall on record — 25.8 cm in less than one day on January 4!  Traffic on the ground was paralysed and many flights were delayed or cancelled.  50,000 soldiers and civil servants were mobilized to clear the snow from the streets.  Pocheon where JHJ is stationed is very near to Seoul and will have experienced similar snowstorm.  Our Corporal Jo could be shovelling snow somewhere right now!

Those of you who live in cold countries know snow is only beautiful soon after it has fallen (and before it is disturbed by man.)  As soon as it is mixed with dirt (e.g. exhaust from cars), it becomes slush — liquid mud, watery mire.  If I were waxing philosophical, I would say every fan starts with a pure heart of unadulterated love for JHJ — just like virgin snow.  But for one reason or another, ulterior motives set in and the nature of the feeling changes, mixed with ambition, pride, greed, jealousy, desire for control and power, and add wrath and sloth (How many of the 7 deadly sins are there?)  White becomes grey (I wouldn’t say “black” because I still believe in the goodness of humanity.)  Changing white into grey is easy, but changing back is not that easy.  Someone once asked: “Where does the white go when the snow melts?”  Where, indeed!

Let me end with some of my favourite snow scenes from JHJ’s ”Love Letter” and “Seo Dong Yo”.  The one of Seo Dong and the Princess building a snowman and having a snow fight is one of my all-time favourites in any JHJ drama.

(Credit: Photos from http://hyunjaelove.jp and http://chn.chosun.com.  Thanks! johyunjae.hk.) 

Hayley (from Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.A.)

who sent in this cute photo.  (See the JHJ CD she’s holding?)

Short list

Other JHJ fans whose works merit an honourable mention here are:

Laura (from Chengdu, China)

Mountains and glacier of Sichuan Province in S.W. China  — she actually took these photos herself!

Baidhz (from Singapore)

Fish-eye view of Singapore taken from the Singapore Flyer

Maria (from Beijing, China)

National Centre for the Performing Arts (“The Egg”) – an ellipsoid dome of titanium and glass surrounded by an artificial lake.  One of the new landmarks of Beijing (looks like an egg floating on water) — except you can’t see the water from this angle.  She’s holding JHJ’s photo album “Memories”.

Oeazz (from Bangkok, Thailand)

Rama VIII Bridge at night.  Stunning!

YLH (from Beijing, China)

Beijing National Stadium (“Bird’s Nest”) — designed for the 2008 Summer Olympics.  Sure you’re all familiar with this iconic structure.  Isn’t it gorgeous at night?

Ruby (from Huntington Beach, California, U.S.A.)

Nicknamed “Surf City” – the World Surfing Championships are held here every year.  You can see a surfer in the water in this photo of a beautiful sunrise.

Marise (from Ontario, Canada)

The Niagara Falls (in the background) requires no introduction, but it’s the rainbow that really makes this photo so special.

kkisok (from Macau)

Ruins of St. Paul’s Cathedral, built in 1612 and destroyed by fire in 1835.  Only the southern stone facade remains today — perhaps the most recognizable landmark of Macau, sometimes called the Las Vegas of the East.  What KK is holding is what was distributed at the Korea Fan Meeting in Seoul on July 19, 2008.  The Korean words mean: “Waiting!”  Remember that old song “Tie a yellow ribbon round the old oak tree”?

There are many more photos/postcards from all over the world — JHJ has so many international fans!  We have sent them all to EVER to send to JHJ.  We are sure he will be gratified to know he is so well-known worldwide.

This photos-for-JHJ event was originally meant for those fans who (understandably) could not come to our Christmas party in Hong Kong on Dec.26, but many who came also contributed.  We thank everyone who participated.  Your EVER mousepad is on the way to you, and in Hayley’s case, the EVER T-shirt and an exclusive WULIJOHYUNJAE souvenir too (as promised.)  Congratulations!

Everyone who participated in our campaign to send a photo/postcard of your city/country to Jo Hyun-Jae will receive an EVER mousepad (see photo above.)

We have received photos and postcards from Canada and the U.S.A., England and Portugal, Australia, Thailand, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Macau, Hong Kong, and many parts of China.

