dreaming with the 'Rain'...

Rain says "I will be a wonderful Rain that everyone is proud of".

2007-09-01T22:49:00.000-07:00

The super star who is filming in Germany brought this message "To be a glorious Rain" to his fans.
Source: Starnews Á¦º¸ ¹× º¸µµÀÚ·á star@mtstarnews.com
Chi translation by lovebi_rain@Baidu RAIN bar
Eng translation by jjbug@rain-malaysia

In Aug 13 afternoon, Rain left a message with the title "Hi everyone, I'm Rain" to greet his fans.

"It's been a long time to send regards to you all. I heard it rains quite often in Korea these days... So you all must really take good care, okay? Health is always the most important." After the greeting, Rain also described his recent life, "I stay in Berlin for filming. Working with nice people is an interesting and marvellous experience to me. So I'm feeling good."

In addition, he told his fans, "It seemed like the 5th fanmeeting just ended recently but indeed it was 5 months ago. After some time, I guess I can meet the new family members from 6th Cloud [jj: DING!! rool: Boss are you trying to hint the opening of CLOUD membership soon?!] I feel sorry for everyone because I can't keep in touch with you all. However, our Cloud family will always be my strength anytime and anywhere. I hope Cloud family is caring and liking each other. Well I seem to hear your encouragement although I'm far away in Berlin. I really miss you all."

"I will be your Rain, that you are always proud of. Please continue to concern and support me." And Rain ended his message.

Rain flied to Berlin from USA in the end of June for the filming of Wachowski brothers' movie .

In the end of this month, Rain shall finish his filming and returns to Korea to finalise several issues such as his agency.

International super star Rain expressed his eagerness to the movie

2007-09-01T22:44:00.000-07:00

Source: Sportshankook & Daum
jjstar@sportshankook.co.kr
Chi translation by lovebi_rain@Baidu RAIN bar
Eng translation by jjbug@rain-malaysia

In the recent telephone interview by Sportshankook, Rain initiated the topic himself "I heard the movie is very nice, and would like to know more about it..." Rain said. "It is said this movie is 100% CG done by Koreans... It's incredible. I really look forward to what kind of movie is that..."

Now Rain is in the middle of filming Hollywood move . With his delighted tone, "I enjoy the filming. I stay in perfect health, too. Lots of things to tell when I'm back to Korea."

Since the beginning of July, Rain stayed in Germany. Although he did not have the chance to watch , he learnt the popularity of "D-War" from internet. Rain keeps in touch with his manager everyday to keep updated about the news in Korea.

In which including the news about is meant to target at USA market. Since Rain is also a newbie in Hollywood movie, he will highly concern about "D-War" which will be screened in USA

Rain cooperates with Wachowski brothers in the movie "Speed Racer" and he learnt to adapt the new environment. Without the manager, Rain is only accompanied by a bodyguard who is also his English teacher and did his very best in those action scenes.

Although Rain's support came from overseas, the box office of exceeded 5 million audience in the 11th day of screening. The movie distributor, Showbox released that this movie has attracted 5.12 million people until August 11 and it is the best box office for Korean movie in this year.

With such trend, it is likely that the total audience for this movie may exceeed 10 million and shortlisted as the top 10 box office like "The Host", "King's man".

07.08.09 Rain's next move will be disclosed in the end of August

2007-08-10T19:18:00.000-07:00

Chi translation by lovebi_rain@Baidu RAIN bar
Eng translation by jjbug@rain-malaysia
From:RainVietNam

'Being independent'? Oh well, Rain's future development shall be disclosed in the end of August!

Rainy Entertainment is the company setup by Rain's father before his contract with JYPE ended.

Rain is going to make official statement about his future move in the end of this month. In recent, the rumours such as 'being independent' 'one-man enterprise' kept annoying singer Rain.

In 9th August afternoon, the spokesman of Rain said, "Rain is in the middle of filming in Germany. He plans to come back to Korea in the end of the month and speaks about his future move."

Not long ago, singer Rain mentioned that he would decide his agency after the curtain-call of his world tour concerts. However, due to the cancellation and postponement of USA concerts, Rain became more cautious about the agency issues and his decision was delayed again and again.

"Because of his registration as a director in Rainy Entertainment, the rumours spread around. And so, he decided not to delay the announcement about his future plan." The spokesman said, "So when he's back, he will sort out his thoughts and make a clear stand."

Rain's registration as a director in Rainy Entertainment was recently revealed by the Korean media. As a result, people were guessing 'Is he going to start up his own company?'. In fact, this company was setup by Rain's father in year 2006 and before Rain left JYPE.

"Rainy Entertainment is just an office to handle some admin works for Rain temporarily. Please do not make any unnecessary conjecture."

Rain Takes Part in Anti-Human Trafficking Campaign

2007-08-10T19:16:00.000-07:00

KBS Global
9-Aug-2007

Original source: http://english.kbs.co.kr/mcontents/entertainment/1471400_11692.html

Korean actor and singer Rain will take part in an anti-human trafficking campaign with the help of global music network MTV and the U.S. Agency for International Development.

MTV and the U.S. Agency for International Development will produce a 30-minute documentary in eight languages, in which international stars will take part in narration. Korean superstar Rain and popular Thai singer Tata Young will narrate in their native Korean and Thai, respectively.

The documentary, slated for broadcast in September, aims to warn viewers around the world on the danger of human trafficking and educate consumers on how to counter businesses that exploit and traffic human beings. Other related short films and public advertisements will be produced and broadcast over the next year.

Rain recently said he was honored to be able to take part in MTV's EXIT campaign that aims to fight human trafficking. He went on to point out that the sad reality of human trafficking is that most of the victims are women and children. He also said he wanted to be of help to those fighting human trafficking.

Since 2004, MTV's EXIT campaign succeeded in promoting anti-human trafficking awareness in Europe. It went on to expand its campaign in the Asia Pacific region. Hollywood stars such as Angelina Jolie and Helena Christensen took part in the European campaign.

07.08.03 RAIN "Please do not explain further" (i.e. don't add in any self-interpretation)

2007-08-10T19:14:00.000-07:00

Source: Newsen
Chi translation by lovebi_rain@Baidu RAIN bar
Eng translation by jjbug@rain-malaysia
From:RainVietNam

Rain himself emphasized, "Regarding my registration as a director in Rainy Entertainment, please do not elaborate the understanding (do not add in any self-interpretation)."

So, is singer RAIN going to learn his senior, Bae Youngjun to develop independently with his one-man enterprise?

It was said Rain recently started up a new agency called Rainy Entertainment. In the understanding of some people, it is equal to the model of one-man enterprise for Rain to develop independently in the future.

Therefore, the spokesman of Rain explained, "Rainy Entertainment has nothing to do with Rain's registration as a director (?). It is an office setup before Rain confirmed his agency and we faced the questions during renting 'What is the office for?' So we just simply put the name 'Rainy Entertainment'. In other words, Rain as a director is not related to his contract with other agency in the future."

On the other hand, the spokesman also voiced out regarding the shareholding relationship between Rain and WHITE, "No working relationship with WHITE so far. He would like to withdraw his shares but it seemed impossible. The data shows he owns some of the shares and that's all."

"Rain's father submitted his resignation and hoped his request was accepted." The spokesman commented about the issue where Rain's father is a director.

"All the issues about new agency will be announced officially when Rain is back to Korea around August 15." By then, Rain will finish his filming in and returns from Germany in the mid of August.

Shareholding company named "RAIN"?

2007-08-10T19:12:00.000-07:00

Source: Herald Media
Chi translation by lovebi_rain@Baidu RAIN bar
Eng translation by jjbug@rain-malaysia
from:rainvietnam

Rain made clarification about setting up his own company, "It was actually set up by my father." So, is it possible for "Rain's shareholding company" to exist?

In recent, singer RAIN expressed his intention to settle the shareholder relationship with WHITE (in which Rain is the biggest shareholder). Very soon, Rain's registration as a director in Rainy Entertainment was revealed. Therefore, regarding the possibility "Is Rain going to setup a one-man entreprise like Bae Youngjun", there's high chance for it to happen.

Nonetheless, the people who are close to Rain commented, "It still takes some time to confirm if Rain will really do this."

"About the rumour 'Rain setup his own company after being independent, and the company is Rainy Entertainment', it isn't truth. It is a rumour without any evidence." The relevant personnel explained. "In fact, Rain's father started up this company and managed it before Rain left his ex-agency, JYPE."

The relevant personnels said similar comments. When Rain's contract with JYPE ended, it was about the same time his world tour came to the curtain-call. They recruited a few staffs to handle some basic management and these staffs need a space to work. Hence, they just simply use the name of Rainy Entertainment when renting the office place in Seoul.

However, 'Rain's shareholding company' is still possible to exist. Rain is estimated to announce his future planning around mid of August. The relevant personnel of Rain's office said, "We can hardly tell anything now," "Everything is under discussion, so every possibility stands a chance."

Rain is now filming for in Germany. He shall be back to Korea in the end of August or mid of September.

Rain released his personal photos in Berlin for the first time and he looks relaxed

2007-08-10T19:09:00.000-07:00

Source: Starnews by reporter ±è¿ø°â
Chi translation by lovebi_rain@Bidu RAIN bar
Eng translation by jjbug@rain-malaysia

Top star RAIN, his photos captured in Berlin were disclosed.

In the afternoon of August, Rain's fansite uploaded some casual photos of Rain, which he captured in Berlin streets.

According to the spokesperson of Rain, these photos were taken in the past weekends. Rain released these photos as his fans are curious about his current situation.

From these photos, Rain rested in the open-air bar near the streets in downtown, or like a mischevious kid showing funny gestures in front of the statue. He seemed to enjoy his life even though he's busy.

Rain flied directly from LA to Berlin in July to participate the filming of Hollywood movie .

Rain said now he is tied up by the tight filming schedule and he needs to keep silent about all movie info. His contact with external world is constrained, too.

Rain will play the role of oriental car racer, Taejo Togokhan in . His role is one of the key persons.

Rain will be back to Korea in the end of this month after his filming finished.

Rainy Entertainment

2007-08-10T19:08:00.000-07:00

Source: Hankooki
Chi translation by lovebi_rain@Baidu RAIN bar
Eng translation by jjbug@rain-malaysia

Very soon, Rain will begin his own journey.....

"I've become a director (members of the board)." This sentence was written by the reporter, not said by Rain himself.

Two months ago, Rain registered himself as the director in Rainy Entertainment. The chairman of the board is his father. This 'one-man' style enterprise is indeed very eye-catching.

After actor Bae Youngjun, singer Rain is also working on 'one-man style enterprise' and this fact is recently revealed.

The info was verified. Rain changed his registration on June 29 and a share holding company, i.e. Rainy Entertainment was set up and Rain is the director. Based on the exclusive info received by Sportshankok, Rainy Entertainment is an entertainment enterprise which was registered with 50 million Won.

Whereas about the business properties, the record shows:
- album producing and marketing
- musical publication
- artist related entertainment issues, etc.

Since Rain is the director, the company was registered with a name related to his nick. Therefore, this company is predicted to be related to Rain's entertainment career, the management is either directly or indirectly.

Although Rain is the director, it's not sure he will participate in the company management. The person incharge of Rainy Entertainment said, "The registration is meant to build an agency, so this is only a small part of the whole big picture."

So coincident that Rain voiced out in July 31 that he would end his shareholder relationship with WHITE WORLD, in which he is the biggest shareholder. And hence, people are getting curious about Rain's role in Rainy Entertainment. The person incharge commented regarding this issue, "There are rumours using Rain's name to affect the stock situation. Rain stands with the small investors and considered they might experience losses because of this, that's why he quickly requested to sell out his shares in WHITE."

Rainy Entertainment recently gained the copyright of "RAIN" from his ex-agency, JYPE. Since the setup of entertainment agency and through its career planning, it is said Rain is getting ready for his Korea and overseas activities.

"It's not the right time yet to reveal the concrete conditions. However, the copyright issue is perfectly solved because of the unique relationship between JYP and Rain."

It is predicted that Rain's future planning can be quite close to Bae's one-man enterprise. Bae owns 4.2 million (33.3%) shares of a listed company called Key East and he is the biggest shareholder. The current stock situation is not so well but the daily value is worth up to 568 hundred million.

Well since Rainy Entertainment was setup, will Rain be another Bae Youngjun, who will increase the value of his company by getting it listed in stock market and therefore be another king in music industry? Let's see.

At this point of time, Rain focuses on Wachowski brothers' movie . He will be back to Korea in the mid of August.

Full House Season 2 in the Making

2007-08-10T19:05:00.000-07:00

KBS Global
Original source: http://english.kbs.co.kr/mcontents/entertainment/1469588_11692.html 1-Aug-2007

Season 2 of the hit KBS drama series 'Full House' is in the making.

Park Chang-sik at Kim Jong-hak Production says "Jo Jeong-hwa has been working on the script for a year and the script is ready for the 3rd episode so far. Overseas shooting is also under review."

Casting will begin this year and the drama will be filmed and aired next year. The director has yet to be decided.

Park says "The first series in 2004 was beloved at home, in China and Southeast Asia so that many Asian broadcasters offered to produce their own series. A well made season 2 could hit it big at home and abroad. It's unclear whether Rain and Song Hye-kyo will be recast."

Full House, which ended airing in September 2004, was based on a popular same-titled Korean comic by Won Soo-yeon about a trendy young couple's love story. Rain and Song were touted as the most lovely drama couple.

Rain to Return in August

2007-08-10T19:02:00.000-07:00

31 Aug 07, Sports Hankook
Kr to Ch: lovebi_rain@baidu
Ch to Eng: Rayndrop

To settle future direction and post-US concert tour problems after filming.

Having departed for 2 months, singer Rain will return to Korea after concluding the filming of "Speed Racer".

A relevant personnel of Rain reveals that "Rain will be returning to Korea mid-August. He will look into concluding the various problems when he returns."

As the timing of Rain's return to Korea becomes visible, the movements of people around him has increased. We caught wisps of their movements with regard to Rain's future direction and the remaining problems from his US concert tour.

Rain's agency opened officially in Cheongdam-dong, Seoul, on the 20th. Relevant personnel said, "It's set up temporarily to manage his matters, in other words, an agency," in an attempt to defer from the saying that they've set-up a company on their own.

However, some inside analysts said, the truth is, they may be paving path for a "Jung Jihoon incorporated" entertainment company with Rain as the anchor artiste.

A relevant party said, "We're currently discussing the various possible future projects for Rain. It's estimated that we'll announce more concrete news end-August."

Rain's US concert tour organiser, Star M Planning, released a public apology statement to on the 27th. They reiterated their determination to clear up the mess created.

Star M Planning said, "We will do our best to revert damages that has been done to Rain's reputation". The proposed plans which they are intending to release are therefore garnering plenty of attnetion. The biggest victim in this issue is Rain. How will he walk free from the lawsuits that have resulted from this concert tour is also another issue many are concerned with.

