Jo Hyun Jae

2010.08.21    Tokyo

It’s nearly midnight now and I could hardly keep my eyes open, but I must write this post!  I am going to leave the Osaka fan meeting till later, but I have to tell you we just spent the last hour or so with Jo Hun-Jae — in the sky!

What happened was this — The Osaka fan meeting ended on schedule – at 6 p.m. – because there was no photo-taking with JHJ this year.  We had booked a taxi from the hotel to the airport because we remembered the mad dash in 2008 (fan meeting ended at 7:30 p.m. – overrun by 1 1/2 hours.)  We arrived at Kansai so early that we changed our flight to an earlier one.

We were originally scheduled to take the 10:10 p.m. JAL flight to Haneda Airport in Tokyo, but were now taking the 9:05 p.m. JL192 instead.  After a quick dinner we went to Gate 21 to wait for our flight.  At the entrance to the gates, we saw some JHJ fans we met earlier at the fan meeting who very agitatedly said over and over again: “Jo Hyun-Jae! Jo Hyun-Jae!”

I had no idea what they were saying.  Perhaps they were still under the spell of JHJ from the fan meeting.  Anyway we said goodbye and went in.  The first person I saw was JHJ’s boss Mr. K.  All of a sudden this verse by Shelley flooded my mind: “If winter comes, can spring be far behind?”  If Mr. K was here, could JHJ be far behind?

Sure enough, when we got to the gate, there’s JHJ with his entourage!  Could it be…..?  I asked one of the girls what flight they were taking, but she could not understand what I was saying.  I am ashamed to say I did something rude — I grabbed hold of her boarding pass and looked at it.  Oh my God!  Same flight as ours!

I inhaled and must have looked a little fanatic, because she immediately said: “No photo!”   I didn’t even have my camera out.  JHJ at that moment started walking to the other side of the terminal with the two young men.  B wanted to follow, but I said we’d just gone to the ladies’ room and I didn’t want to follow JHJ to the men’s room. 

Soon after we sat down, boarding was announced.  It was five minutes to ten and JHJ was nowhere to be seen.  Mr. K started to board and we did the same.  We didn’t want to miss our flight — we’re not that crazy!

After we sat down on the plane, JHJ boarded with Mr. Lee of SNH.  JHJ was in seat 3A and Mr. Lee in seat 3C.  Mr. K was 3 rows behind them on the other side of the aisle, and we were 3 rows behind Mr. K.  Configuration on the E170 was 2 and 2.

For the next hour we had a lot of fun observing JHJ from behind.  He was wearing a red, blue, and white checked shirt with the sleeves rolled up, stone-washed denim trousers with a khaki-coloured belt, and white surfsiders.  He kept fiddling with the fan above his head, so we could see he was wearing a stainless steel watch on his left wrist (possibly CAFE’s birthday present) and two leather bracelets on his right.

Drinks were served and we watched with eagle eyes what JHJ and Mr. Lee ordered — citrus drink — so of course we had the same.  Mr. K had tomato juice.  We admired every hair on the back of JHJ’s perfectly shaped head, giving new meaning to the phrase “watch my back”.  He ruffled his now slightly-permed-at-the-front hair a few times.  I was craning my neck so much (because the guy in front was big and tall) that I was afraid I’d become a giraffe after this!  

We thought the toilet was at the back, but we saw a man going to the front.  B of course followed suit — when she returned to her seat, she had to pass JHJ’s row.  Good thing she had the good manners not to stare.  I didn’t go; I felt it was too corny.

During the flight JHJ stared out of the window most of the time – which really puzzled us.  It’s pitch dark outside — what was he looking at?  I said to B: “We can’t see a thing from our window except black.  Aren’t we under the same sky?  Are there stars on JHJ’s side because he is a star?” which had her doubling over with laughter.

The one-hour flight was all too short.  As we were walking to the baggage collection hall, we were right behind JHJ and his group.  He went into the men’s; I had to go too, to the ladies, I mean.  I did it in record time because I didn’t want to miss him.  But I was much too fast!  We could not, did not want to linger.  We didn’t want to behave like stalkers.

While we were waiting for our luggage, JHJ and his entourage came along.  But we did not wait.  As we walked into the arrivals area, we saw about a dozen JHJ fans waiting for him, all with cameras poised.  I saw someone I recognized from the 2008 Japan fan meetings.  She told me she had been waiting for over an hour.

Next thing JHJ came out.  B said since everybody was taking photos, why didn’t you take one?  So I took out my camera, and the girl who said “No photo” to me at the gate in Kansai crossed her arms and said again: “No photo! No photo!”  Nobody paid any attention to her except me.  Everybody was snapping away like crazy.

I waited for JHJ to pass and just took a shot at his back. Only later on the limousine bus to the hotel did I realize “No photo” was meant for me, and me alone.  All the other women were Japanese, and the girl said “No photo” in English.  Did she think we were following them from Osaka to Tokyo?

JHJ didn’t sing “I spread my dream in the sky” at the Osaka fan meeting, but I’m humming the song all night.  Good night!

(Credit: 1st photo by sasara21 – Thanks! The rest by wulijohyunjae.)