Jo Hyun Jae

The pictures speak for themselves — no explanation required.  The last one contains fans’ birthday messages.  The bottle of liquor and the cookies are for Star N Hit.

As for the “medal” (first photo) — what do you think it is?  Use your imagination.

(Credit: http://cafe.daum.net/hyunjaelove; www.johyunjae.hk.  Thanks!)

Here are more birthday greetings (some of many) from JHJ fans all over the world — Japan, Thailand, Taiwan — posted on http://jo-hyunjae.com, CarpeDiemJAPAN, JHJThailand, JHJTaiwan, JHJHongKong.  We thank the creators of these lovely cards, most of whose names are on the pictures, except for #2 Maysatsuki, #3 Ivy-ivy, and #9 Tomopi.   Many thanks to their respective websites too!

Above are EVERjohyunjae’s birthday presents for Jo Hyun-Jae.  They include (as previously announced):

1.  Notebook (Samsung NT-R580) — 15-inch, red wine colour, top of the line.

2.  I-POD Touch 64GB (Apple – with MP3 and PMP [portable media player])

3.  Bose SoundDock Portable (speakers)

4.  Icewine (from the award-winning Canadian winery Jackson-Triggs)

5.  Cake, cookies, and Korean rice cake.

6.  For Star N Hit — cake, rice cake, and drinks.

EVER says this year is different from last year because JHJ is about to be discharged.  So they explored a lot of possibilities before deciding to get him something that would be of use to him in his professional and personal life.

They have also bought his discharge present — a Samsung cell phone — which they will send to him at the end of May.

But the most meaningful birthday present may be this:

These are the two (yes, two – one is not enough!) books of birthday messages from JHJ fans from all over the world.  (Our messages are in there too!)

The books are designed by a Korean EVER member who has spent a lot of time and effort on them, not to mention the translation by several other EVER members from different languages into Korean.  (All messages from wuliJHJ are already translated.)

These messages of love and support come from not only Korea but also Japan, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, Philippines, etc.  (etc. means Canada, U.S.A., Australia, England, Singapore, Macau – that’s us!)

JHJ must be so happy to receive these message books — they are the best birthday presents!

Also, names of fans/fan clubs that made contributions are written on a card and sent along with these message books.  EVER thanks everyone for their love and support for JHJ.

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

2010.05.09      21:41:24

Hello, everybody!  This is Jo Hyun-Jae.

Wish you all happiness!

어떻게 지내고 계신가요?

보내주시는 편지에 쓰여진 여러분들의 일상을 보면 잘 지내시리라 생각합니다.^^

아시다시피 오늘은 제 생일이었습니다. 제 생일에 맞춰 휴가를 나오게 되었네요.

제 생일때마다 매번 보내주시는 선물과 메세지들 정말 감사드립니다!

덕분에 즐거운 생일을 보내고 있습니다.

매번 이렇게 과분한 선물을 받아도 되는지, 전역해서 좋은 모습 보이도록 정말 열심히 해야겠다는 생각이 듭니다.

저는 군대에서 변함없이 새벽순찰 열심히 하고 있구요, 반복되는 생활을 계속하다 보니 지루하게 느껴지기도 하지만 어떻게보면 또 시간이 빨리 흐르는 것 같기도 하네요.

이제 정말로 전역이 얼마 남지 않았습니다.

그 동안 여러분들과 함께 카운트를 세어오면서 막상 전역이 다가오니 설레기도 하고, 여러분들께 다시 배우로 찾아뵐 생각에 긴장되기도 합니다.

모두들 건강하게 보내시고, 저도 마지막날까지 잘 하고 오겠습니다.

그럼 행복하세요!!

(Please also see our May 6 post: “CAFE’s birthday card”.) 

And here’s an MV wishing JHJ “HAPPY BIRTHDAY”, with the kid singing the birthday song in Korean.

(Credit: 1st photo by prissymom of wulijohyunjae; 2nd – Coffee of johyunjae.hk; 3rd – Ranta of CarpeDiemJAPAN; 4th – Chanjae of EVERjohyunjae.co.kr; 5th – CarpeDiemJAPAN; 6th – johyunjaeCHINA; MV by KK of johyunjae.hk.  Thanks!)

Here are your birthday messages for JHJ that we mailed along with our gift (which he received at the end of April.)  They are from Canada, U.S.A., England, Australia, China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines.  See your own?

We thank our translator for all the hard work she put into it.  After the last disastrous attempt (at Christmas) when I copied the Korean without realizing there should be spacing between certain words, this time I had the messages printed.  Your original message appears first, followed by the Korean translation.  Here they are spread out on my coffee table and I took the pictures with my idiot-proof camera (upgraded in preparation for June 19.)

We racked our brains about what to get Jo Hyun-Jae for his birthday.  We know he has said he likes hand-made things by his fans.  (We suspect he does not want his fans to splurge because of him.)  But since we don’t have any artistic talents, we did the next best thing and got him something hand-made (just not by us.)

The crystal ornament you see above is by Tittot.  (This photo is from their website.  Our present is so beautifully gift-wrapped that we don’t want to open it up to photograph it.)  We were first captivated by the amber colour and the pair of goldfishes, set on a rosewood stand.  Then we saw the words (each Tittot piece has a title and description in Chinese and English) and we felt: “That’s it!”  When you read the words below, we think you will agree that they remind you of JHJ’s song: “I spread my dream in the sky.”  This piece is called “Bottoms Up” (Please see explanation before Korean translation.) 

