I saw JHJ on his birthday!

This is one of several messages left on CAFE and EVER after Jo Hyun-Jae's birthday on 5/9/09 by those fans who were lucky enough to go to his camp to celebrate his birthday with him. This is by a CAFE fan (the original is very long, so we have abridged it but retained the essence.)

This Korean fan took two days off to go to Seoul and stayed with a friend. The first part of the message detailed how they made seaweed soup for Hyun-Jae. (It is a Korean tradition to have seaweed soup on one's birthday. See our earlier post "Birthday presents from JHJ fans".) Let her tell the rest in her own words:

Because we were going to a military base, we could not use GPS (global positioning system). We brought a lot of food for Hyun-Jae and his camp-mates. On the road to Pocheon (Editor: where JHJ's camp is located), we kept thinking: "Wherever Hyun-Jae is, that's like home to us."

We wondered what Hyun-Jae looked like now: Is he healthy? Is he tanned? But when we finally saw him face to face, he looked just like before -- his skin was as fine as ever. He looked very fit and healthy; life in the army obviously suited him.

Hyun-Jae was very happy to see all the food spread out before him. "I don't know where to begin eating," he said, obviously very pleased. We asked if he had seaweed soup yet and he said No. (If he had not been in the army, his mother would have made it for him.)

These are Hyun-Jae's own words: "Many, many thanks! I really appreciate what you send me every month -- all the supplies of daily necessities and snacks. Life in the army makes me very strong and healthy." (He was very sincere when he said this, as I'm sure you can imagine.)

I asked if he had put on some weight, and he replied: "Strangely enough, I still weigh the same."

I looked at the name tag on his right breast, and I wish you could imagine how smart our Private First Class Jo Hyun-Jae of the Korean army looked.

His management company promised to send us photos taken on his birthday. Everybody is waiting for Jo Hyun-Jae's latest photos -- very, very handsome! His fans cherish his birthday more than their own.

Thank you very much, all Jo Hyun-Jae fans!
Thank you too, Japanese and overseas fans!


EDITOR: Since you can't see his "very, very handsome" latest photos (we had to remove the post), we can only give you this narration/description. Use your imagination, as the writer keeps saying. But "a picture is worth a thousand words" (Sigh!) We can assure you, however, that Jo Hyun-Jae really looks very healthy and bright in his army uniform. He "seems" to have gained a little weight (his cheeks are fuller), probably a result of his quitting smoking in early 2009. He looks every inch the soldier but also the same JHJ who said farewell to his fans on 8/5/08.

(Thanks for the translation into Chinese, bpkwon of ING)