07.28.07 The Making of World Star Rain

2007-07-28T23:41:00.000-07:00

Source: TOM Entertainment
Posted by rainhk & BiwithRain
Translation by jjbug@rain-malaysia

Singer Rain has just ended his 7-month world tour concerts, i.e. Rain's World Tour. This journey started from last December until this June and the total production cost was more than 40 billion Won. Since its proposal, 'The Making of World Star - Rain' was highly expected but the ending of this great project turned out to be a failure due to the cancellation of USA tour concerts.

Initially, StarM Planning, the main organiser of Rain's world tour estimated their profits based on the production cost of local promoters, the release of concert DVDs, posters and copyrights, etc and all these might contribute about 50 billion Won. Therefore, the organiser evaluated Rain's overall economic benefits to be more than 100 billion and decided to participate in concert planning.

StarM Planning is the sub-entity of StarM, the agency of the famous Korean actor Jang Donggun. It is a concert programming company which was specially setup in year 2005 for Rain's world tour. In last October, the representative, Mr Lee announced officially that they would invest capitals about 40 billion Won to help domestic Korean artists like Rain to grow up as an internatinal star, so that he can enter into Asian and Western countries.

He explained, "Rain's world tour is not simply about the profits gained from the shows, instead the profit is just the additional value. Since the proposal began two years ago, Rain will have 35 shows in 12 countries including Thailand, Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia, HK, other Asian countries and also USA."

However, StarM Planning was only able to accomplish half of the scheduled concerts.

Indeed, the concert organiser was over-confident in schedule arrangement. The success of Las Vegas concerts in last December made them over-confident and hence they added in some exra shows which were not in the original planning, such as the concerts in Hawaii, LA, NY and SF. At the end, this move was proved to be a mistake and they sufferred losses.

Although it was not a perfect ending, Rain created his own record that he is the single artist who can attract more than 250,000 audience. It proved his capability to be an Asian mega star. In the recent press conference, StarM Planning indicated the contract of 35 shows is still effective and hinted that Rain's world tour is yet to be ended.

StarM Planning who disappeared temporarily after the concert cancellation and legal disputes in USA, is planning to continue the remaining shows to help Rain re-build his reputation when these incidents are over.

Rain in Berlin; Forbidden Contact with Outside World

2007-07-28T23:40:00.001-07:00

26 July 07, daum news
Kr to Ch: Lovebi_rain@baidu
Ch to Eng: rayndrop

Singer Rain (25), who is currently filming in Berlin has been forbidden contact with the outside world. This is a measure taken by the movie producer to prevent spoilers of this movie from leaking out.

A related person of Rain revealed recently, "Rain's life currently revolves around going to and fro the filming studio and back to his hostel. The moment he wakes up in the morning, a chartered vehicle is already outside his hostel, waiting to take him to the studio. Once filming is done, the charterd vehicle takes him back to his hostel. At the moment, there is no way for him to go anywhere else or meet anyone outside the movie", "This is a measure taken by the movie producer to prevent spoilers of this movie from leaking to the outside world."

Rain is currently filming in Berlin without the company of any of his manager. He only has his English tutor with him. With regards to this, this related personnel expressed, "There's no need for a manager since he's only travelling to and fro the filming studio and his hostel", "His English tutor is doing all he can to improve Rain's English proficiency, and Rain's English has been said to have improved tremendously."

Rain has quietly endured the pain of his concert cancellation and focused his attention on filming the movie, "Speed Racer", directed by the Wachowski Brothers who are also reponsible for the blockbuster series, "The Matrix". Despite so, he is still in contact with this related party via the phone, probably due to his feelings of uneasiness about the post-cancellation situation. The related-personnel detects Rain's worries from his voice during their tele-conversation, and feels extremely sad. This related personnel signed and said, "Upon understanding of details of this issue, anybody will know that this is not the fault of this artiste. Rain still has to worry about things like that when he should be concentrating on his movie. This is something we are truly sad about."

S Keyword] Is there anything else that Rain cannot do?

2007-07-28T23:38:00.000-07:00

27.07.2007 16:03 YTN STAR
Source: Daum
Chi translation by Rain_No1 (The World of Rain)
Eng translation by jjbug@rain-malaysia

Rain's photoshoot in Spain was recently released and soon it caught the public attention. In these days, the disputes and arguements about concert cancellation bothered him.

Other than his identity as singer, Rain is also catching up pretty fast as an actor and model. A magazine, August issue will disclose a few posters of Rain in branded fashion.

Taking Spain as an exotic foreign background, Rain and the Caucasian model interepreted a wonderful atmosphere. Either in simple suit with tight close jacket and holding the lady model, or standing alone beside the wall like expecting for something, or passing the lady model in smart casual clothes... Rain looks so handsome from every angle.

It is very different from his energetic and powerful image on the stage, Rain in these photos seems to have mild lighting around him, like those lights from Christmas snows.

Lady fans are so impressed and highly appraised Rain's ability to adapt and interpret any costumes perfectly.

Looking at Rain in these posters, perhaps people may have such thought: It's too wasted if he's just a singer. To Rain who is gradually expending his influence in the world, hope that he can enter into Hollywood movie and show his elegant demeanor!

07.26.07 Fans Not Confident With Organizers

2007-07-28T23:36:00.000-07:00

Source: Shi Bao Zi Xun
Posted by mandy@rainhk
Translation by jjbug@rain-malaysia

Rain's world tour was postponed quite some time ago. Now, the main organiser StarM announced that they will resume the shows. However, the fans were strongly against it because they think that StarM is not capable enough and Rain may be defamed again when the world tour resumed.

In fact, Rain's contract with his previous agency was ended in the middle of May 2007. Other than coordinating the world tour, StarM also intended to sign agency contract with Rain. On the other hand, Rain's concerts in Toronto, Hawaii, Los Angeles, etc were cancelled or postponed due to several factors. The Korean media indicated that these incidents were caused by re-selling of concert copyright to local promoter, Revolution and StarM did not follow up with the details such as equipment installation and the availability of concert halls. As a result, Rain was sued in the court and hence fans are now expressing their strong objection.

2007.07.27 [Cloud Notice] Hi everyone, we are Cloud staffs

2007-07-28T23:34:00.000-07:00

Source: RainWorld
Chi translation by irbi@BiwithRain
Eng translation by jjbug@rain-malaysia

Writer: S.M. Hwang (the staff)

Hi everyone.
We are the Cloud staffs.

First of all, we would like to apologise to all fans and friends, because there are some unsolved problems before the situation turns like this.

The unsatisfactory and the lack of trust are the problems happen for quite some time, and they are the result of fans comments and internal situation among the staffs.

Also, some miscommunication and unhappiness among the staffs caused a lot of troubles within themselves.

To be the staffs of World Star Rain's fansclub, we need to be capable.
The staffs must have the attitude to fulfill fans' requirement and must be able to listen to fans' opinions.
However, most of the time we couldn't do it or no action was taken,
therefore the fans were disappointed.

Regarding the internal problem among the staffs and the lack of trust to the staffs,
we proposed many ideas based on fans' opinions and discussed.
We are very worried as it is not easy to make decision.

But among all feedback, there's one which everyone agrees:
(Not sure Rain will work with which company in the future)
Now it is the time to start again,
so that a proper direction can be setup for Rain and his fans to walk together further.

After several discussions, here's the conclusion:
We called off the titles and all the staffs are equal in terms of position to work together.
(Cancelled the position of president and vice president)
When there's event, we'll form another Task Force Team (TF Team)
and focus on that particular activity.

During the event, there are at least 2-3 subgroups within the TF Team
The staffs in each subgroup will be allocated based on their tasks and capabilities, and they have different functions every time.
When there's any lack of manpower, TF Team will invite fans to help out.

Each subgroup will carry out their tasks respectively,
After they are familiar with their job scopes, the efficiency can be enhanced, and therefore many plans can be executed efficiently.
Also it is an organisation that can reflect fans' feedback.

(This organising method will be continued until the end of serving term of Cloud 5th crews)

Such organisation can resolve the previous problems such as unauthorised decision, deviated opinions, etc.
And so we can do better.

Of course, the feeling of lack of trust is difficult to change just by reading this notice. Moreover, some may doubt that changes will occur in the future.
These are the responsiblities of all the crews who are not trusted.

But, there was no such a concrete idea like this before
So please give the staffs a chance as they propose to improve.

Within this period, we faced lots of difficulties internally and externally.
Idiom says the earth will get tougher after the rain, so we hope that this challenge can unite the fans and staffs, everyone hand-in-hand to support Rain.

We read the feedbacks in Rain World and all the fansites.
Before we become the staffs, we are also the Clouds, we are also the fans who like Rain.
From now on until the end of serving term, as the cloud representative elected by fans, we would like to be a brand new team and share the same emotions like other fans.
We hope to gain back the trust and do our best to work for Rain and Clouds.

Again I apologise here because we make you all worry.

Thanks for your patience to read such a long notice.

- All the Cloud 5th crew -
E.M. Kang
E.M. Gye
K.S. Baek
M.Y. Song
L.H. Cho
S.M. Hwang

[07.24.07 [MyDaily] Despite Change in Management Company RWT Will Still Have To Go On

2007-07-28T04:00:00.000-07:00

Source: My Daily
Credit: jjay@rainhk
Translation: dsl99a@rain-usa
from:rainvietnam

Deb's note: Sorry, still no concrete news regarding the continuation of the world tour~~

Singer Rain's world tour sponsor StarM Entertainment has expressed, "This has nothing to do with Rain's whereabouts, but the world tour will still continue." StarM's director said, "The world tour will have a fresh new start, this will not change. Although previously we had carefully made our preparations, this time however we will be even more thorough in our preparations before releasing the official program again. Because we cannot predict any potential problems, we are doubling our efforts in our preparations."

The world tour was originally signed between 3 parties: Rain's management company JYP Entertainment, Rain himself and StarM Entertainment. Under this circumstance, Rain left JYP Entertainment, and the world tour still carried on more or less despite the change. But STAR M expressed this, "In terms of contractual relations, it is crucial that all parties involved share and exchange opinions, and this aspect has not changed too greatly." On the other hand, Rain has been quite discrete, his representatives have expressed that "At present, nothing has been determined regarding any matter."

Rain to Make it on His Own? New Office and Good Luck Ritual Held

2007-07-28T03:56:00.000-07:00

July 24, 2007
Source: http://english.tour2korea.com/02Culture/En...1&kosm=m2_7

After Rain’s contract ended with his previous management company, JYP, all eyes were on Rain as he followed another direction with an unknown office somewhere in Cheongdam-dong, Seoul, and has captivated the interests of the entertainment industry as he held a good luck ritual ceremony on the past 20th.

Rumors of large entertainment management companies to spend tens of billions of Korean won on Rain began receiving even more attention when the world began to expect him to create his own entertainment company. Still, the official company name and questions if Rain is to personally participate in the business himself is left to be answered sometime in mid-August.

Of course, Rain’s decision is still not 100% certain. Rain recently explained, “I prepared an office to continue on with my work, temporarily. The good luck ritual was held because business was not going as planned.”

Rain’s contract with JYP ended this May. His presence in a large entertainment company is one to multiply the company’s assets and substantially raise its stock value as well. His world tour management company Star M also stated, “We have intentions of welcoming Rain”. Although the statement grabbed the world’s attention, with the recent cancellation of his concert in LA, the press conference revealed that it would be difficult for them to take in Rain.

Currently, Rain is concentrated on filming a movie by the Wachowski brothers in Berlin, Germany, called ‘Speed Racer’. He is with an English instructor in Berlin, and his managers are known to be in Korea.

The above photo courtesy of The Chosun Ilbo& Digital Chosun Ilbo

07.23.07 [PinGuoReBao] Short Article about Rain's Vogue Photoshoot

2007-07-23T05:28:00.000-07:00

Source: Pin Guo Re Bao [Æ»¹ûÈÕ±¨]
Credit: Baidu Rainbar
Translation: dsl99a@rain-usa
from:rainvietnam

South Korea's handsome men Rain and Joo Ji-hun, recently made prior agreements with South Korean editions of fashion magazines "VOGUE" and "Singles" for their August publications, to go to Valencia, Spain and Paris, France for their respective photoshoots. Rain, who was dressed in Louis Vuitton clothing blatantly embraced a woman on the corner of a Spanish street, making him look even cooler compared to Joo Ji-hun. Isn't Rain afraid that he might strike up jealousy among the fans?

Although the time for the photoshoot was tight, Rain was very earnest in his work during his time in Spain, thus attaining much respect and admiration from the staff. He often took with him a notebook to write down English and Spanish glossaries, and also wrote down the local history and the origin on the clothes. (skipping the rest, non-related to Rain; basically talked about how Joo Ji-hun was made popular by the hit drama series "Goong" and how he had fallen in love with France when he first went there 4 years ago...)

Rain, Chosen as the Man of the Beach with his Sculpted Body

2007-07-23T05:26:00.000-07:00

DATE 7-20-2007
Credit: Chosun

Singer Rain was recently selected as the number one singer to put suntan oil on.

When 1937 of the online music site, Juke On’s, members were asked, ‘Which singer would you want to put suntan oil on at the beach?”, Rain came up with 815 votes, taking 42.1% of the votes to charge the number 1 spot.

Rain’s ‘well-sculpted body’ not only captivates the eyes of the Koreans, but is also taking the eyes of women in Japan as well.

Internet users who took the survey responded, “I would like to rub suntan oil on Rain’s sexy body. I’d like to see Rain’s wide shoulders and back.”

Son Ho-Young of the group GOD, received 347 votes (17.9%) to take 2nd place. Son Ho-Young appeared on the cover of a health magazine this year, showing off his great upper-body and defined abs, which he won the ‘Junior Grand Prize for Best Abs’ for as well.

Seven came in 3rd with 338 votes (17.4%). Seven is currently in America preparing for his American album. 4th place was taken by Fly to the Sky’s Brian with 249 votes (12.9%), and Kim Dong-Wan took 5th place with 188 votes (9.7%).

20.07.07 Rain's American concert copyright purchaser Revolution "Realize responsibility of Rain's concert lawsuit" -Daum

2007-07-23T05:24:00.000-07:00

http://news.media.daum.net/entertain/music/200707/20/newsen/v17515032.html?_RIGHT_ENTER=R2
translation: S2cookie@cloudaustralia.net
source: Daum

Rain's American concert copyright purchaser Revolution "Realize responsibility of Rain's concert lawsuit"

--------------------------------------------------

Revolution Entertainment, who had purchased Rain's World Tour American concert copyrights has expressed their remorse over the concert cancellations.

Revolution on the afternoon of the 20th stated through their report statement that "Revolution Entertainment expresses deep remorse over not being able to execute the American concerts of RAIN'S COMING 06/07 RAIN WORLD TOUR as planned."