Tomorrow we shall reveal the winner of the EVER T-shirt — the JHJ fan who sends in the best photo (in our opinion.)

The EVER mousepad which is a beautiful consolation prize includes a photo of JHJ with these words written in 4 languages at the back (the other 3 are Korean, Japanese, and Chinese.)

Dear Member,

Thank you for being with us in Hyunjae’s absence.

We could stand against time because of your encouragement and confidence.

We hope we will have happier and more pleasant opportunities to meet you from now on.

Looking forward to next year [2010] to take the new leap for Hyunjae,

Everjohyunjae will always be with you for the rest of his military service.

(Many thanks to EVER!)

This card that we sent to JHJ recently has no graphics, just some border designs, so we have provided this photo from the 2010 calendar.

(Cover)

Wishing you
an uplifted spirit
and a lightened heart –

Wishing you
peaceful moment
and restful days –

Wishing you
the comfort
of knowing
you’re thought of
lovingly –

(Inside)

but most of all,
wishing you
lots of little reminders
of how special you are.–

Got up this morning to a world of white — it snowed overnight!  Still snowing.  Temperature here is -9 degrees Celsius.  Tomorrow it will drop to a high of -11 and a low of -21!  Just checked Seoul — it’s -6 degrees Celsius with a low of -10, not too bad.  My heart grows cold when I think of poor Corporal Jo patrolling with his army dog at 4 a.m. in this f-r-e-e-z-i-n-g weather! 

As I was watching the “2009 KBS Drama Awards” on new year’s eve, I kept thinking about JHJ.  So many actors he’s been associated with won awards:  Lee Byung-Hyun (whom JHJ professedly admires) won the Grand Prize; Andrea’s uncle Fr. Peter in “Love Letter” was Best Actor (overall); Andrea’s rival in LL (Ji Jin-Hee) won for “Best Actor in a mini-series”; Best Actesses in a medium-length drama were Kim Tae-Hee (JHJ’s 9-Tailed-Fox lover) and Koo Hye-Sun (Eun Jin in SDY); Popularity Award went to Na-Young’s husband in 3/1; Best Lovers were LBH and KTH (among others); Online Voters’ Favourites were LBH and KHS.  One of the female MCs was Lee Da Hae (JHJ’s Korean girlfriend in “Star’s Echo”.)  

These KBS drama awards are actually one of those “divide the pork” (Cantonese saying) ceremony — there are so many prizes that everybody wins something.  Every actor in “Iris” got to go on stage at least once, even KTH (whose acting has been criticized) who cried throughout her acceptance speech.  I was so afraid she would smear her heavy eye make-up, but she still looked very pretty when she was sniffling.

As I was watching, I kept envisioning the 2010 Awards — JHJ on stage, accepting one award after another!  His acting is as good as LBH’s and he and KTH are a better pairing as lovers.  All he needs is a good script and a good role to propel him to the front ranks.  He also needs to be more eloquent on stage.  All the actors who won that night talked non-stop (with or without a script.)   

The more I see of Kim So-Yeon (the North Korean agent in “Iris”), the more I like her.  She’s the other female MC and she looked absolutely stunning in the 4 gowns she wore that evening.  She’s tall and slim and looked very stylish and sophisticated in her bob.  She’s my choice now as the actress to star in JHJ’s first comeback drama, perhaps “Iris 2″?

I like Eun Jin in SDY and I used to think maybe she could make an acceptable girlfriend for JHJ.  But after seeing her dressed in a schoolgirl’s uniform at the awards ceremony (among all the other actresses in elegant evening gowns), I am so shocked at her lack of taste and decorum that maybe it’s not such a good idea after all.  JHJ with his perfect dress sense could have given her a few pointers.

From awards to calendars — I mentioned in yesterday’s post that we still have a few copies left, NOT because we’re stocking up in hopes of more sales.  A fan from Thailand ordered 5 copies but did not pay us (in spite of repeated reminders.)  I have half a mind to expose her here but decide instead to forgive her.  I have so many calendars now that even my bathroom is graced with JHJ’s presence (or rather his likeness.)  I told M that we should NEVER engage in business again, since we always suffer a loss.  She said you’ve said that before but every time some new JHJ souvenir comes out, you relent.  We know of at least one JHJ souvenir that will be released just before his discharge from the army, but we’re not telling!

