Going back to Japan in a few weeks, I’m gearing up to start having to see Pe Yonjun everywhere again, and thusly hating him. Don’t know who Pe Yonjun is? He’s this Korean actor who pretty much every housewife in Japan wants to get with. He was the star of this Korean drama TV shown a few years back called Winter Sonata (冬のソナタ) and after that showed in Japan, every old woman went nuts. They also now have like tours and stuff for Japanese women to go to Korea and tour the locations from the show, drink the same vending machine drinks that Pe Yonjun did, and so on. I’m pretty sure no one in Japan who is not a 40+ year old married housewife likes him. I even asked Heson (Korean friend) one time, and the guy’s apparently not even that popular in HIS OWN COUNTRY. If you don’t know who he is, I think this will help summarize how much of a tool he is, and how much I disapprove of him and his scarf.

But the real reason for this blog entry wasn’t just to complain about how much I hate Pe Yonjun, although I wouldn’t be surprised if I would do that. No, the reason for this entry is to complain about how much I hate Pe Yonjun, and also the fact that he has officially assimilated into every aspect of Japanese pop culture. How do you gague this, exactly? Well, he’s referenced in variatey shows, stars in Japanese commercials, and they make all sorts of calendars and books with his mug on them. But they do that for everyone in Japan. No, the real kicker is when you appear in an episode of Pokemon. That’s right, this guy showed up in an episode of (Japanese) Pokemon that I downloaded the other day. His name in the episode is Hyuga, but it’s pretty obvious who he’s modeled after. They look him up on the Pokedex, and his nickname is the “微笑みのコンダクター,” the “Conductor of Smiles,” and has all these women cheering for him in the Pokemon tournament (although they messed up and the fans aren’t middle aged and married to salarymen). He talks effeminate, and brags about his 攻撃ソナタ (attack sonata). Wow I hate him so much.

Well, at least he loses his Pokemon battle.