Revolution continues on to say "Also Revolution Entertainment, as the contracting party of the Hawaii concert will have continuous discussions concerning the lawsuits that Click Entertainment are running at the moment to come to a smooth mutual agreement. " and "We will also try our best in setting aside an appropriate solution for the damages suffered regarding the matter of what company's responsibility."

Meanwhile, Revolution Entertainment bought copyright of Rain's American concerts in Rain's World Tour from StarM and resold the Hawaii concert rights to Click Entertainment.

[BELOW REVOLUTION'S REPORT STATEMENT]

Revolution Entertainment expresses deep remorse over not being able to execute the American concerts of RAIN'S COMING 06/07 RAIN WORLD TOUR as planned.

As a result of this, Hawaii's promoter Click Entertainment has been involved in lawsuits and press reports and we realize and take responsibility.

Revolution Entertainment had purchased the copyright of RAIN'S COMING 06/07 RAIN WORLD TOUR for American concerts from StarM and then sold these again to Click Entertainment for the Hawaii concert.

Also Revolution Entertainment, as the contracting party of the Hawaii concert will have continuous discussions concerning the lawsuits that Click Entertainment are running at the moment to come to a smooth mutual agreement. We will also try our best in setting aside an appropriate solution for the damages suffered regarding the matter of what company's responsibility.

Also, regarding the recent press reports of the Hawaii concert, as StarM is not the contracting party, as the company of this contract, we will spend much effort in clarifying all the truths regarding StarM.

We express our apologies again to not being able to hold the American concerts as planned and bringing a lot of disappointment upon many people.

Thank you.

Kim DongWan - "Rain needs the support of fans"

2007-07-23T05:22:00.000-07:00

19 Jul 07
Credits: akemi <3@shinhwachangjo.net>

The popular singer Kim DongWan, who has caught everyone's attention with his first solo album - "Kim DongWan is" and the song "Handkerchief", has commented on Rain's recent state due to the cancelled concerts in America.

In the latest interview with joynews, Kim DongWan said, "Rain is currently in a phrase. We have also been through something like this, having the experience of changing management companies before, so we empathize."

"Rain is an honest and polite friend. He should be able to easily overcome this challenge," he said. "Everyone knows the name of the artist, thus Rain was blamed for everything. However, I think that the root of the problem is more likely to be the middleman. It is important for fans to give him support and encouragement at times like this."

"I saw the advertisement that Rain's fans from Hong Kong printed on one of the local newspapers not long ago so as to encourage Rain. I think that such fans are very important. Even if you fell tired, you would still want to fight on for fans like these. It is important for the fans to show their support at times like this."

When Kim DongWan's song, "Handkerchief" was released, his powerful vocals and strong singing skills caught a lot of attention. He had also received help from friends and the other members from Shinhwa.

Rain Breaks Down in Tears. Concert Plans Soon to Release.

2007-07-23T05:21:00.000-07:00

19 July 07
Credit: lai_lai_wang_wang@baidu
Ch to Eng: rayndrop

During the press conference regarding Rain's concert tour cancellation, Star M representative, Lee In Gwang finally shed tears when making his stand.

Lee In Gwang have this to say during the press conference on 18th July at 2.10pm, "On the LA concert day, Rain when already in tears when he received the call telling him there were problems. He insisted on carrying with the concert no matter what...As the person in charge of this concert, I didn't know how to console him, and I felt very helpless too."

"Rain asked me repeatedly among the 21 songs, how many can he perform. In the end, when the concert was cancelled, he cried very sadly. Instead, he turned around and consoled me and said sorry." As he said this, Lee started crying.

"We will not stop here. For the sake of a better future, we will stand up before you again." "We may be announcing future plans on the World Concert Tour next Monday or Tuesday. It will not end like this. We will continue with the tour. In autumn, we will meet each other again in a better form."

"My deep apologies to the fans. I feel the deep pain of the artiste's losses, whether in moral, in administration or in legal liabilities."

Rain is Innocent. Concert Organiser & Producer Pushes Responsibilities

2007-07-23T05:20:00.000-07:00

19 July 07, Mydaily Chosun Chinese Version
Credit: w1291201@baidu
Ch to Eng: rayndrop

18th July, Afternoon. Star M held a press conference announcing their stand on Rain's World Concert Tour.

This is Star M's so-called way of stating their stand during this period of ambiguity; taking initiatives to hold a press conference. However, the journalists gathered there did not hear a straightforward answer. During the 2-hour press conference, their stand remains the same as what they have been claiming all these time. Their answers did not address the topic which everybody was curious about.

The legal issues of using the name "Rain" during this World Concert Tour, the ticket prices and the inadequate preparation for the concert: Star M did not answer any of these questions straightforwardly.

On 17th July, MBC broadcasted "PD Handbook", shedding light to the situation using data and interviews with concerned parties. Star M, on the other hand, simply repeatedly claimed their "innocence" by using the terms "conned" and "legal procedures".

In the situation when a top star became a conned artiste overnight, Star M painstakingly called for a press conference, and the explanation they have to offer is very disappointing.

Representative of the Canadia concert producer appeared suddenly and got into a heated debate with Star M

The appearance of a person broke the monotony of this press conference. The person in question is the assistant general manager of Revolution, Canada.

He appeared in the show, "PD Handbook" the day before, and is one of the key persons in this whirlwind of a news. Before this press conference, Star M was unaware that he was the representative of Revolution, Canada.

Tim Kim was given a chance to speak, and immediately denied all the report content provided by Star M. In particular, he pursued the question of Rain performing in Canada and asked, "Why did Star M sign the contract despite knowing that the venue did not meet the concert requirements, and following that, pushed all the blame to the local concert producer?"

Kim protested strongly, "On 19th February, after signing the contract, we paid Star M US$250,000. However, after signing the contract, Star M did not say anything about the venue not meeting requirements until 3rd May, when they informed us of the cancellation."

He continued, "When we signed the contract, we received an acknowledgement from Lee In Gwang, which states that they will take full responsibility if any problems should occur in the course of the concert. But when they cancelled the performance, they did not return the deposit, or any other payments."

Kim asked Star M, during the press conference, if they admit to the content detailed in the acknowledgement and contract document.

Star M replied strongly. Lee of Star M retorted, "Revolution Entertainment did not cash in the contract payment, and local concert producer went about with promotional activities that was outside what was planned. Their reputation was damaged because of that." Thereafter, both parties started a heated attack on each other, shocking the journalists present.

What was most worrying was that, while the two engaged in a lengthy "you-tell-I-tell" war, nobody gave a thought to the fallen reputation of top star, Rain. Both were busy trying to push the blame to each other. This journalist suddenly felt, Rain is so unfortunate.

[StarNews] StarM: "The Tour Cannot End Like This!"

2007-07-23T05:19:00.001-07:00

Source: StarNews
Credit: Rain_No1@Baidu
Credit: dada@rainhk
Translation & edited: dsl99a@rain-usa
from: rainvietnam

Rain's concert organizer StarM: "The tour cannot end like this!"

The situation derived from top singer Rain's cancellation of his LA performance has caused some disturbance, and StarM representative Lee In Gwang said, "The tour cannot end like this!", and that his speech about the future has aroused interest.

StarM's Lee held a press conference on July 18th at 2 pm at the Imperial Palace Hotel.

Lee said, "I think that to Rain and StarM the disturbance caused by the cancellation has been a good learning experience, where new skills and techniques have been acquired and learned. Before, during the preparation for the concert we simply did not know the details that would cause such a matter."

He also said, "The network is also insufficient. Now we are constructing a new network. We view this as part of the laborous process to step towards the world market. With every effort to once again give a great world tour."

"On Monday and Tuesday of next week we will start making new plans. We will work on the aspect of continuing to promote concerts in the cities and China where concerts were not held. The tour cannot end like this. Later on we will continue to work to give out a better appearance for the fans."

And he emphasized, "I am very confident that there will be performances once more. This is the one and only agreement that I can do. I will arouse the spirit once more to make preparations for this."

(skipping the following statement because not exactly sure what the article is talking about...) "StarM has been doing very good until now, just because we have made mistakes in one or two areas doesn't mean we're an incapable company. Dealing with relations is really the dilemma."

"But Rain knows that we did not have selfish motives in preparing for a good concert tour. He knows that we are his companions in this happy journey."

A Frustrated Journalist - <> Magazine December Issue

2007-07-23T05:18:00.001-07:00

Credit: Baidu
Kr to Ch: wwrain
Ch to Eng: rayndrop

Notes from ww: Today, I had time to flip through the <> magazine which I requested from Korea. In the past, I only cared about drooling at the pictures (It's the one with pictures of Jihoon and Im Soo Jung jumping up), and neglected the content. Today, I had a second look and it was quite interesting. The journalist is the one who wrote, "How Director Park Got Drenched By Rain". The next time when you're stalking Jihoon and he ignores you, don't blame him anymore!

It's Jung Jihoon's first time meeting a movie journalist. Im Soo Jung and Jung Jihoon have been jumping and jumping for the photoshoot. Im was wearing heels, but she could still jump very well. Jihoon was the same, being a natural dancer. I don't know why, but my feelings told me that if I were to interview Jung Jihoon, he would be the kind whose body spoke before his words. I gave Jung Jihoon some backdated copies of "Premier". Did he know there was such a magazine? Other magazines do exist beside TIME magazine. Just nice, Jung Jihoon was playing with his X-notebook. Ah yes, Jung Jihoon is the model for X-notebook, while Im Soo Jung is the model for Samsung's Sense notebook. These two should be of a relationship whereby they can never appear together. How did the two end up filming a movie together? Facing a shy and embarrassed Jihoon, I tried to get into his favour. I even said, "No matter how I compare the two, Sense Notebook still loses a little to the X-notebook".

I could pick up hostile looks from Im Soo Jung's assistant, and I took one more step towards Jung Jihoon. But it was quite terrible, because he only cared about the photoshoot, and we had so little to talk about. I've gotten my pictures, and should give up other ideas. I console myself by recalling a junior from another magazine who has interviewed him before, "Senior, he is indeed a charismatic person, but honestly, the interview was a bore. He's too honest, and belongs to the not-so-interesting kind to interview."

That junior had a 15-minute interview. When I heard the junior's word, I had a thought. I wanted to know the inner world of Jung Jihoon. But I restrained myself...

In the end, <>'s photoshoot session took 3 hours, and we talked for 10 minutes. I said to Jung Jihoon, "Is this like the interviews overseas? In other countries, actors or singers usually allocate very little amount of time for face-to-face interviews with journalists. Is it like that?" What I meant was, we're looking at international level here, and doing the interview according international standard. In the end, Jihoon answered, "What, no it's not like that." He wasn't helping me.

He stood up suddenly and wanted to shake my hand. Standing up, he's a lot bigger that I thought he is. No wonder he tried to control his muscles. No matter what, I've gotten my pictures.

Star M Apologises to Rain. Accepts Moral Responsibility for Concert Failure

2007-07-23T05:15:00.000-07:00

18 July 07, Mydaily News
Credit: ouxiangrain@baidu
Ch to Eng: Rayndrop

Star M started taking responsibility for everything with regards to Rain's World Concert Tour beginning 13th October. Rain's concerts in Japan, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam and Australia etc were all handled by this company. However, Rain's concerts in Canada, China, Hawaii and LA etc were cancelled due to all kinds of reasons. In that way, Rain's first World Concert Tour came to a dishonourable ending amidst controversy and quarrels.

Lee In Gwang, representative of Star M expressed this during the press conference, "As the organiser, we have a duty to see that the activities develop smoothly from start to end. However, we did not fulfil this duty. The World Concert Tour was unable to come to a beautiful conclusion, and we feel deeply responsible for this."

Following this, Lee also said, "Due to this incident, Rain was rebuked by many. Because of us, a respected artiste was inflicted with unnecessary hurt. As the concert organiser, we feel morally responsible for this." At the press conference, the representative of the Canada tour producer had a heated debate with the Star M representative, Lee.

Yesterday, "PD Handbook" of MBC TV station pointed out that the concert failure was due to Star M's mismanagement. With reference to this, Lee In Gwang did not make an official response, but remained that the Hawaii concert was forced to cancel because of the lawsuit regarding the use of the name "Rain".

Following that, Lee apologised to Rain, "Rain, who was only notified at 4pm that day, came to the stadium and kept telling us he hopes to be able to go on with the performance. At that time, he was already in tears. We didn't know how to explain the entire issue to him. When he realised there was no way the concert could go on, he cried and apologised to the 100 odd crew members there. The situation was hard to bear." In May this year, Lee had expressed his wish to sign a contract with Rain while they were in Japan. "With things like that, I think signing him up would be difficult to realise now."

Lee continued, "We will begin to hold press conferences on Rain's World Concert Tour again next month. Regardless of whether this concert is held in a foreign country or in Korea, we will do our best to do a good job organising the concert."

Insufficient Preparation Led to Rain's Concert Cancellation

2007-07-18T04:29:00.001-07:00

18 July 07, Chosun Chinese
Credit: RainHK Baidu.com
Ch to Eng: Rayndrop

The news of Rain's LA concert cancellation has finally died down.

However, on the 17th, MBC's "PD Handbook" has once again picked up the controversy surrounding Rain's cancelled concert in LA.

According to "PD Handbook", the main reason for Rain's cancelled concert in LA was insufficient preparation on StarM's end.

As with the content of "PD Handbook", Star N will be holding a press conference at 2pm on the 18th July, at Imperial Palace Hotel, Seoul. They will explain the reasons for the LA concert cancellation, and their stand in this issue as the official organiser.

Star M will be apologising for their immature process in the course of preparing for this concert. They will also reinforce the message that the concerts in US are not "cancelled" but "postponed".

In addition, "PD Handbook", which was broadcasted on 17th July, analysed the incident through interviews with local concert operators, Mr Lee In Gwang of Star M, local stage directors and lighting companies etc.

The programme pointed out that the LED which Star M airfreight to US did not undergo examination by US or Korea's safety boards. The company sold all concert rights to Revolution and received contract premiums from local concert contractors and issued receipts in acknowledgement. They made several mistakes in the course of preparing for the concert.

Insider Exposure! Reasons Behind Rain's Concert Cancellations From MBC's "PD Handbook"

2007-07-18T04:28:00.000-07:00

18 July 07, Mydaily News Sohu Entertainment News
Credit: Zhenzaiyue@Baidu.com
Ch to Eng: Rayndrop

LA was planned to be the final stop for Rain's Concert World Tour, which included 12 countries and 35 concerts. The conclusion of this stop can be said to be the key in determining how this entire concert tour has fared. However, the LA concert, scheduled on 30th June, was suddenly cancelled just one and a half hour from from commencement of the concert. Not only were many fans disappointed, Rain's World Concert Tour also came to a shameful end.