3488!  Does anyone know what this means?  But you’ll have to be able to speak putonghua or Mandarin.  I just learnt this from the daughter of a friend of ours.  This is one of the many online shorthands that Chinese teenagers/youths favour.  The 4 numbers in putonghua or Mandarin sound like “Bye for now!”  ( 暂时拜拜)  So TTYL!  (Talk to you later — this I learnt from my niece in America.)  Learn something everyday.  This is what a management consultant I know calls “Add value” — used to be called “self-improvement” before the term is hijacked by consultants.  Does anyone have anything to teach us so we can keep up with the cyber world?

I remember when I was at school, every year around this time, the English teacher would make us take stock of the year that has drawn to a close and write about new year resolutions — how we are going to improve academically, be better students, form good habits, attend church daily (convent school, you know), etc. ….. B-O-R-I-N-G!!!!

Now nobody is going to make me write such essays anymore, but I’d like to launch into a topic that might make me a pariah in the JHJ world (as I have been warned.)  But the older I get, the more contrarian I have become.  So I’m sticking my neck out here, and if you find no new posts in the next few days, it means my head is no longer attached to my torso.

Has anyone ever wondered why the Official JHJ Fan Club is in Japan?  NOT (as one Hong Kong fan whimsically put it) because JHJ is a patriot and he wants to earn Japanese yen for his country.  Everyone knows there are two JHJ fan clubs in Korea — CAFE and EVER.  CAFE has a longer history (having been with JHJ from the beginning – since 2000.)  EVER has the advantage of an overseas fan base (their website is in 4 languages — Korean, Japanese, English, and Chinese.)  Each operates in its own way and may have problems cooperating.

I hasten to add I’m only speculating when I say that maybe it is impossible for them to compromise and join forces to form an official JHJ fan club in Korea.  In any case, it is a fact that the Official JHJ Fan Club was established in Japan in June 2008, just before the fan meetings.

From my observation, both CAFE and EVER are totally devoted to JHJ.  You can tell from the gifts they send JHJ every month since he joined the army in August 2008 that they go out of the way to cater for his every need — physical (all those goodies to eat and skin care products), intellectual (books and magazines), and even mental and psychological (cell phone cards so he can call whomever he wants, messages from fans on special occasions, etc.)

I remember how moved I was when I first read about how CAFE prepared meals for 5 people every single day JHJ was filming “Seo Dong Yo” — for 8 months!  And remember, many parts of SDY were filmed on location in remote parts of Korea.  Imagine the time, energy, and TLC (tender loving care) that have gone into such a long-drawn-out exercise, not to mention money.  I can’t even plan one week’s meals, let alone 8 months.

In June 2008 I attended the Japan Fan Meetings in Osaka and Tokyo with a Hong Kong fan “B”.  I didn’t know anything about CAFE or EVER then.  We were with CAFE, and “B” ran into her friend “G” (from Taiwan) who was with EVER.  “G” gave “B” the cold shoulder because apparently we were in rival camps. I remember thinking: ”How childish!”  Soon “B” and “G” were at loggerheads over several trivial issues (JHJ-related but really had nothing to do with JHJ), so that they were no longer on speaking terms by the time of the Korea Fan Meeting in July.

I went to the Korea Fan Meeting with JHJ fans from China and “G” and we were with EVER.  I  saw “B” who was with CAFE and we greeted one another but did not socialize.  After the fan meeting, CAFE and EVER had separate parties for the fans, including the overseas fans.  There was such comaraderie at the EVER party that it made me sad to realize that half of the JHJ fans were at another party.

And then in August to see JHJ off to the army I went with “G” with whom I was on good terms even though she and “B” were no longer friends.  I thought it was such a pity because in their own ways both “B” and “G” are very ardent and devoted JHJ fans.

