The popularity of Korean actor Bae Yong Joon, 38, shows no signs of abating with 4,000 fans greeting him upon his arrival at Haneda airport on Sunday. Bae, affectionately known as Yon-sama in Japan, arrived at Haneda's new international terminal at around 11 a.m. for his first visit to Japan in 14 months.
The first fans showed up on Saturday morning. By Saturday night, more than 100 people were waiting. The rest swarmed the airport early Sunday morning. A roar burst forth from the crowd of mostly middle-aged Japanese women when Yon-sama finally appeared in the arrival lobby. It took him about 5 minutes to walk along the 100-meter concourse, as he stopped to accept flowers and greet fans.
Bae is in Japan to take part in the "Message! to Asia" event at Tokyo Dome on Dec 14.
© Japan Today
21 Comments
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papigiulio
I really CANT stand this douche with his long hair and girly smooth face. But good on him, 4000 obaachans to cheer him on. heh
thetruthhurts
His fan group does certainly seem to be limited to a certain age group. Good on him for making the most of his fame though. Nothing wrong with making people happy.
moonknightskye
WHAT???? they waited from early saturday morning just to greet him the next day??? oh no... atama daijoubu?
BurakuminDes
Lock up your grandmothers - Yon-Sama's in town!
LoveUSA
so sweet and adorable!
goddog
Obatalian parade.
porter
Its mind boggling.
bicultural
goddog, thanks for the laugh. I haven't heard the word "obatarian" being used since ... the 90s?
nath
I wonder whether he is still very popular in South Korea...it would be funny (typical?) if these days he was in much more popular in Japan than he was in Korea, where these days his star might be waning. A quick look at his Wikipedia pages in English, Japanese and Korean, points to that as a strong possibility. He hasn't done all that much recently it seems, his recent credits are Japanese eyeglass commercials, and his J-wikipedia page is longer than the one in Korean...A little behind the curve, Obatalian--but what can we expect from you?
Jechan
4000 lame housewives with nothing better to do, and i bet they'd all scoff at the thought of buying korean made products...
HermioneGranger
Wow.. all of these housewives. Wonder what happened to their kids and husbands while they were off at the airport ogling another man. :/
And another thing.. how did they know that he was coming at all, much less exactly when his flight was? Do they publish these things publicly?
nath
@HermioneGranger "Wonder what happened to their kids and husbands while they were off at the airport ogling another man"
They weren't missed, I would guess.
And I've heard that Yon-sama's PR people make a point of letting his rabid fans know exactly when he arrives in order to create these kind of events, and buzz. Real stars from abroad usually keep their itineraries a secret in order to avoid this kind of thing, which is an annoyance and possibly an inconvenience to normal travelers. I think it tells you something about Yon-sama. Something icky.
Badsey
Having that many "fans" is a tremendous responsibility and I am sure Yonsama has "suffered" and aged from the process. His style seems kind of rushed however and I must blame his handler for his poor clothing choice.
whiskeysour
he looks like MJ
nonsibi
Is he not single?
tokyotom
housewives, my @#ss, they are babas, thinking that somewhere in the world there are young boys who will treat them like queens
kamonochoumei
If people paid a little more attention to their own children instead of someone else's, Japanese society might improve. Look at the number of times children are hurt in fires (see the news on Kyoto early this morning) when no adult is home. I doubt mom was waiting for Yon sama in that case but the incident is indicative of a widespread attitude. Men are just as guilty of it, prioritizing the workplace to the detriment of the family.
LoveUSA
I know some fans of his, they say his face looks kind, calm and handsome. Many women have boring lives, they want to meet an ideal, kind, caring and sweet man like him. And we must say that he really looks handsome and caring to his fans. Many men are jealous of him because they cannot attract the attention, admiration and the love he has. He is a good actor too. I liked the Untold Scandal (remake of my all time favourite Dangerous Liasons) and Have we ever loved.
mrsynik
Does he have a huge collection of granny undies thrown at him like Tom Jones does?
tokyotom
sniff sniff
LoveUSA
yeah, most probably he has never told to a woman that she was fat or ugly, that is why he has so many women fans, because he is kind and gets kindness in return.