It takes all sorts to make JHJ's world (3)

Since the feedback has been quite positive, I'll continue with my rundown of JHJ fans -- those I've had the pleasure (or displeasure) of knowing.

"E" is the very first JHJ fan that I came into contact with, but I've never met her. In early 2008 I saw her design of the 2008 calendar in a Chinese JHJ website. The photo that she chose for the cover (JHJ's Crencia photo) took my breath away. (See our 6/10/09 post "JHJ"s Crencia days" -- first photo on left (black-and-white.) I e-mailed her and asked to buy the calendar. This is the first time I wrote to a stranger. She wrote back and attached a file (of the calendar) -- free. I could not open the file and had to ask 4 different people on 3 continents before I could download it to a USB so I could make prints.

This is the start of a friendship that is as real as any in the flesh. Even though we are apart geographically, mentally and emotionally we are one -- in our shared love of JHJ (who has the capacity to draw people together.) "E" is a woman of character -- sensible and sensitive, warm-hearted and generous, creative and perceptive, a very talented artist with an eye for beauty (and young and beautiful too!) She also writes beautifully. She can see the essence of JHJ that even some enthusiastic fans miss, and she can express herself poetically but without any BS (Pardon my French!)

"E" has given me the most wonderful JHJ memento. On a boring day late last year, the doorbell rang and a courier delivered a package. I wasn't expecting anything, so I opened the tightly packaged box with no expectations -- and then I screamed in delight! I was staring at two big framed photos of JHJ and ME! Honest to God, yes, JHJ and me! If you've read my accounts of the Japan Fan Meetings in Osaka and Tokyo in June 2008, you'll know I had the good fortune to sit next to JHJ in BOTH group photos. (See our 2/28/09 and 3/3/09 posts "Diary of a star-chaser, Parts 2 and 3.") I had e-mailed the photos to "E" and she had cut out all the other fans and blown up JHJ and me, sitting side by side. These two photos are now among my most treasured possessions, so precious that I don't even display them. I take them out every now and then and pore over them, reliving those few heavenly moments of close proximity to JHJ.

When I started this blog, I asked "E" to design the header. The result is what you see here. She also designed our "wulijohyunjae" name cards -- another artistic creation. A pity we don't have many occasions to distribute them (since we don't socialize.) Not a day goes by that I'm not grateful to "E" for what she has done for us.

"F" is an enigma -- she is many identities on many JHJ websites. How do I know they are the same person? Because of her "footprint". She is obviously a very loyal JHJ fan. She takes the time and trouble to leave comments on several websites. She writes quite sensibly, most of the time. She talks very slowly and deliberately, and she has very definite ideas about everything JHJ. For example, she wonders if JHJ will get time off for good behaviour. I am a polite person, but at that I retort brusquely that JHJ is in the army, NOT in prison, and in the armed forces you serve your full term, unless you're dishonourably discharged. She looks shocked, and then she comes up with something equally inane. "JHJ should learn Chinese in his spare time in the army." I'm just beginning to feel a little sorry for being rude, but at that I blow up again: "If I were JHJ, the first foreign language I'd learn would be Japanese!" Anybody with any sense knows JHJ's most loyal and devoted fans (outside of Korea) are the Japanese. They buy everything JHJ -- all legal versions. Have you any idea how much "Seo Dong Yo" cost in Japan? Over US$800 for the full set! How many fans in other countries can afford to buy that? And of those who can afford, how many will actually buy the real thing?

I chide myself afterwards for being too harsh on "F". Anyone who loves JHJ deserves my respect and tolerance. In her unique way, "F" is actually a great admirer of JHJ. She really exhibits a lot of love for the actor by the way she leaves her footprints all over the place. Maybe she is the greatest JHJ fan of us all, in any case, the most unlikely.

"G" is my favourite Japanese JHJ fan. I first met her a year ago at the Japan Fan Meeting, actually at Osaka's Kansai Airport where she came to meet me and "A". I felt she was really going out of her way to be nice to us, strangers she's never met before, just because we're JHJ fans. For the next four days she acted as our translator, for which I was most grateful. We kept in touch and we have become friends. She too has her own website dedicated to JHJ and she works tirelessly to keep it going. She uploads lots of photos and videos (her own creations) to her site. She and her good friend "H" make a great team, rather like M and me. "H" doesn't speak much English (out of shyness, I guess), but she understands everything we say. "G" is more vivacious and outgoing, and "H" is more reserved and subdued. They are both bright and brainy (like so many JHJ fans), but "H" can come up with some brilliant ideas. "G" was teaching Japanese to foreigners last June and she had to find the perfect excuse to go to the fan meetings. "H" suggested she should say she had to attend a wedding as the "go-between". In Japanese society, as in many Asian societies, the person who introduces the bride and groom is much revered and is accorded a place of honour at the wedding. When I heard this, I roared with laughter. Only ingenious JHJ fans could dream up such an excuse for an important cause -- attending the fan meetings. "G" and "H" are also "fun" people -- we had a very enjoyable time together at the JHJ photo exhibition in Osaka in February. (See our first posts in February "We spent Valentine's Day with JHJ".) "G" and "H" are embodiments of modern Japanese women -- well-educated, well-travelled, cosmopolitan, intelligent, knowledgeable, efficient, sociable, but still retaining the traditional qualities of being ever so polite, gracious, elegant, and considerate. It is really a pleasure to know them.

I think it is wonderful that people of different nationalities can come together because of a common interest. JHJ is the most effective "ice-breaker" -- once we start gabbling about him, all inhibitions disappear, all divisions break down, all differences melt away. Don't you think our JHJ will make a great goodwill ambassador?

As my title says, it takes all sorts to make JHJ's world. Somehow he attracts all kinds of fans -- from the not-so-young to the not-so-old, from the smartest to the dumbest, from the sophisticated to the naive, from the intellectual to the mentally-challenged, from the witty to the humourless, from the selfless to the self-centred, from the extrovert to the introvert, from the visionary to the dreamer, from the sublime to the ridiculous (which just about sums it up.) He has this universal appeal and he inspires deep-seated affection and undying devotion in one and all.


(MAY BE CONTINUED)