杯底嘸倘飼金魚                       Bottoms Up

酒酣耳熱                                    In a state of drunken rapture

說著杯底嘸倘飼金魚                  Call for bottoms up     

出盡年少氣盛豪情                      Displaying youth’s heroic ardor

暢談未來江山大業                      Easy talk of future exploits

多少年   多少月                          All those years   All those months

無論實踐了多少抱負                  Never mind how many realized ambitions

想著杯底嘸倘飼金魚                  Thinking bottoms up

再激起往日純樸無邪的情懷       Summoning again past state of innocence

也給衝刺的事業                         And give to surging business pursuits

一份現實和理想                         A measure of practicality and idealism

從前與現在溫情的觀照              Warm reflections on past and present

We want JHJ to understand what this is all about, so we got the words translated into Korean.  Our conscientious translator also did some research and discovered the Chinese version is really an old Taiwanese song with poignant meaning.  The Chinese title (in native Taiwanese) translates literally as: “Don’t keep goldfishes in a glass”, meaning “Don’t leave any wine in the glass” or “Bottoms up” (drink everything), because what’s left is enough for the goldfishes to swim in.  The suggested meaning is to be hearty, confident, cheerful, no feet-dragging, give it all you’ve got.

The contents of the song is about a man who has been drinking (actually a little drunk), thinking back on the splendour of his youth and looking forward to the magnificent exploits of the future, at the same time contemplating a critical juncture in his career, all set to ascend to a higher plane.  This is a young man christened and chastened by the passage of time, toiling along the passage of life, reminiscing on his simple, innocent past, and drinking heartily and cheerfully to his future.  Isn’t this more or less a description of our JHJ?

JHJ is 30 today (or 31, acording to Korean reckoning), about to be discharged from the army next month, and will be making a comeback in the Korean entertainment world.  We feel he is raring to go, and we wish him all the very best for today and always. 

원샷 = Bottoms up

술잔 안에 술을 남겨두지 말라고 한다

젊었을 땐 호기가 넘치던 때도 이야기하면서

미래의 대한 포부와 꿈에 대해서도 즐겁게 늘어놓아본다

세월이 얼마나 흘렀는지

인생의 포부가 얼마나 이루어졌는지

술잔 안에 술을 남겨두지 말아야겠다는 생각이 들었다

다시 지난날의 순수했던 마음이 끓어오른다

지금 전력투구하고 있는 사업에

현실적인 것 뿐 아니라 내 이상도 보태고 싶다

지난 시간들과 현재에 따뜻한 마음이 울려 퍼진다

And this is the birthday card we sent JHJ: it’s a singing card – it opens to the song “Combat Tactics.”  This is the only year we can send him such a card.  We hope he will have a little fun.  We signed it: “From your fans all over the world” (in English and Korean) — yes, that’s you…..and you…..and you…..and us…..we’re JHJ FANS WITHOUT BORDERS!

(Credit: photo of crystal piece from www.tittot.com.  Thanks!)

This is a message left on CAFE and EVER today by Star N Hit.

Hello, this is Star N Hit’s Assistant Director Bae Gi-Yun.

Winter is gone and spring has arrived.

How we have longed for the spring of 2010!  Not too many days left now.

First, yesterday we sent all gifts from fans for Hyun-Jae’s birthday and Parents’ Day# to his home.  Thank you very much!

We estimate that Hyun-Jae will be on leave anytime soon, so he should be able to open these birthday gifts himself. *

Hyun-Jae’s mother is very grateful for his fans’ warm wishes and asks us to convey her deep appreciation.

Those of us at the office also wish to express our sincere thanks for fans’ thoughtfulness.

Even though there are not many days of his military service left, Hyun-Jae is still, as always, conscientiously doing his duty.  He is doing well and is very healthy. 

He has often asked us to convey his gratitude to his fans and to inform them that he is doing well in the army and will complete his military service in a healthy manner and good spirits.  He will appear before his fans again in a new distinguished demeanor.

Once again, on behalf of Hyun-Jae and Star N Hit, thank you everyone for your love and support.

We will leave another message when there is more news.

The weather has been unstable lately and many people seem to have come down with the ‘flu.  So please take care!

# May 8 is Parents’ Day in Korea.

* This sentence has been added in our revised version (thanks to our translator.)

(Credit: http://cafe.daum.net/hyunjaelove; EVERjohyunjae.co.kr; johyunjae.hk.  Photo of 2009 birthday from CarpeDiem. Thanks!)

This video is a little “misty” — it’s like watching Jo Hyun-Jae through a mist while he is singing “I love you” at this birthday party in 2006.  The audio is also a little muffled.  But who cares?  We’re grateful to be given a glimpse into this exclusive event.

(Credit: name on video.  Thanks!)

Jo Hyun Jae fans give presents to all his camp-mates on his birthday 

The Korean fans prepared the birthday cake and all kinds of food, and the Japanese fans brought over 200 beautifully-packaged presents from Japan for JHJ’s camp-mates who were very surprised and really appreciated the gesture.

A Star n Hit official (JHJ’s management company) said: “JHJ is very moved by his fans’ ardour and sincerity. He pledges to fulfil his military duties to the best of his ability and return in good spirits and great health.”* Hong Kong? We asked around and still couldn’t find out who was so lucky to be there. His most ardent supporters celebrated JHJ’s birthday at a get-together in Hong Kong, so all the likely suspects can be ruled out. Who could it be?

(Photo courtesy of CarpeDiemKorea. Thanks!)

P.S. EVERKorea also has a photo of Jo Hyun-Jae cutting their birthday cake outdoors in the open air, but they do not allow it to be transferred. You can see the cake in our post of May 11 “More birthday presents from JHJ fans” (first one). It’s a different cake, equally coloured with the fans’ love, and JHJ cuts it with as much concentration and appreciation as he does the other one (shown above.)