Yes, you’re reading it right — I attended different functions under the auspices of CAFE and EVER.  Does that make me a two-headed snake? or a double agent?  Hardly!  I was then a novice in the JHJ world and I just followed the leaders.

Not only are there these two websites and fan clubs in Korea and Japan (apart from the Official JHJ Fan Club), in China there are also two major websites that are not on speaking terms with one another, and in Hong Kong too there are two JHJ websites that choose to ignore one another.  I don’t know whether this situation exists in other parts of the world where there are JHJ fan clubs.  Why is this so?  Turf war?  Personality conflict?  Small circle game?

We are all JHJ fans.  Why can’t we be friends?  Simple question but complicated situation, apparently.  We are members of both CAFE and EVER.  We have friends in EVER and CAFE.  We are on good terms with both, as well as with a dominant website in China and the one in Hong Kong, even though they are no longer friends.  We do not get involved in their “quarrels”; we are not interested in politics.  

We believe cooperation is better than competition.  We don’t like conflicts; we want to work with everyone.  We have no ego; we don’t aim to be #1.  We treat all JHJ fans as equals, whatever their nationality, colour, creed, age, sex, education level, financial standing (anything else?)  As long as they love JHJ, we welcome them to our blog. 

Perhaps it’s simpler for us because we are just a blog and not a fan club.  We want to be “far from the madding crowd.”  We don’t like getting up close and personal.  Even then we’ve discovered in the 10+ months of our existence that there are people breathing down our necks.  We may not bother people, but people won’t leave us alone.  There is a Chinese saying about a certain kind of person who hates the rich and despises the poor.   If we are floundering, they will not give us a second glance, let alone lend a helping hand.  But through sheer hard work we are not doing too badly (we even had a few scoops!) so we have become the beam in their eyes (biblical reference.)

Never mind, we just do our own thing.  The world is large enough for everyone.  Our new year wish is for the JHJ world to be one big happy family.  Is that too much to hope for?  United we stand!  Fighting!

(That’s the 2010 calendar above.  We still have a few copies if anyone is interested.) 

CarpeDiemJAPAN wishes all Jo Hyun-Jae fans HAPPY NEW YEAR!

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the Year of the Tiger (actually from February 14, according to the Chinese lunar calendar.)

(Credit: http://cafe.daum.net;  http://hyunjaelove.jp; http://blog.naver.com; http:club.brokore.com; www.johyunjae.hk.  Thanks!)

Happy New Year!

On this first day of 2010, we have a special treat for you — an original song dedicated to Jo Hyun-Jae composed by two of his fans — Zoe from China (lyrics) and Daisy from the Philippines (music), and sung by Ivy from the Philippines.

Zoe and Daisy met on EVER in 2007 and began to collaborate to produce this tribute to JHJ on his birthday.  When Daisy knew that Zoe loved John Lennon’s “Beautiful Boy”, she wrote this song and called it “Beautiful Dream”, set to a short poem that Zoe wrote.

Here are Daisy’s own words (which we hope she won’t mind our quoting):

Zoe!!!!  You opened it up for me.  Remember I told you that I stopped composing for years because of some heartaches?  Your musings which turned into a short poem started it all…..the words came from your beautiful mind…..the feelings from the beauty of your love for our beloved.  Our love for JHJ has turned this project into a reality, not to forget all the encouragement we got from our friends here.  

Beautiful Dream

A heart so soft, a heart so kind
A heart with joy and passion
What a beautiful being you are!
So beautiful to me.

My heart reach out so freely,
And flows with love, so purely,
How beautiful, the time we share!
Devoted, my heart to you will be!

(Chorus)
Some cease to dream
When all their dreams come true,
But I keep on dreaming,
Can’t stop myself and just begin
To dream of how beautiful you are!
‘Coz everything that do come true
Has come from dreams.

Some cease to dream
When all their dreams come true,
But I keep on dreaming,
Can’t stop myself and just begin
To dream–yes, (keep on) dreaming
You are my beautiful dream,
A fairy tale for me.

(Credit: Video from EVERjohyunjae.co.kr.  Many thanks especially to Daisy and Zoe!)