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So I was watching SBS Star King. The MCs and the boys spent much of the interview talking about their experiences in Japan, both recent and when they were first starting out. And it was this part towards the end that I found most touching:
Jaejoong: with "O-Jung-Ban-Hab", we had achieved a grand slam at awards on all networks... But after that, not even a week later, we went to Japan, and at a university hall. In front of less than 100 people.
Yunho: in a way, we got popular faster than expected, but when we went to japan... at 1st, there were things that didn't work out even though we tried so hard. Even the language... we wanted to do so well, but... no matter how hard we worked, it wasn't easy to get good opportunities...
Junsu: actually, until we performed at budokan, about 2 years (after first arriving in Japan), we didn't know why we had to work in japan. To be absolutely truthful, there was a feeling that we did it only because we were told to. And all 5 of us even talked seriously about giving up. But we were lucky enough to meet a great staff, and somehow we got to budokan. And when we were singing the finale song, all 5 of us felt the same thing: "let's try it once."
MC: "we can do it."
Junsu: "let's give it a go." We didn't know how far we'd reach... We even knew that where we were could be as far as we could go, but let's do our best. We felt this for the 1st time. And all 5 of us thought, "let's try it. Let's pursue this until the end." (translation from here)
They've mentioned it before, how difficult it was adjusting in Japan when they barely knew the language and when very few people even knew who they were, but never in nearly this much depth.
It's little things like this that remind me why, exactly, I've stuck around this fandom for so long; because even though I spend 99% of my time on here & LJ fangirling over their looks or YunJae or Jaejoong's arms or whatever, I sincerely do have a tremendous amount of respect for the boys. They're strong people, much stronger than I; they've all been through so much, but they never let themselves be defeated by those experiences. They seem almost untouched by the stark ugliness they've encountered over the years, and I can still very clearly see the bursting, twenty-something-year old boyness in all of them underneath their glossy exteriors. They're so alive in a way that so many people, celebrity or not, just aren't, maybe never will be.
This concert finale, the one mentioned in the interview, is that much more meaningful to me now. Gah, I don't know. I love them. ;___;♥