What exactly are the reasons behind all these trouble that Rain's World Concert Tour has encountered? This question has been one that many are concerned with. <> of MBC TV station did a series of investigative behind-the-scene interviews, and brought these to light.

According to <>, Rain's LA concert had several uncertainties right at the beginning during the preparation stage. One of which is the legal entanglements with the use of the name "Rain". This casted a shadown on the future of the US concert tour, and under such a circumstance, the continuation of preparing for the LA concert became a time bomb waiting to implode.

<> pointed out that the greatest failure in Rain's Concert World Tour was the complicated monetary relationships, causing the entire concert plan to become big and clumsy. According to usual procedures, Star M, the Korean entertainment company in charge of Rain's World Tour should liaise and sign contracts directly with individual concert producers in each city. However, Star M re-sold the concert rights to a newly established Korean company, called Revolution. Revolution was only interested in reaping a big profit from this concert, and did not concern itself with taking a more profound understanding of the concert stage and props to be installed. Star M, which had entrusted the entire concert affair to Revolution did not know anything during the process of concert preparation. They only received notification from Revolution right before the cancellation of the concert.

According to sources, the Canada concert producer, who got to know about the cancellation one week in advance of the concert date, also signed their contract with Revolution, not Star M. Revolution gave the reason that a critical portion of Rain's concert backdrop, "the extended stage", could not be installed in the stadium, and cancelled the concert that was to be held in Canada, Toronto. Thereafter, the local concert producer in Canada took Revolution to court for the irresponsible act of signing the contract without first ensuring that the critical prop could be installed in the stadium. They are also suing Star M, which had signed the agreement to be liable for all issues that may arise for the concert, but later evaded their responsibilities when problems occurred.

The Hawaii concert producer also got their cancellation notification from Revolution only days before the concert date. They were told that the LED screen that was to be used in the concert could not be installed. The Hawaii concert producer was extremely angry and said, "Rain's US Concert Tour is a scam right from the start." They are taking Star M, Rain's ex-agency, JYPE, and Rain to court.

The reason for the sudden cancellation of the LA concert was similar. According to a stage prop installation crew member who was there that day, they were only told that the LED screen from Korea was not examined by the US safety board. Thereafter, the local concert producer had a emergency meeting, and after the lengthy meeting, StarM finally decided to cancel the concert. Hence, it can be concluded that the ultimate reason for LA concert cancellation was a lack of preparation to hold a concert in US, which has rigorous safety rules.

Fans of Rain are ultimately, the biggest victim in this incident caused by the local concert producer's half-hearted working attitude. Although on the day of the concert, Rain had cried and asked to perform onstage, even if he could only sing one song, there was nothing he could do in that situation. A Japanese fan who started queuing at 6am that day recalled the situation, "Everybody started waiting outside the stadium from that morning. When we suddenly heard that the concert was cancelled, I couldn't even move. Then we all hugged each other and started crying." With regard to the news that Rain will be holding his concerts in Spetember and October, this fan said she's anticipating the concerts but at the same time, emphasized that the same incident of last-minute cancellation cannot happen again.

On the day <> was broadcasted, audiences showed supported for the neutral and fair stand taken by the programme. They also rebuked the Korean organising company for disregarding the artiste and fans in their pursuit of profit. Fans of Rain have expressed their continued support for their idol.

07.16.07 MBC Program To Be Aired 7/17, true story behind US cancellation

2007-07-18T04:27:00.000-07:00

Source: Innolife
Picture source: Newsis
Credit: rainhk
Rough Translation & edited: dsl99a@rain-usa

MBC's (direct translation of name of show) will be broadcasted on the 17th, featuring the true story behind the cancellation of Rain's American world tour concerts. Rain's LA concert was scheduled to be held on June 30th but was cancelled an hour and a half prior to the start time.

Regarding the sponsors and local promoters for the concert they appear to mutually shake off any responsibilities and have different viewpoints. In this broadcast there will be the rarely seen interviews with the director of the LA concert, stage-related personnel, stage production, illumination, all parties related to the LA concert and fans--their collection of testimonies, emails, pictures, clips and other evident materials; showing the happenings prior to the concert and the reasons why the concert had not choice but to be cancelled.

According to 'pd's', up to the point of the cancellation, Rain was not able to do a single thing. Initially Atlanta, New York and so on were planned concert stops but ended up being postponed. Only the LA performance would appear to be a certain success, making him truly a world star singer. But the unexpected setback of the cancellation was not the result that fans and other people had dreamed for.

During the time of the LA concert, someone (can't translate this part out) expressed that, "even after knowing the fact that he could not perform, Rain diligently wanted to continue with the performance. He really wanted to perform." Two days prior to the cancellation of the LA concert, there were business reports highlighting "Rain's Failures". On the other hand, there are headlines such as "Rain may be able to prove his abilities", or "Rain may be able to fully challenge the American market again". No matter what these are all public opinions. Rain is currently stopping over in Germany to film .

07.13.07 Message from Cloud Fan Manager

2007-07-18T04:26:00.001-07:00

Source: Rain World
Credit: lovebi_rain@Baidu
Chi to Eng Translation: dsl99a@rain-usa

Hello everyone, I'm Cloud Fan Manager.

After the LA concert there has been a long time seperating messages
Our Cloud family has been faced with sad media reports everyday.
Because there have been doubts produced by non-solid matters,
all these should be solved.
Who to ask for inquiries...thinking everyone is also worried about this.

Suggestions among fans have increased, common usage is a good thing.
But not too long after the increase of boatmen the ship has sailed upwards to the mountains (note: speaking metaphorically here I guess, not sure what it means)

First of all, based on my own standpoint to solve this problem,
I think I can patiently solve this step-by-step.

I--who have continuously held the post of Fan Manager (Cloud Manager) under JYP Entertainment--decided to resign from JYP Entertainment upon the cancellation of LA concert, and decided to follow Rain.
Hope there won't be any more curiosity towards Fan Manager...
(Hope...you won't hate me too much *^^*)

I'm earnestly preparing the official homepage.
If wait slightly longer, there will be a good appearance where everyone can send their best wishes.
(Before the official homepage is launched, news may be obtained through Rain World site)

Everybody wants to know the address where they can send him letters and gifts.
I will be able to inform everyone of this within the week.
(If many gifts are sent to Berlin, then the baggage load returning to South Korea will increase, this will bring inconvenience to Rain, so hope that everyone can limit and control.)

Regarding Rain's situation, everybody wants to really understand.
There has been the spread of strange hearsays regarding this,
these are news that have not gone through any common sense.
Regarding this, I have no way to pinpoint which is true and which is false.
So I hope that everyone do not simply believe any senseless news or hearsays.

Presently, it is a very important time for Rain as he aggressively adapts to the filming schedule, crew members and fellow cast members.
Therefore, although everyone is 'thirsty' to know of Rain's feelings, if everyone can wait a little longer, then we can pass on accurate news.

All of us have been going through a difficult time.
Hope that everyone can forget all the unhappiness in the past, from today towards the future, starting from now, make a fresh new start.
Hope that everyone will gain strength from all the sad and painful matters.

I believe,
We will recall today's present time as memories of the future.
I believe we can say (the difficult time right now) that the time has arrived for all of us to have the opportunity to grow stronger.

(Compare to all that was done before) all the things that we are able to do will be even more.
Also, I emphasize...
from now on, matters that bring honor to Rain will also become much more.

Dear Clouds,
Hope that in the future we all frequently send regards, mutually communicate with one another.

Today I also give regards to everyone.
Rain Smile ^ ______ ^

07.13.07 StarM To Hold Presscon About Rain's World Tour

2007-07-18T04:22:00.000-07:00

Source: Innolife
Photo from NEWSIS
Translation by jjbug@rain-malaysia

To solve the doubts and queries about Rain's world tour, StarM representative, Mr Lee will attend the press meeting on July 18, 2pm at 7th floor of Imperial Palace Hotel, Seoul. "We will explain the doubts and queries about LA concert cancellation and the future plans." said StarM.

On the other hand, Rain is filming his Hollywood movie in Berlin until the end of August.

07.11.07 [SportsHankook] Rain Alone With English Tutor in Germany

2007-07-18T04:21:00.000-07:00

Source: http://news.media.daum.net/entertain/broadcast/200707/11/hankooki/v17396958.html
Kor to Chi: lovebi_rain@Baidu Rainbar
Chi to Eng & edited: dsl99a@rain-usa

Goes to Germany to shoot movie, not bringing a single manager with him...

International giant star Rain who faces concert-related lawsuits in the US concentrates on filming his movie in Germany.

Hollywood movie "Speed Racer" is presently being filmed in Germany, and Rain--whose appointed character is named "Tae-Zo"--began filming the beginning of this month together with other fellow Hollywood stars. During this 2-month period of filming until the end of August, Rain has not a single manager accompanying him, thus attracting people's attention. Rain and his personal English tutor rushed over to Germany together, using free time in between film shooting to practice English.

Last month on the 25th, Rain celebrated his 25th birthday in Los Angeles, but because of lawsuits related to the US concerts, he was not able to celebrate with ease.

However his mood returned to normal upon stepping onto Germany's soil.

Since the beginning of his debut, Rain has been suffering in big ways lately while working on advancing onto the world stage through his first international movie "Speed Racer", and because his managers are unable to look after Rain to give him some slight feeling of relief while he shoots the movie, they are all feeling extremely anxious.

In order for Rain to perfect his lines and to intergrate well into the Hollywood movie, this time he traveled alone with his English tutor. Rain's English tutor is originally he's bodyguard, and since last year has been following Rain and his every busy move, 24 hours a day.

After being chosen as one of Time's "100 Most Influential People", Rain received good responses from America, but because he wanted improve on his English before returning to the US again, this act of withdrawing a step back displayed his humbleness.

[11-Jul-07] [Han Lianshe] Rain Goes to Germany Alone, Takes On Movie Whole-heartedly

2007-07-18T04:20:00.000-07:00

Source: Han Lian She (Chinese)
Credit: cutebi@rainhk
Chi to Eng Translation & edited: dsl99a@rain-usa

According to reports on July 11th, due to the cancellation of the American tour that has brought along lawsuits that are hard to be faced by Rain himself, at present he is whole-heartedly making his movie in Germany.

The Hollywood movie "Speed Racer" has commenced filming since the beginning of this month in Berlin, Germany. In the movie Rain plays the supporting role of an Asian race car driver. The film shoot with continue until the end of August; Rain currently has started filming.

During this time while making his movie in Germany, except for one who is both his bodyguard and English tutor, Rain has not brought a single manager with him, thus arousing people's interests in this.

Rain's manager indicated in abundance that Rain is currently going through his biggest test of time yet since his debut, and the manager feels regret of not being able to be by his side to take care of him.

Not too long ago, there was a full-page advertisement published in a Hong Kong daily paper by his Hong Kong fans, and this has also sparked people's interests.

Hope that Rain will not disappoint his fans' anticipation, that he will go through this time of trial smoothly, strongly facing all things.

Rain: Tears Fell because LA Concert was Cancelled

2007-07-02T05:44:00.000-07:00

01-Jul-07
Credit: Baidu.com
Ch to Eng: rayndrop

Singer Rain cried and looked around forlornly when LA concert was cancelled.

"My fans are more import!ant than the stage to me."

Rain, who has been preparing whole-heartedly for the LA concert, couldn't help but break down in tears when the concert was cancelled on the day of performance.

According to Star M, which has been preparing for the Rain LA concert, after hearing about the cancellation, Rain insisted on going for the performance even if the stage is incomplete.

Star M's representative and SPN said this over an international call, "Rain saw his incomplete stage and cried." "He is weary from insisting on continuing the performance even though the stage is incomplete."
Rain heard that the performance was impossible, and saw the fans who came to the concert despite not understanding a word of English (Korean??). He kept repeating his wish to apologise to them directly.

Rain wanted to apologise directly to the fans because even though the cancellation was not caused by him, he wanted to do something for the fans within his ability.

Rain insisted on meeting the fans at the concert site, but was strongly advised to give up and leave the premises. Star M, who is in charge of his LA concert, has formally announced the cancellation. Star M and SPN representatives stated the reason "cancelled due to complicated problems" on the international call.

06.29.07 Rain is invited by Tom Cruise's CAA (USA Film Producer)

2007-07-02T05:43:00.001-07:00

Source: Starnews (gyummy@mtstarnews.com)
Chi translation by lovebi_rain@Baidu RAIN bar
Eng translation by jjbug@rain-malaysia

Entering into Hollywood with his first movie , singer-and-actor RAIN received invitations from top film producers in USA to join their companies. Currently, invitations from CAA (Tom Cruise, George Clooney, etc are the top actors here), as well as music producers namely Def Jam, InterScoop, etc have gone to Rain. So who will be Rain's future USA partner? That's an interesting issue to be followed up!

Rain arrived at LA on 17th morning to get ready for his LA concert on June 30 (USA time). Other than his concert, Rain also took the chance to meet up with several famous agencies.

Although Rain got many invitations from artist agencies, music producers and publishers, he firstly got in touch with the most influential agencies in USA and arranged meetings with them on June 29 (Korea time), including top 5 agencies, i.e. CAA, ¿¥µ¥¹ö, William Morris, etc as well as music producers like Def Jam, InterScoop, etc.

The first agency to meet up is CAA, which owns Nicole Kidman, Tom Cruise and top directors such as Sam Raimi, Michael Mann, etc. Later, Rain also made an appointment with William Morris and ¿¥µ¥¹ö.

Rain is highly appraised as a singer in USA, too and received invitations from big music firms. Rain got in touch with the best USA music companies like InterScoop, Sony Music and Def Jam. Among them, InterScoop is the most aggresive. Artists under them are Linkin Park, Black Eyed Peas, etc. Rain met with Interscoop director, Jimmy on June 29 (Korea time) to discuss about the album and plans.

Before that, Rain also met the relevant personnels from Def Jam (Hip Hop Guru, Jay Z's company) and Sony Music for further discussion about his USA album. Singers under Def Jam are R&B pop star Kanye West, LL Cool J etc.

In the same time, the local publishers and some reknown artist managers also planned to meet with Rain for future cooperation.

On the other hand, Rain held his presscon for LA concert at hotel, local top media such as LA Times, Wallstreet Journal, etc were present, which showed that they were highly interested in Rain's concert.

06.30.07 [DaGongBao] Rain To Promote Korea's Charm

2007-07-02T05:41:00.000-07:00

06.30.07 [DaGongBao] Rain To Promote Korea's Charm
Source: Da Gong Bao (Chinese)
Credit: azafighting@rainhk
Chi to Eng Translation: dsl99a@rain-usa

South Korean actor and singer Rain has filmed a new tourism advertisement for the South Korea Tourism Organization , and on Monday July 1st it will be broadcasted on CNN international News Network and CNN USA, at the appointed time when 280,000,000 global viewers will be watching. The advertisement will last for 30 seconds, revealing the various special characteristics of South Korea. In this advertisement Rain will say that South Korea is a must-see tourist destination.

