Wednesday, June 23, 2010

View Towards Kankoku (Korea)

     "What a great concert Rain gave at Zepp Tokyo last night," reported obaasan (grandmother) of five at English Conversation group. Unlike capacious Tokyo Dome that can accommodate thousands, Zepp Tokyo is the intimate club where I watched Bob Dylan croon before hundreds of fans a few months ago. Just two eigo (English) speakers in cream colored cardigans stepped out of rain soaked shoes this week at 11:02, with apologies for late arrival, as the three absentees were out of town this Wednesday. Pop idol Rain (born Jung Ji-Hoon in South Korea) has been included in People magazine's Most Beautiful People issue. Popular Korean imports in Nihon are soap operas and pop stars.

    "Rain is so sexy, although I was embarrassed when he removed his shirt," obaasan elaborated about the 28 year old singer. What is his best feature? "He never had plastic surgery the way other Korean singers do to  make their eyes rounder," she replied, explaining that plastic surgery is widely available in Seoul. "Asian pop stars want to appear more Western and most of them have their eyes done, but he is natural." Did she go alone to Zepp Tokyo? "My friend who likes Rain got the tickets, which were standing room in front of the stage," she said, referring to the mosh pit. Although she worried that standing for 90 minutes would be tiring, staring at her pop idol erased all fatigue.

    Not far from the Manor the South Korean Embassy stands behind a tall gate on Sendaizaka, typically guarded by a battalion of policemen. On weekends organized protests in the form of sound trucks festooned with hinomaru (Japanese flags) drive to the embassy to broadcast anti-Korean views through megaphones and blast military music. "Have you noticed that there are fewer police by the Korean embassy in recent times?" whispered tomodachi san.  Hai, I thought perhaps it was too early in the day for guard duty when I last walked by. Is this reduction a sign of government cutbacks due to the financial crisis, or is it a deliberate message to South Korea?

  

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