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Bae Yong-Joon is gentle, humble, sincere, and loyal. He is a man like a real man (おとこらしい おとこ). — Gan, questionnaire respondent [I like his] gentleness and politeness. He has something we Japanese have already lost. — Pan, 54, questionnaire respondent1 On April 4, 2004, a new word, “Yonsama,” appeared in the headlines of many entertainment and sports newspapers in Japan and South Korea: “Welcome Yonsama! 5,000 fans at Haneda Airport,” “Yonsama has arrived! Over 5,000 go crazy,” “Yonsama paralyzes Haneda Airport,” “Japan’s middle-aged women’s infatuation with Yonsama,” “Yonsama beats Beckham!” (Herald Kyungje 2004; J. W. Cho 2004a; Nikkan Sports cited in J. W. Cho 2004b; D. M. Park 2004; D. J. Lee 2004; Sankei Sports 2004). Many of these newspapers devoted their front pages to describing the welcome given to the South Korean actor, Bae Yong-Joon (BYJ), by the 5,000 “fanatic” Japanese fans that greeted him at the Haneda International Airport. The articles pointed out that most of the fans were middle-aged women.2 Many of these fans had arrived at the airport the night before BYJ’s arrival and had stayed up all night in order to find the best location from which to see him. Many of them had also brought gifts and flowers for him. Thousands of fans took photographs of him with their digital and mobile phone cameras. The evening television news programs reported the “intensity” with which these middle-aged female fans greeted BYJ and how many of them had eyes filled with tears while holding their welcome placards. Some of the media pointed out that the number of fans who welcomed BYJ was much bigger than the number of fans who welcomed David Beckham.3 Bae Yong-Joon has gained remarkable recognition in Japan after the South Korean television drama Winter Sonata was first screened on NHK in April 2003.4 In the next two years, the complete series of Winter Sonata was rebroadcast four times on NHK due to the overwhelming number of requests for reruns by viewers who mostly belonged to the middle-aged and older brackets (Heo and Ham 2005: 13). The third run was retelevised on NHK’s terrestrial television channel at 11:10 p.m. every Saturday.5 Even though this scheduled time was not 2 Bae Yong-Joon, Soft Masculinity, and Japanese Fans: Our Past Is in Your Present Body 36 Korean Masculinities and Transcultural Consumption the prime time, the average audience share for the series was 14.4%, which was double the shares for other programs showing in the same time slot. Its shares peaked at 22.2%, which was the highest share achieved by a drama series aired in Japan at that time (Chae 2005: 10).6 The enormous success of Winter Sonata in Japan has created what is known as “the Yonsama syndrome.” This refers to the popularity of Winter Sonata’s main actor, Bae Yong-Joon, among fans. Yonsama is an appellation that is a combination of BYJ’s name, Yong, and the Japanese word, sama. Normally, in the Japanese context, sama is used to address royalty and aristocrats and connoted respect for members of these classes. In this regard, Yonsama can be translated as “Prince Yong” or “My Dear Lord Yong” and indicates the immense respect that Japanese fans have for BYJ. Japan’s prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi, even once commented on BYJ’s popularity among voters: “I would like to emulate Yonsama to become a Junsama” (C. D. Lee 2004). In relation to the phenomenon of the celebrity, Francesco Guardini has suggested that a “new form of monarchy has emerged in our time.” He has argued that sports stars, singers, film actors, and supermodels are like new kings and queens and that they operate like a new aristocracy (quoted in Ndalianis 2002: vii). In 2004, Yonsama became a new king of popular culture in South Korea and Japan. The Yonsama syndrome has opened up a new era of the Korean Wave (Hallyu) in Japan, drawing attention not only to South Korean popular culture but also to South Korean traditions, food, and language. The popularity of BYJ created a new attitude to South Korea in Japan and many Japanese became interested in learning about South Korea and its culture. This new attitude is different from the established attitudes held by Japanese towards South Korea. These conventional attitudes were largely created by the media which had presented certain images of South Korea. For example, during the 1980s and...

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