In order to propagandize the young, fashionable and vibrant aspect of South Korea, the advertisement emphasizes South Korea's recent years of success throughout Asia in film (soap operas) and music. But Rain is precisely the outstanding one who is leading in this upsurge, the South Korean Tourism Organization's advertisement will bring more exposure for him in the whole world. The advertisement will be broadcasted globally till the end of July, while the US will continue to broadcast until the end of September.

06.29.07 [SPN] Asian Fans Swamped LA Hotel To See Rain

2007-07-02T05:39:00.000-07:00

Source: http://spn.edaily.co.kr/entertain/newsRead.asp?sub_cd=EA21&newsid=01095526583166640&DirCode=0010201&curtype=read
Credit: aimen@rain-asia
Kor to Chi Translation: Baidu Rainbar
Chi to Eng Translation: dsl99a@rain-usa

Asian Fans Scream "I Love Rain!" At the Sight Of Him at the Hotel

US's "Wall Street Journal" unexpectedly showed up in LA and carried its own interview with Rain. Upon the conclusion of the press conference on the 28th, "Wall Street Journal" then had a 30-minute interview with Rain. During that interview of the day, Rain indicated his intentions of entering into Hollywood and the US.

Prior to his performance on the 30th, Rain has had meetings with local American record companies and producers. Rain's manager said that although it is not at a publication stage yet, the world-class music figures gave very high appraisal of him (regarding the possibility of him releasing a new album in the US).

In LA at the Wilshire Grand Hotel where Rain is staying, there has been a crowd of enthusiastic Asian fans. In order to catch a glimpse of Rain, dozens of Asian fans have booked hotel rooms since 2 days ago on the 28th to follow Rain's every movement and every action.

Upon the conclusion of his performance on the 30th, Rain will then go to Germany on July 1st to begin filming the movie "Speed Racer". And because of this commitment, Rain will only be able to continue the rest of the US part of his world tour in October.

06.29.07 [HeraldM] LA Coverage: "Rain A Different Character Who Unfolds on Stage"

2007-07-02T05:37:00.000-07:00

Picture: Reporter Jin Run Xiu (American Branch)
Source: South Korean HERALDM
Credit: irbi/Bi with Rain & aimen@rain-asia
Chi to Eng Translation: dsl99a@rain-usa

[Los Angeles = Jin Yinghan special representative] Singer Rain (given name Jung Ji-hoon, 25) will hold a concert for the first time in LA on the 30th. This will be his last concert before he begins filming "Speed Racer". During the LA press conference on the 28th (local time) at the Intercontinental Hotel, Rain expressed that, "I am extremely happy to be able to have the last concert before filming in Los Angeles where there are many overseas compatriots" and he added, "In order to unfold the best achievement in this concert I have therefore been paying attention continually to components of bodily management and diet and making necessary adjustments”. On the 30th Rain will have his concert on the main floor of the home of the LA Lakers (NBA), Staples Center. Today's press conference attracted many reporters from places such as China, Japan, Vietnam, the Philippines and local Asian reporters from LA. For the sake of their country's fan base, these reporters have been asking him questions unceasingly, thus showing the extensive impact and influence that Rain has.

The first question was "What is Rain's most unique charm?" He replied, "Seeing something once is better than hearing it a hundred times, I will unfold myself completely in this concert”. He added, "Because I have been given the title of `the world star' this cannot be taken lightly," he continues, "I hope that within 1~2 years I will not only be well-received around Asia but also throughout the US and Europe, then I will truly become a world star".

Then he was asked to explain the relation between him and 'Rain'. “I am Jung Ji-hoon, Rain is just a different character who unfolds on stage. Rain has diligently gone through 10 years of strict training, it is a part of me that debuted 6 years ago. There are no words to describe the deep love I have towards the diligent Rain." In order to become a true world star he said that "learning English is very important, in order to speak English fluently I'm now also in the process of studying".

In order to move towards a world star status, there is the plan to release a special record album in the US. "Now my biggest goal is to release a special edition album in the US. I have contacted many producers and music artists, should be able to decide this year of a good upcoming plan. During my birthday three day ago I was unable to eat sea-weed soup, it was for the preparation of my special US album, therefore this year's birthday was spent mostly on the telephone and at conferences”, also said that "I feel the cell phone is lke my girlfriend".

Upon the conclusion of LA's concert Rain will go to Germany and start filming "The Matrix" director Wachowski's new movie "Speed Racer".

06.29.07 [LATimes] South Korean singer Rain wants to dazzle the U.S.

2007-07-02T05:33:00.000-07:00

South Korean singer Rain wants to dazzle the U.S.The heartthrob singer-dancer-actor inspires messianic enthusiasm from fans around the globe. He'll play the Staples Center on Saturday.

Goal-oriented(Ricardo DeAratanha / LAT)

The plan(Ricardo DeArantanha / LAT)

By Chris Lee, Times Staff Writer

Given the brain-numbing consistency with which the two performers are compared, South Korean pop superstar Rain is pretty gracious about being referred to as "the Justin Timberlake of Asia." To a point.

The Seoul-born heartthrob R&B singer-dancer-actor, who has sold millions of records around the globe and whose every public appearance is greeted with messianic enthusiasm by legions of super-fans from Kuala Lumpur to Taipei, is willing to accept being likened to Mr. SexyBack — as a means to a more self-fulfilling end.

"I'm grateful ... that even before touching the American market, people here refer to me as an artist of his stature," said Rain, whose real name is Jung Ji-Hoon. "But I want to let the fan base know who I am. Once I release my album, people can say, 'Justin Timberlake, he is like an American version of Rain.' "

The curious will be able to judge the K-pop phenom's hip-hop-influenced dance repertoire, crunk-inflected backing beats and washboard abs for themselves tonight, when Rain, 25, headlines at the Staples Center. As of press time, more than 80% of the show's tickets had been sold, its promoter said, with fans flying in from as far away as Tokyo, Seoul and Hong Kong.

In Los Angeles last week, just after having had to postpone dates on his "Rain's Coming" world tour (organizers hadn't anticipated the difficulties of schlepping Rain's 28 18-wheelers' worth of stage rigging and 96-person entourage from Asia to Honolulu to Atlanta to New York to San Francisco inside of two weeks), the 6-foot singer settled into a Century City hotel suite to talk about conquering the American market.

A cadre of Rain's enablers who were also in the room — publicists, makeup artists, consultants, managers and tour promoters — nodded quietly and sometimes giggled as he spoke. "Through my work in movies, music and commercials, I've become known as the superstar of Asia," he said through a translator. "My first goal in coming to the U.S. is to become a worldwide superstar."

In a year in which Rain made People magazine's "100 most beautiful people" issue and was voted the world's most influential person by Time magazine readers in an online poll (outranking Steve Jobs and Bono, only to be spoofed by "The Colbert Report's" Stephen Colbert as "Kid Jong Il" for the honor), Rain is attempting to synergize his pan-Asian fan base, Information Age interconnectivity and "fusion" music to win American audiences as no Asian entertainer before him has.

"He's a hot commodity right now," said Andy Kim, chief executive of V2B Global, the promoter of Rain's Staples Center appearance. "He has dedicated fans around the world. Now he's [in] Hollywood. And L.A. has the biggest Korean population in the country."

Toward that end, Rain will make his Hollywood movie debut in a supporting role in the Wachowski brothers' hotly anticipated follow-up to their smash trilogy of "Matrix" films, the action adventure "Speed Racer," which begins filming in Germany next month.

In this adaptation of the Japanese animated series, he will portray ace race car driver Taejo Togokahn, who partners with Speed Racer (Emile Hirsch) and Racer X (Matthew Fox) to compete in a drive-or-die cross-country race.

Some of his songs contain smatterings of English, but he is studying the language and plans to record his first album in English soon.

Rain isn't the first Asian superstar to attempt to shatter the glass ceiling of American idolatry. In the mid-'90s, Sony Music signed Canto-pop sensation Coco Lee, who failed to generate much commercial enthusiasm here despite heavy promotion and high-profile appearances, such as singing at the 2001 Academy Awards. Likewise, Japanese soul singer Toshi Kubota's bid at Stateside stardom fizzled in 2000, even with massive press and an American album, "Nothing but Your Love," packed with contributions by neo-soul and hip-hop stars including the Roots' Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson, rapper Pras and Raphael Saadiq.

According to James Ryu, editor and publisher of the monthly Korean American magazine KoreAm Journal, Rain's lack of English language skills could become his biggest liability.

"He has to be visible to the public — not only on the dance floor but in the press, on shows like the 'Today' show and 'Good Morning America,' " Ryu said. "A lot of Hispanic performers did that before him — even with broken English. One reason he's so popular in Asia is because he does a lot of PR."

Rain hit his first public relations speed bump in this country in February, when Rain Corp. filed a lawsuit challenging his right to use his stage name in this country; the music company claimed it owns the copyright for the long-running Beatles tribute band named Rain.

A Nevada District Court dismissed the case earlier this month, however, and Asia's Justin Timberlake (Rain is a direct translation of Jung's Korean alias, "Bi") is now free to use his stage name in the U.S.

"I respect [the band Rain] because they've been around 25 years, but I've been procuring my image for the last six years," he said. "When I first heard about it, as a joke I was thinking about changing my name in America to Cloud." Rain giggled.

Complicating matters further, Rain recently parted ways with his longtime mentor and manager, Park Jin Young, who wrote much of his material and is widely credited with cultivating his cuddly yet streetwise image and generally shaping his career. After much speculation in the Korean press over who would replace Park, Rain quietly installed one of Park's associates, Dong Won Cho, as his new manager, a shift akin in U.S. pop circles to, say, Kelly Clarkson firing her high-powered manager and throwing in with one of his underlings.

Even with the singer's immediate career plans still nebulous, Rain's sense of his destiny might be summed up in his 2006 hit single, "I'm Coming": "Rain is coming down again, soaking everything," he croons in Korean atop a slinky synth-based R&B backing track, "Rain is coming down and it won't stop / It's too hot, it won't stop."

Whatever Rain's mixed feelings about the Timberlake comparison, he is upfront about crediting another international pop superstar with establishing the template for crossover success.

"Going back to Ricky Martin, '[Livin'] La Vida Loca' broke at just the right moment and helped open the door for a lot of other artists," Rain said.

"With Ricky Martin, it wasn't about being Latino. It was about fusion. I think I can make a fusion between Asian and American music."

He said he expects word of mouth — from his YouTube videos, Internet fan sites and the broadcast of the South Korean soap operas that established his celebrity — to help kick-start his American career. "The Digital Age is helping propel me," Rain said.

With his fresh-faced courtliness and the motto "Endless effort, endless endurance, endless modesty," the singer can at times seem more like an earnest taekwondo white belt than the guy Time magazine called "the face — the well-muscled torso — of pop globalism." Although he said he wants to show American women "how sweet and loving Asian men are," Rain said his larger mission is to open the Western pop-culture portal for other performers from the Far East.

"I want an Asian to make it," Rain said. "And whether I'm the first person to succeed or if it's someone else, I want to lay down a foundation."

"Being the one to do it, I would love to be that person," he added. "But I leave it up to fate."

chris.lee@latimes.com

Rain

Where: Staples Center, 1111 S. Figueroa St., Los Angeles
When: 8 tonight
Price: $65 to $273
Contact: (213) 742-7340

출처 http://www.calendarlive.com/music/

credit: [Yellow Boots]Rain's maniacafe, Benamoo

Singer, Rain: World Concert Tour Cancelled

2007-07-02T05:31:00.000-07:00

01 July 07, isjang@yna.co.kr
Credit: baidu.com
Kr to Ch: lovebi_rain
Ch to Eng: rayndrop

"Although I've given my all, but things didn't go as I'll like them to, and I couldn't keep my promise of a concert. I'm very sorry."

Rain, whose LA World Concert Tour was cancelled attended the fan-meeting at Wilshire Grand Hotel on 30th June. He apologised several times, and said, "This is the last concert in the World Concert Tour. I'm very sad it ended that way."

To the fifty-odd fans who flew in especially from Japan, Rain said, "I had countless practices and was determined to make my fans happy. I didn't expect to reach the concert venue at Staples Centre and encounter a situation where even the stage is incomplete." "Facing a situation where I cannot make any decisions (cannot do anything about), I feel helpless (wronged)."

Below is an interview with Rain:

Q: The LA concert was the only remaining concert left in the US concert tour. What was cancelled too?
A: I was determined to make it a successful concert, but things did not go as I wanted it to be, and the concert was cancelled due to security reasons. When I arrived at the concert hall, the stage was not constructed at all. Although I did all I can, I couldn't keep my promise to the fans. I am extremely apologetic.

Q: After a succession of cancellations, do you have any plans to reschedule?
A: Due to this ridiculous conclusion to the final concert of my world tour, my heart is really aching. After successfully completing the Asia tour, I have put in countless effort and determination to make the US tour a perfect end to the World Concert Tour. All I hoped for was to make my fans happy, but things turned out this way in the end. I'll like to thank my Asian fans for making the Asia tour a success, and to my US fans who have been anticipating my concert, I am so very sorry. I will work towards meeting my fans on a better stage in the near future. I will definitely do my concerts with good people.

Q: Was there no way to stop that chain of problems that had happened?
A: For what had happened, I'll like to apologize once again. I feel wronged I wasn't able to make any decision (do anything) about this. At the end of the day, I've learned that everything requires me to be even more hardworking. I will put in even more effort to put on a better performance.

Q: What's your schedule like going forward?
A: I'll be flying to Berlin tomorrow to begin filming of the movie "Speed Racer". In many months to come, I may be unable to give any news to my fans. I will return after the filming concludes.

Below is an interview with Star M Lee In-Gwang:

Q: You didn't anticipate a scenario where the concert will be cancelled?
A: Yesterday (29th), at around 11pm, we realised the severity of the situation. V2B Global, which has been emphasizing that there are no problem, did not pay the production people in time. the equipments did not reach the concert site at all. Furthermore, the specifications at Staples Centre did not meet requirements. V2B Global came to us once with the cash and guaranteed to do their best for the concert. We had to make good our promise to let them handle the concert, but in the end, we had to cancel the concert due to insufficient time.

Q: The reason behind all the US concerts being cancelled?
A: The local production and organising companies all made grand promises of being able to handle the concerts, but in the end, they scr3wed up. In the case of the LA concert, due to delayed payment, there was even an incident when the lighting crew walked away. In order to keep our promise to fans, we paid the transport logistics, the air tickets of relevant personnel and even food expenses. We have tried our best, but things simply did not happen according to our will. We are in deep discussion about the directly handling issues such as relevant rent and the ticket sales for the next concert.

Q: In other words, there will be rescheduling?
A: We may have brought too much disappointment to the fans already. For them, at worst, we will even consider doing a free concert. Far all the problems that have happened with the concerts, we will re-look at them and come up with improved strategies. Thereafter, we will reschedule after proper planning. Such an incident will not happen again.

