Winter Sonata
I’ve been forgetting to add this to the last few entires, but Heather mentioned it in an email just recently and I thought Id say something. Weve been going to Maeda-sans house often since we arrived in Japan and she told us the previous GAP volunteers at the Cheshire Homes, Nicki and Anna, loved a popular Korean drama called Fuyu no Sonata` (Winter Sonata).
It first aired about two years ago at Christmas and still seems to be as popular even now. I cant seem to enjoy a shopping trip without seeing Chun-sans (one of the two main characters) face plastered over some beauty product or chewing gum packet!
So, for about two months now, weve been watching it with Maeda-san (she gives us a real-time translation of the dialogue, so we can enjoy it fairly unspoilt). At an hour an episode (trimmed down, too), and twenty of them, its pretty hefty. The basic plot is love been two young people (Chun-san and Yujin) which is halted rather abruptly by Chun-san being killed off in a car accident. (Nothing like killing off one of the two main characters only two episodes in o.O;;). We then re-join Yujin and her classmates in their lives some years later where the past events are dragged up again by the arrival of E-Minion, someone who looks exactly like Chun-san, but isnt. Well, thats about as much as I can say without spoiling the plot (unless Ive already made it sound so tacky that you wont even consider watching it now anyway :p). I think its pretty good; far better than the stuff Ive seen on English television, but then, I don`t watch a lot of dramas anway.
Keep an eye out for Chun-sans face or any mention of the drama in the U.K or America. Its so big over here that I wouldnt be surprised if it gets English subtitles in the future. I think a more current popular Korean drama here right now is Utsukushiki Hibi (Beautiful Days), but I havent seen any of it yet.
Mina-san, ja mata.