Rain busy in LA cellpone is like his girlfriend

2007-06-30T01:22:00.000-07:00

Source: 'Dong Sen' Newspaper
Credit: nicolech76@rainhk
Chi to Eng Translation: jeslyn & dsl99a@rain-usa

South Korean popstar Rain will soon be holding a large-scale concert in Los Angeles. These days Rain has been stepping up with more rehearsals, and passed his 25th birthday by working. Rain leads the Hallyu Wave to sweep into the US, and with the influence of "The Matrix" he marches towards Hollywood.

The present existence of South Korean popstar Rain, causes the entire audience of fans to scream loudly and crazily; his singing and dancing also captivates people. Now the flow of this Hallyu Wave will be sweeping across through Los Angeles on June 30th. In order to make every effort perfect, Rain rehearses continually, but also diets sedulously. Several days ago he passed his 25th birthday by working.

Rain said, "In South Korea's custom and tradition, one must eat sea-weed soup on the birthday, but this year's birthday is ordinary, apart from working, I am always on the cell phone, simply did not have the time to eat sea-weed soup, the cell phone is like my girlfriend!"

At the press conference, Rain had some stage 'wildness', showing his smiling face, the makings of like a little boy. Although he has been studying English diligently but turns down answering questions in English, this did not affect his charm. The American media also called Rain the Asian version of Justin Timberlake, and now he is even participating in a Hollywood movie performance.

Rain says, "The Matrix is one of the best movies I have seen, to be able to participate in a new film, this is a very big honor".

It is because of this graceful character of Rain that caught the attention of directors the Wachoski Brothers. And as a racing car contestant in a Japanese animation-turned-movie, the Asian pop sensation's international standing will be pushed one step forward again.

06.28.07 Korean Superstar Rain Prepares For LA Concert

2007-06-30T01:21:00.000-07:00

Link to News Clip: http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=entertainment&id=5432404
Source: ABC7.com (Los Angeles)
Credit: ondine & dani@rain-usa (thanks for sharing the link!!)
Picture credit: Baidu RAIN Bar
From:rain-usa June 28, 2007 (KABC-TV) -

He is known as Korea's Justin Timberlake.

Last year, Time magazine called him the second most influential artist in the world.

This year, he was named one of People magazine's Most Beautiful people. Even Diddy is a fan.

Now, the international superstar who goes by the name of Rain is bringing his high-energy musical concert tour to Southern California this Saturday for one night only.

"Hi, this is Ji-Hoon. I'm happy to be in L.A. See you at my concert. Thank you," he said.

Beyond those words, the 25-year-old performer wasn't comfortable doing the interview in English.

However, learning more of our language may be in his future.

"I was very surprised to find that I had a lot of fans in the U.S. and it surprised me a lot to see that my fan base has expanded into the American market," Rain said, through an interpreter.

"Instead of showing what's on the outer of my body, what I want to do is show my fans at the Staples Center concert, is to show my inner feelings and to show about who I really am," Rain said, through an interpreter.

He'll show fans that this Saturday at Staples Center.

And next month, he'll start filming the live action big screen version of the old cartoon series, "Speed Racer."

06.27.07 Rain: "I'll Do My Best..."

2007-06-30T01:20:00.000-07:00

Source: RainWorld
Chi translation by Rain_No1@Baidu RAIN bar
Eng translation by jjbug@rain-malaysia
Edited by dsl99a@rain-usa

Rain has finally voiced out his position regarding the accusal of fraud. Now he focuses most of his time in rehearsal.

On June 26 (USA time), Rain expressed his position through the world tour organiser, StarM. In these few days, Rain has gone through more trainings and practices which occupied more than 12 hours per day. He hopes the LA concert can be a wonderful and perfect show.

In the telephone conversation with SPN on the morning of the 27th, Rain talked about his feeling, "Although I look alright, in fact I'm very upset. So I realise I should have more practices..."

Singer Rain wants to prove his strength by showing his best. Later he added, "Instead of throwing words around, let's prove to them my strength. It seems like I have better understanding about the meaning 'try our best and the rest is up to the luck'...."

StarM stated their intention to object the accusal from Hawaii producer. Through the media StarM voiced out, "They plan to bring StarM, Rain and JYPE to the court while they are the owner of concert copyright, moreover they requested for another 500 thousand dollars using the excuse of 'it's the court commission'... Indeed this is a fraud!"

Through its evidences, StarM also mentioned, "Rain who is innocent, is now being accused. We will bring this issue to the court to compensate his loss due to defamation!"

[06/26/07] [Nate] Rain : "I'm upset too.." -Reveals his thoughts on American Concerts

2007-06-30T01:17:00.000-07:00

http://news.nate.com/Service/natenews/ShellView.asp?ArticleID=2007062609284856105&LinkID=2
Source: Nate australia
Translation & Credit: S2cookie@cloud-australia

Rain revealed his upset heart on his American concerts setback.

Rain, on his 25th birthday on the 25th, at 6:35pm, left words on his fan cafe Benamoo, revealing his impressions on his birthday and his miserable heart on his American concerts. As known, Rain's American concerts, with the exception of the LA concert on the 30th, have all been postponed or cancelled.

Regarding this Rain said "Because of the name 'Rain' and production issues that no-one would of thought of, we have been put at a setback for the concerts. I am so upset over the fact that my promise to my fans have been broken which is not my wish.'

He also expressed his desire by saying "They were concerts that I had given up so much for....and I also wish that there will be no further setbacks to my concerts for my fans because of rumours that are being created because of many people's greed. I would actually prefer that I plan and make the stage myself from the next concert. Then there shouldn't be any problems, should there?"

"Anyway, everybody, don't worry. Didn't I say? If I cannot show you 100%, I will not even start. For that 100%, I am doing my best today with all my effort. I will become everybody's Rain that is not embarassing and to be proud of. Please continue to watch and support me ^_______^ June 25th, On my 25th birthday, Jihoon."

Singer Rain, he must not be hurt any more

2007-06-27T05:11:00.000-07:00

source: http://www.edaily.co.kr/news/newsRead.asp?sub_cd=DH12&newsid=01886006583165656&&curtype=read&curtype=read
translated by windflower@rain-eu
From: Rain-usa
posted by: LifeMadeSimple923 @ soompi

[Edaily, reporter Yoon Kyung-cheol]
"Though his fault was only practing for more than 10 hours a day..."

I feel pity when I see Rain's U.S. tour which is in trouble with serial sensations recently.

Aside from that Rain is a world star who will debut in a hollywood movie, I feel sorry why the staffs didn't progress it smoothly.

On his birthday, June 25, in his fan page, Rain came out with his regret on the current situation which is being happened differently from his will.

Click Entertainment Co., the investor of the Hawaii concert, sued Rain, JYP Entertainment, Star-M and Revolution Entertainment concerning the delay of Hawaii concert. Rain must feel aggrieved at his being sued when he was practicing hardly targeting on a stepping into the world stage.

American local media mentioned even 'fraud' saying 'Pop star Rain accused of fraud in Hawaii', but Rain didn't affect the delay of concert directly. It is against the indication of the American local media.

On the contrary he threw himself into practicing only and constrained himeself from commenting on this thing. At the same time he showed his matured character with concerning other people around him.

His attitude like this was seen also at the press conference in Tokyo last May. About the Sydney concert in which there was disharmony during world tour, Rain pleaded for the staffs saying that "People may learn by mistake." at the press conference.

Of course no more mistakes will not be allowed.

In the society, especially in America, where a trust and a responsibility are important, carrying out a contract is the most important thing. Of course the situation is not a fault of Rain. And this might be a mistake happened during the staffs tried their best.

But I'm afraid that these back-to-back mistaken trials and errors may let Rain fade away before he bloom in U.S market, when he was regarded as a star of the decades.

Official announcement from Rain world tour StarM(full story)

2007-06-27T05:08:00.000-07:00

Kim Tae-Eun @ Money today, StarNews
Translated by Jay@Rain-USA.com

Rain’s world tour promotion & production company, StarM released official announcement regarding recent lawsuit filed by Hawaii local promoter, Click Entertainment. Main content of this announcement is Rain will counter act to fraud lawsuit of Hawaii concert.

Click Entertainment filed the lawsuit against Rain, StarM, JYPE, and Revolution Entertainment stating the reason for the cancellation of the Hawaii concert is to snatch the Licensing fee, $500,000.

Regarding this accusation, StarM will counter act to Click Entertainment who filed lawsuit against not only non contract related parties, StarM & JYPE but also the artist, Rain.

Since StarM have not received actual lawsuit documents from Hawaii yet so don’t know how non related parties, StarM, JYPE and even Rain, are related to this lawsuit. StarM contradict Click’s accusation about the cancellation of Hawaii concert and also stated they will counter suit.

Also StarM emphasized that the innocent party, Rain’s name, is defamed because of this and we will prepare firm confrontation legally. “Rain prepared the concert diligently for 3 years since world tour planned and finished the concerts perfectly. Asian tour is finished and in process of preparing US tour, Rain’s name issue and problem with local production incurred.

Rain visited Atlanta and New York last May and right after Bangkok concert, he visited US embassy for US visa. Rain’s responsibility is to perform his best at the concert when everything is ready. Rain executed his duty diligently and prepared every concert perfectly.”

“Decision of cancellation is made by StarM with advise from Rain world tour production specialist team. Rain mandated all right to StarM. Rain is absolutely not responsible for the cancellation of Hawaii concert. In spite of all, Click forgot basic respect to the artist for the reparation issue between promoters and mentioning ‘fraud’ to the artist. We are preparing for defamation suit against Click Entertainment.” Also expressed their regret to some press media who wrote malicious articles based on unconfirmed information.

They mentioned there were serious problems with local production in Hawaii aside from the using of Rain’s name issue.

“We can not conduct the concert when there is no way we can set up the basic production formation and thrust stage that has not 100% waterproof, specially with weather like Hawaii that has a lot of rain and wind.” They stated and “Local promoter insist the concert where no concert production can be set up. How can we do the concert when there is a risk that the stage might collapse?” asked in return.

StarM also opened e-mails between local production manager and tour production manager to public. They couldn’t continue the process when there is no basic safety for the artist and tour equipment worth millions of dollars.

According to e-mail, there are serious problems with venue rental schedule, no acknowledged lists of requested equipments and most of all, warning of safety and local production preparation on unsafe thrust stage for production formation.

In addition, they pointed problem with USA tour promoter, Revolution Entertainment who should control and manage local promoters.

“StarM contract Revolution Entertainment on Feb. 9th for 5 North America concerts for $2.25 million and Revolution Entertainment sold to local promoters for Hawaii and Canada concert. In process of resale, Revolution Entertainment didn’t maintain control of local production which should have been in agreement with StarM, marketing, ticket pricing. In addition, according to Click Entertainment, Click said they paid in full concert right fee, $500,000 before May. But Revolution didn’t paid any balance after paying down payment of $450,000 around Feb. 20th. Click should process litigation to Revolution for reparation. But Click is processing the litigation not only non related parties, StarM, JYPE but also the artist, Rain.” StarM emphasized they will confront firmly on this matter.

Also, “StarM notified termination of the contract on May 24th due to violation of contract by missing payment dates and Revolution should relay the termination to Click. In fact, StarM try to work with Click to make Hawaii concert happen even after the termination.

This was for to avoid damage to local promoter more than monetary loss of StarM. But the production problem that stated above and the lawsuit about name issue, we announced postponement of US tour on Jun. 7th inevitably. On Jun. 7th, StarM announced the postponement to press after received the memorandum from Revolution stating Revolution will be responsible for all cost due to damage occurred and ticket refunds.”

“Revolution promised to take the responsibility for damage cost due to cancellation and ticket refunds. We are considering legal litigation to Revolution for not fulfilling the promise.”

Also mentioned lawsuit about Rain name’s provisional disposition.

“After lawsuit about Rain’s service right on Feb. 20th, we tried very hard to resolve this matter outside of court. But we failed negotiation due to Rain Corp.’s unreasonable demand. On May 15th, Rain’s name provisional disposition lawsuit is filed and even after that, we try to continue the tour by changing concert name, etc. But we have no idea what the outcome of ruling will be and there was no way we could continue the concert tour with huge reparation might incur and lawsuit of service right. In a mean while we had on going problem with agreement with local production. This is the reason we had to cancel the Hawaii concert.” StarM explained.

StarM is now preparing the counter suit to Click and also preparing litigation for defamation of Rain.

tekim@mtstarnews.com

Rain to Star in Special CNN Ad

2007-06-27T05:07:00.001-07:00

Source: http://english.kbs.co.kr/entertainment/news/1463328_11858.html

Korean singer Rain will be the main model for a special advertisement on the world's biggest news channel CNN.

This special type of ad that restrains the sending of commercial messages has appealed more to customers and has actively been used by public US corporations in recent days.

The Korea Tourism Organization has been airing an ad utilizing its slogan 'Korea Sparkling!' with Rain as the model since April to 17 countries worldwide. The ad's visual is considered to promote Korea's energy and softness. A CNN official, after watching the ad, proposed that the tourism organization produce another ad in a different style, which is how the latest deal came about.

KNTO director Cha So-hee says the new ad has been made exclusively for CNN and is expected to significantly promote Korean tourism during the months of July and August.

Singer Rain has previously appeared on the CNN talk show 'Talk Asia' and also made it on the world's top 100 influential people list by Time magazine in 2006.

Order issued by Judge Larry R. Hicks on 6/21/2007

2007-06-27T05:04:00.000-07:00

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
DISTRICT OF NEVADA
*******************************************
RAIN CORPORATION, a Nevada corporation, Plaintiff,
v.
JYP ENTERTAINMENT, LTD. a Korean limited company, JI-HOON JEONG a/k/a RAIN, an individual, STAR M ENTERTAINMENT, a Korean company, Defendants.

03:07-CV-00081-LRH-RAM
ORDER

Presently before the court is Rain Corporation's ("Plaintiff") Motion for Preliminary Injunction (# 121). Defendants JYP Entertainment, Ltd., Ji-Hoon Jung a/k/a Rain ("Jung"), and Star Entertainment (collectively, "Defendants") have filed a Response (# 19), and Plaintiff replied (# 35).

I. Factual Background
This is a trademark and unfair competition action arising from Jung's use of the word "Rain" to identify himself. Plaintiff is a Nevada corporation in the business of producing and performing musical events featuring its Beatles tribute band called "Rain". Plaintiff has used the mark "Rain" since 1975 to identify its musical band and services. Plaintiff registered the mark "Rain" for entertainment services with the United States Patent and Trademark Office in 1988. Plaintiff has performed in approximately thirty states, most Canadian provinces, Jamaica and on international cruise ships.

Defendant Jung is a Korean singer, dancer, model, and actor. In Korea, throughout Asia, and among Asian-American fans in the United States, Jung is primarily known as "Rain". Jung adopted the Korean name "Bi" (in Korean script), a Korean word that means "rain", as his stage name. Since 2004, Jung has starred in several television shows broadcast throughout the world via satellite, cable, and availability on DVD. Jung began performing in the United States in February of 2004. In February, 2006, Jung held his first solo concert in the United States at Madison Square Garden. Jung has recently commenced a tour of the United States as part of his 2006-2007 world tour that began in Korea in October, 2006.

As a result of Jung's use of the term "Rain", Plaintiff filed this action. At this time, Plaintiff is seeking a preliminary injunction preventing Defendants from using the "Rain" mark, or any confusingly similar variation thereof, in conjunction with the sale, offer for sale, promotion, advertising, or provision of any goods or services in the United States.

II. Legal Standard
The Ninth Circuit uses two alternative tests to determine whether a preliminary injunction should issue. According to the "traditional test", the equitable criteria for granting preliminary injunctive relief are: (1) a strong likelihood of success on the merits; (2) the possibility of irreparable injury to the plaintiffs if injunctive relief is not granted; (3) a balance of hardships favoring the plaintiffs; and (4) advancement of the public interest. Textile Unlimited, Inc. v. A..BMH & Co., Inc., 240 F.3d 781, 786 (9th Cir.2001) (citing Los Angeles Mem'l Coliseum Comm'n v. Nat'l Football League, 634 F.2d 1197, 1200 (9th Cir.1980)). In the alternative, the Ninth Circuit uses a "sliding scale" or balancing test where injunctive relief is available to a party who demonstrates either: (1) a combination of probable success on the merits and the possibility of irreparable harm; or (2) that serious questions are raised and the balance of hardships tips in its favor. A & M Records, Inc. v. Napster, Inc., 239 F.3d 1004, 1013 (9th Cir.2001) (citing Prudential Real Estate Affiliates, Inc. v. PPR Realty, Inc., 204 F.3d 867, 874 (9th Cir.2000)).

III. Discussion
In its complaint, Plaintiff asserts causes of action for trademark infringement pursuant to 15 U.S.C. Â§ 1114(a), unfair competition pursuant to 15 U.S.C. Â§ 1125(a), and common law unfair competition and trademark infringement. The test for trademark infringement and unfair competition claims is whether the alleged infringer's use of a mark is likely to cause confusion. M2 Software, Inc. v. Madacy Entm't, 421 F.3d 1073, 1080 (9th Cir. 2005) (citing Cleary v. News Corp., 30 F.3d 1255, 1262-63 (9th Cir. 1994)). The test for likelihood of confusion is whether a "reasonably prudent consumer" in the market place is likely to be confused as to the origin of the good or service bearing one of the marks'. Dreamwerks Prod. Group, Inc. v. SKG Studio, 142 F.3d 1127, 1129 (9th Cir. 1998) (footnote omitted). In determining whether there is a likelihood of confusion, the Ninth Circuit has looked to the following eight non-exclusive factors: strength of the mark, proximity of the goods, similarity of the marks, evidence of actual confusion, marketing channels used, types of goods and the degree of care likely to be exercised by the purchaser, defendant's intent in selecting the mark, and likelihood of expansion of the product lines. AMF Inc. v. Sleekcraft Boats, 599 F.2d 341, 348-49 (9th Cir. 1979) (citing Sleeper Lounge Co. v. Bell Mfg. Co., 253 F.2d 720, 722 (9th Cir. 1958)). However, this list of factors is not a "score-card" and the relative importance of each factor is case specific. Thane Int'l, Inc. v. Trek Bicycle Corp., 305
F.3d 894, 901 (9th Cir. 2002). The likelihood of confusion inquiry is inherently factual and usually requires a full record. Id. at 902; Clicks Billiards, Inc. v. Sixshooters, Inc., 251 F.3d 1252, 1265 (9th Cir. 2001).

In the case at bar, the court has carefully considered the parties points and authorities along with the evidence presented and concludes that a preliminary injunction is not warranted. The court's preliminary analysis of the Sleekcraft factors indicates that some factors favor Plaintiff while others favor Defendants. Although Plaintiff has presented sufficient evidence to the court to demonstrate that this case raises serious questions, there is insufficient evidence to demonstrate a strong likelihood of success on the merits or that the balance of hardships tips in Plaintiff's favor. The court reiterates, however, that the likelihood of confusion inquiry is a factual inquiry that generally requires a full record. Thane Int'l, Inc., 305 F.3d at 902. Based on the record currently before the court, it appears that the question of whether Jung's use of the term "rain" is likely to cause confusion is ultimately a question of fact that can only be determined by a jury.

With regard to the injury asserted by Plaintiff, Plaintiff argues that Defendants use of the word "rain" in the United States will destroy its hard work and investment because it will be forced to explain to the public and music venues that Plaintiff is not the Korean "Rain". Other than speculation, Plaintiff has provided no evidence that its hard work and investment will be destroyed. Moreover, the prevailing party in a trademark infringement action is entitled, subject to the principles of equity, to recover (1) defendant's profits, (2) any damages sustained by the plaintiff, and (3) the costs of the action. 15 U.S.C. Â§ 1117(a). Hence, the harm Plaintiff seeks to avoid is compensable to the extent Plaintiff is successful in this litigation.

Similarly, the court finds that in assessing the need for a preliminary injunction, the balance of hardships favors Jung. If Plaintiff ultimately prevails in this action, the harm it will suffer
should no injunction issue is its loss of control over the use of the mark "Rain". See Int'l Kennel Club of Chicago, Inc. v. Mighty Star, Inc., 846 F.2d 1079, 1091 (7th Cir. 1988) (citing James Burrough, Ltd. v. Sign of Beefeater, Inc., 540 F.2d 266, 276 (7th Cir. 1976)). Beyond this, Plaintiff has yet to provide evidence indicating that it will suffer any actual harm. Jung, on the other hand, is currently beginning the United States portion of his 2006-2007 World Tour. Should an injunction issue, Jung will likely incur substantial costs in communicating the name change effectively. See (Decl. of Sangbong Byun Â¶ 13.) Defendants have invested more than three million dollars in the United States portion of Jun's world tour. Id. As part of this promotion, Defendants have prepared concert-related merchandise, such as t-shirts, hats and phone straps that would have to be withdrawn from the marketplace should an injunction issue. Id. Finally, it is certainly possible that an injunction would confuse Jung's fans as to whether he is actually performing and cause those fans to return tickets or decline to attend Jung's concerts.

In short, the limited evidence before the court fails to show that Plaintiff has a strong likelihood of success on the merits. Furthermore, there is insufficient evidence of irreparable harm should an injunction not issue. Nonetheless, Plaintiff has raised serious questions with respect to trademark infringement that will likely need to be decided by a jury. Despite the questions that have been raised, an injunction is not appropriate because the evidence before the court at this stage indicates that the balance of hardships favors Defendants.

IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that Plaintiff's Motion for Preliminary Injunction (# 12) is hereby DENIED.

IT IS SO ORDERED.
DATED this 21st day of June, 2007.
__________________________________
LARRY R. HICKS
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

US World Tour Organiser "Is Deeply Apologetic for Causing Damage to Rain's Reputation"

2007-06-23T04:16:00.000-07:00

23 Jun Daum news
Kr to Ch: lovebi_rain
Ch to Eng: rayndrop

Official organiser, Revolution Entertainment, released an official notice on night of the 22nd, stating their stand on the problems pertaining to singer Rain's US Concert Tour.

After Rain's US concert tour was forced to go on hold, several refunding and other problems emerged. The local promoter who holds rights to the US concert tour issued an official apology for this.

Recently, Rain was having legal issues for the use of "Rain". This affected his world concert tour, named "Rain's Coming", which was slated to happen on 30th June.

The prosecution case was raised by a Nevada-based records company, Rain Corporation, which has already registered the name "Rain" for a Beatles tribute band under them, called "Rain".

O the 21st (US time), Nevada State Court has rejected the case. Rain is hance able to use his original concert tour name "Rain's Coming" for his upcoming LA concert in L.A.

As the official promoter for the US concert tour, Revolution Entertainment has this to say, "We apologies for the concert postponements brought about by the 'Rain' lawsuit, and takes responsibility for not taking preventive measures before this issue happened. We're looking for ways to make up for the losses that has been occurred due to the postponements". "We are deeply apologetic for the damage to Rain's reputation, and the disappointments to fans."

Below is a statement from Revolution Entertainment:

As the official promoter which holds rights to Rain's Coming 06/07 Rain World Tour US concerts, we apologies for the concert postponements brought about by the 'Rain' lawsuit, and takes responsibility for not taking preventive measures before this issue happened."

We're sorry to the local organisers, including the Hawaiian organiser, who suffered direct and indirect losses due to this isse. At present, Revolution Entertainment is seeking solutions to the losses inflicted on local organisers due to the postponement, and is in negotiation on closing this issue amicably.

Revolution Entertainment takes responsibility for this issue, and has sent representatives to the relevant areas to understand the present situation, and is trying our best on looking for a solution.

The concert tour which is greatly anticipated by the local and overseas media and fans has met with difficulties due to issues outside our control. However, Revolution Entertainment will work in hand with Star M, which holds the original rights to this concert tour, to find an acceptable solution in the quickest time possible.

We're deeply apologetic for the damage in reputation this has brought to the artiste, Rain, and is sorry for the disappointment caused to all parties involved, as well as fans and all who love Rain.

Thank you.

RAIN vs Focus: The Similarities

2007-06-23T04:14:00.000-07:00

07.06.20
Source: Focus News Network (FNN) ±èÁöÇý±âÀÚ affinity@fnn.co.kr
Chi translation by lovebi_rain@Baidu RAIN bar
Eng translation by jjbug@rain-malaysia

A Korean youth walking to the world, RAIN vs Focus: Their similarities?

To celebrate the 1000th press publication of Focus News

A practice maniac whenever there's a chance

The sudden inspiration will be noted down immediately and always it's the NO.1 source of creativity~
As a singer and actor, he would like to be an icon to evoke overseas Korean to miss their hometown...

Noone could predict that this young boy with single eyelid can grow up so fast within 5 years: He was a boy who called himself 'Bad Guy' in year 2002 but now he is an international star showing his influence around the world. Dragging a starving body and stared straight infront of him, he started his journey... Initially he got one audience, two audience.... but now he walks out from Korea and Asia. With each confident step, he begins his tour in USA, Europe and more places.
Rain (25, Jeong Jihun), a successful domestic artist entering the world-class stage sent his regards to FNN upon its 1000th press publication.

Can't stop the greed

There're many characteristics to show Rain is a workaholic. It might be a difficult job for others but Rain has more than one job on his hand. You see his album recently, and then you may not aware since when he filmed a new drama. Plus movie, concert and uncountable events, 365 days in his calender are filled up.

"You gotta try your best when chances come, so I just do it and see how it goes. Managers will do the follow-up for me, that's why I always get scolded But I can't stand it, I have to try it at least." He is Rain, the student who insisted his 3-year-and-4-month training until the end. His stubborn insistence comes from the belief "It can't be done without this".

Since his debut album until now, Rain continued the 2-hour song practice on the trackmill. So as the dance, he never relax or turns lazy. "When I was young, someone who taught me dances said this: If you can't sleep peacefully, means you have something undone. Therefore I will practise again if I can't sleep at night. I've been like this until now."

Super fortune to meet Park Jinyoung (JYP)

Because of my strong interest in dance, I used to join the children who shared the same interest. Yet I felt that I missed something, so I would like to start up at a better place. Later, I met JYP in Senior Middle two.

"It was great luck to meet Hyung (JYP). In the interview, I was alone and the interview went on from 12pm to 7pm. I thought of giving up but there was no other place for me. I was desparate thus I continued dancing non-stop." JYP saw his insistence and passion, thus he made him pass the test. JYP taught him the way to fish instead of feeding him the fish.

"Half of hyung's work schedule is occupied by my stuffs, I feel sorry about that. Now I wish to give him the chance to work for himself. It's untrue to say that we are separated completely. I'm planning to think over it after my world tour." He is abit worried about being alone in his future career. Although the 4th album was released, JYP trademark still follows him.
"Until the 4th album, it's true that I try to express something through hyung's songs. I won't be eager to challenge myself in the composer job just because I left my previous company. I don't even have time to take care of myself, frankly. Only when I'm confident, I'll go for song composing."

A box placed in his room, it's the creativity box. It collects all the quick and sudden ideas he got when looking at the passing-by buses, walking stick of old man, etc. "Before the album release, I used to read the notebook to see what can be used. It's my NO.1 treasure box!"

The pain of missing his mother, is the strength behind him

"Mother" is Rain's supporting strength. Well perhaps his mother is the one who guides him indirectly to today's position. Every time talking about his mother, his eyes redden and words stuck in the throat.

"Mother's life was full of pains before she died. I would like to bring her to the aeroplane, buy her a good house and stays comfortably..... Whenever I felt exhausted on the stage, I recall... This is totally uncomparable to the pains which my mother sufferred because we didn't have money to buy pain-killer... So I can get over it everytime..."

Noone can understand the mood of patient's family. When he knew about the situation of An Sopong, he gave his helping hands immediately. Rain said, "Every people will do that, not just me. I've been a patient's family so I can understand their suffer and the patient's pain. Everyone can do this. I feel sorry that this incident was publicised in the media. I hope they can fight against the cancer."

'International Star' is still an on-going journey

Since his world tour started last December, Rain will take part in Hollywood movie in July and August. As a singer and actor, he is stepping forward. Nonetheless, the title 'International Star' still burdens him.

"I love and admire the movie . It's like a dream for me to work with Wachowski brothers that directed this movie. I think it's still not a good time to talk more about the cooperation. Language is still a hurdle and I just start my actor life. This is only a staircase for me to walk up." Next year, Rain is going to release an album to visualise his career in USA. He hopes that the movie can be successful and be a stepping stone for his entrance into this country.

"Artist is someone who knows what they have and brings the joys to the audience. Whether it's music, drama or movie, I put the audience in the first place. My ambition is: now my fans can recall me when they see the rain. I would like to be a singer and actor with persistant scent, that lives in people's memories and make them think of their hometown~"

US court dismissed the law suit

2007-06-23T04:13:00.000-07:00

Source; WonKyum, Kim @ realtime.Star News
Translation; Jay@rain-usa.com

Rain will use his name for US concerts, US court dismissed the law suit
Star News

World Star, Rain is able to use his name for US concerts after all.
StarM, who conducting Rain’s world tour, announced US court dismissed the law suit from Rain Corp. which requesting not to use Rain name in Rain’s concert in USA on 22nd of June.

Earlier, Rain Corp. from Nevada filed law suit requesting Rain should not use name Rain for his USA concerts.
This company has Beatle Tribute band called ‘Rain’ and the reason for the law suit was they have the service right register for the name, Rain.

They filed the law suit for service right on Feb. 22 and also filed the request Rain to stop the US concert tour. Therefore Rain’s US concert became a vague and ended up postponing US concerts.

StarM said, “US concerts are already postponed so we are discussing reschedule of concerts (ATL, NY, SF, LA) will release new schedule once it is decided”.

Rain will perform LA concert on Jun. 30 and head to Berlin, Germany to shoot his new movie, Speed Racer.

Rain Fans Sign Petition to Show Support

2007-06-23T04:11:00.000-07:00

June 19, 2007
By Cathy Rose A. Garcia
Staff Reporter
Source: cathy@koreatimes.co.kr
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/art/2007/06/135_5007.html

Singer Rain faces legal challenge over his name.

Fans from all over the world are signing a petition in support of K-pop singer Rain, who is facing a legal battle over the use of his name in the United States.

On the Web site www.ipetitions.com, a fan created an online petition titled "Rain/Bi deserves to keep his stage name." As of 6:30 p.m. on June 19, there have been over 3,400 people who have signed the petition.

The petition is aimed at showing fans' support for Rain, who is being sued by Nevada-based music company Music Corp. who claims to have the copyright for the use of the name "Rain" in the U.S. The company, who has a band named "Rain The Beatles Experience," wants the Korean singer to stop using the name there.

"If you feel that this lawsuit is for publicity and money, sign it. If you think this is wrong, sign it. If you are a fan of Rain and want him to continue with his success in America, sign this petition! Most importantly, this petition is to show that Rain/ Bi deserves to keep his stage name," the petition stated.

Due to the lawsuit, Rain's concerts in the U.S. originally scheduled for this month have been postponed. Fans have posted comments on the Web site, saying they love and support the Korean singer. Most fans were angry over the lawsuit, which caused the postponement of his U.S. concert tour "Rain's Coming."

One fan said Rain should be allowed to keep his name, which is the English translation of his Korean stage name "Bi."

Another fan with the username Duong noted Rain is already a well known singer around Asia, while Rain the Beatles Experience is hardly known by anyone.

Rain is already known in the U.S., after being named one of People Magazine's 100 Most Beautiful People, and topping the online poll of Time Magazine's Most Influential People of 2007. He is scheduled to start filming the Hollywood film "Speed Racer" next month in Germany.

While most of his U.S. concert dates have been postponed, Rain is expected to hold a concert at the Staples Center in Los Angeles June 30.

"I won't use any substitute even there're dangerous and risky scenes.. .." In fact, RAIN will take part in all the car racing scenes himself!

2007-06-19T04:14:00.000-07:00

Sources: Sportschosun & DAUM ÀÌÁ¤Çõ ±âÀÚ jjangga@sportschosun.com
Chi translation by lovebi_rain@Baidu RAIN bar
Eng translation by jjbug@rain-malaysia

In his debut movie , Rain will not use any substitute whereas he will go through the car racing of max speed 300km/h himself.

Actor & singer RAIN is going to challenge the action scenes in his first debut into Hollywood.

Rain is confirmed to start his filming from next month onwards. This movie is a new production by world class director, Wachowski Brothers . Rain promises he will take part in all the risky scenes himself.

Rain plays the role of car racer from Asia, his name is TAEJO TOGOKHAN who fights alone to protect his family business.

Innitally, there were not many scenes involving this role when Rain first received the script. However, the participation of this role was significantly increased after the movie presscon held in Berlin, Germany last month.

One of Rain's spokesman revealed, "Rain has about 40-minute casting. Based on the importance of all the roles, he's NO.5." "He'll show up during the climax, indeed it's an influencing role."

Being a car racer, the action scenes are inevitable. Rain himself is going to challenge the maximum driving speed up to 300km/h. :shocked: Of course, the insurance premium is definitely huge because of high risks.
Rain's spokesman said, "We can't tell too much about the insurance and treatment during the filming. As Rain won't use any substitute, the insurance premium is quite expensive."

A special trainer will be allocated for Rain to train him on the acting skills. Upon Rain's arrival in Berlin next month, Rain will start the training on action scenes so that he can adopt the filming soonest possible. The trainer will follow him throughout the filming. It is said that Rain spends more time on the scripts and English conversation at this point of time.

On the other hand, Rain's LA concert will be held on June 30. It should be a slight relief for him as most of his USA world tour concerts are postponed due to the copyright issue of artist name "RAIN".

Rain smiles because the fan who was previously diagnosed to have last stage stomach cancer is recovering

2007-06-19T04:12:00.000-07:00

Source: jjstar@sportshnakook.co.kr
Chi translaion by lovebi_rain@Baidu RAIN bar
Eng translation by jjbug@rain-malaysia

International star RAIN can't hide his happiness when he is informed about the good news, that one of his fans who previously suffered from last stage stomach cancer is getting recovered.

The patient is now allowed to be discharged from hospital and lives together with her family. Rain is so happy to hear this as if good things happen on himself.

The patient's husband revealed Rain's caring in a telephone interview by Sportshnakook, "Rain will call and greet with us even he's busy. We really appreciate his caring."

Due to his busy schedule in Japan, Thailand and Germany last month, Rain was not able to greet the patient. However, upon his arrival at Seoul after his Thailand concerts, he made a call around midnight (June 5) to her husband to ask about her condition.

Rain is so delighted to know that the patient is getting better and better after going through the medical treatment. He also mentioned his intention to visit her again.

This patient is one of Rain's fans. She was diagnosed to have stomach cancer after her delivery to her first child. Rain was aware of this from an email sent by her husband. Thus, Rain secretly visited this lady and provided medical fee to them, too.

Rain's kindness was revealed by MBC documentary programme. When being asked about it in Tokyo Dome presscon, Rain just replied shyly, "It's something that I should do for her."

On the other hand, Rain's world tour in USA faced a lawsuit. A band of same name "Rain" wants to sue Rain for using the same artist name. Initially the verdict was to be announced yesterday, yet the court postponed it to next week due to the court's schedule and the complexity of issues.

StarM, the main organiser of Rain's world tour told the media, "We interpret this decision positively. The LA concert will go on as planned. Whereas the rest of the shows will be re-scheduled after Rain finishes his filming in Hollywood movie in October."

Rain Strikes First China Ad Deal

2007-06-19T04:09:00.000-07:00

By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter
Source: hyowlee@koreatimes.co.kr
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/special/2007/06/178_4738.html

Rain

Rain's star power will reign in China as the hallyu star models for Fuma, a local confectionary company. The one-year contract is the singer's first deal with a mainland Chinese brand.

The 25-year-old returned home after completing photo shoots and filming a TV commercial under tight security from June 8 to 9, according to Yonhap News. The advertisements featuring the pop star and Fuma's new roll cake will be revealed in September.

"Rain had previously modeled for Pepsi-Cola, Pentec cell-phones and make-up brand DHC, among other global labels, but this is his first advertisement for a mainland Chinese company," a Chinese advertisement firm representative told Yonhap News. "Rain, like other superstars in China, chose the food industry, which is an easy means of reaching the masses."

Fuma plans to spend about 50 billion won to promote Rain's ads, which will run on national television as well as on more than six satellite broadcasting systems and every regional channel, according to the local advertising company in charge of the project.

Fuma will also print the pop star's face and signature on the cover of various chocolate, coconut, strawberry and banana-flavored products. The confectionary had previously employed Chinese celebrities such as singer Coco Lee.

The advertising company said that Rain, whose real name is Jung Ji-hoon, will hold a press conference in China in September.

"Various TV programs from CCTV, Funan satellite stations and others are trying to invite Rain to make guest appearances," the advertising representative said. "After hearing about the advertising contract, other major Chinese firms are trying to get in touch with him.''

Rain was scheduled to perform in Hawaii on Friday as part of his world tour concert, but a pending lawsuit with an American record company over the use of his English name 'Rain' has postponed the date for the time being.

Rain's first CF in China

2007-06-14T18:37:00.000-07:00

Credit: yemaozhong's blog
Ch to Eng: rayndrop

The fame of Korean heavenly king, Rain, has been spiraling upwards since 2003. His popularity has spred throughout Asia, filling concert stadiums in different countries and creating a whirlwind wherever he goes. For this, yemaozhong and our client have long established a common agreement: Rain is the sole consideration for endorsing this new product. We had a shock when we first got to know Rain's fees: it was twice the amount of what Jay Chou is charging. The contract negotiation went on for two months, and it was only three days before the shoot that we got the signatures on the dotted line. The time for preparation was unbelievably short; it was almost mission impossible. Thank goodness our production team members at yemaozhong are an experienced bunch. Under such short timeline, Rain's first CF in China still managed to kick off and conclude systematically.

This photoshoot session gave yemaozhong an insight on the stern and professional attitude of Koreans.

A Sneezy Rain

10.30am, Rain arrived in Shanghai from Korea. The moment he got off the plane, Rain was rushed to the studio to start work. He was also nursing a flu. During the session, he kept sneezing. But we needed to do was to supply him with a piece of tissue and everything went on as usual without a minute of delay. He looked so fresh in front of the camera, it was difficult to tell he was sneezing non-stop just a minute ago. Rain's professionalism charmed the crew members there, "Charming appearance with a manly built" was the crew members' description of him.

During the shoot, Yemaozhong also got into the work himself. Standing beside this 1.84m tall individual, I was shorter by a head. Through gesturing and body language, Rain understood immediately - we didn't need a translator at all. He was indeed a legendary dancer: his movements were so beautiful. An A-grade star indeed!

Attire and Bodyguard

All the costumes for the shoot had been confirmed before the session, but Rain still brought along two trunks of clothing especially for this shoot. According to his costume stylist, these were prepared in case of problems with the costumes during the shoot. Rain has especially broad shoulders, so his clothes are all specially tailored. Most mass-produced sizes won't fit him. They've thought of all these even for prep work. Korean artistes are remarkably professional.

Rain's bodyguard looked mass-produced. They're the kind you often see in Kdramas. Although their silence intimidates you a little, they put on a smile constantly after knowing the crew members. Occasionally, they'll utter a few "sorry".

From manager to costume stylists, all of them are friendly but stern at work. They requested for crew passes before the shoot. The film site only recognises passes, not people. This studio of yemaozhong has filmed more than 200 artistes before, but this is the first time we see meet with this situation. We can really learn a few things from the way the Koreans work.

Rain speaks Chinese

Speaking Chinese is difficult to Rain, just like it's difficult for us to understand Korean. But Rain had practised his CF lines way before the shoot. During breaks, he was still muttering "ai shang fei cake". The final pronunciation was much better than we had anticipated. After all, we have heard other Korean stars speak Chinese before.

After the shoot, Rain, who has gone back to his resting room, suddenly popped back. Wearing his charming smile, he shook each of the crew member's hand along with very well-pronounced "xie xie (thank you)". Once again, we experienced this big boy's humbleness and the civilised manners of the Koreans.

Looks like there's a reason this big boy became Asia's Heavenly King.

Rain Fans

We experienced the various creative tactics of fans this time. There are those who patiently argues with the security for half a day; there are those who tried to get into the studio using their own-manufactured passes; there are those who spied on the happenings in the studio using the mirrors in the toilet outside the studio. Many booked cars to chase after his car; some followed Rain to his hotel and booked a room there for themselves. We're talking about a 3000rmb per night room here. Looks like star-chasing is not just a physical exercise, but one that involves financials as well. I hope fans will fall for this ai shang fei cake which Rain is endorsing. I hope the product will become popular like rain and make a splash once it hits the market!

StarM spoke on behalf of Rain

2007-06-14T18:34:00.000-07:00

Source: DAUM
Chi translation by lovebi_rain@Baidu RAIN bar
Eng translation by jjbug@rain-malaysia

On behalf of Rain, StarM commented on the recent news about Rain's USA world tour "A ridiculous article!"
"They said we want to absorb the investors' capital, which is not true at all!"

Regarding the cancellation of Rain's USA tour, some overseas media blamed on Rain and the world tour organisers. Based on these articles, StarM spoke on behalf of Rain, "The Hawaii concert is postponed but not cancelled. All the changes in USA schedule can only be confirmed after June 14."

Rain supposed to start his USA world tour at Hawaii Aloha Stadium on June 15. However, due to the copyright of registered artist name, his USA tour is forced to postpone until the legislation issue is settled.

A USA company named Rain Corporation has raised a lawsuit against Rain (Jeong Jihun) because of the artist name 'Rain'. As a result, the world tour had to be re-scheduled. Rain Corporation started the lawsuit on Feb 20 and they proposed the temporary ban on May 15 "To refrain Rain from using the artist name 'Rain' in his concerts". The court shall announce their decision on June 14. Thus, the Hawaii concert is delayed.

Nonetheless, a domestic media blamed Rain and the main organiser as 'to lock up the capital of investors' by cancelling the Hawaii concert. They also said that the investors may have the risk of bankrup

One of StarM staffs in charge of world tour said, "I'm aware of this negative news, but for sure we have no intention to lock up investors' money. In fact, all the concert copyright (USA region) was sold to Revolution Entertainment. Other than this, the rest of the income and expenses have nothing to do with us. There's no profit division between us and Revolution Entertainment. So it's ridiculous to blame us on locking up capitals

"We cancel the concert on June 15 as the decision of court is only announced on June 14. No matter how, we identify it as one of the hurdles for USA tours, so we decided to postpone. We'll look into it again but regardless of the outcome, we hope other USA concerts can be carried out as planned. We're doing our best to sort out a better solution."

StarM sold '2006/07 Rain's Coming World Tour' concert copyright (5 shows in USA, including New York, Toronto, Vancouver, Atlanta and Hawaii) to Revolution Entertainment, whereas copyright of two shows was sold to V2B Global (San Francisco and Los Angeles).

Rain himself hopes the USA tour (except Hawaii) can be continued smoothly. The upcoming concerts are planned between September and October.

Rain Endorses China Brand in hope of Localisation

2007-06-14T18:29:00.000-07:00

Taken from Ms MX's Blog
Credit: rainlala@baidu.com
Ch to Eng: rayndrop

Last weekend on the 9th and 10th of June, I went to Shanghai with Rain to do a photoshoot session for a product under a China enterprise. This trip was supposed to be a secret, so no media was informed. But the news spred quickly and have reached Korea by today. This is the first time Rain is endorsing a China-made product, breaking many principles surrounding the advertisement deals he took on in the past. First of all, as a norm for Korean artistes, most top-notch stars would not be too willing to appear in advertisement for food (drinks exception). They may even only look coorperation with high-end products. Because of this, Rain, like others, have never accepted an invitation from a food manufacturer. However, he is starting to understand the China market slowly, and has understood that advertising for a quality food product can not only help to enhance his image, but increase his fame through the high product sales. This is in spite of Rain's schedule being full to the brim - he's hardly have time to sleep or eat, especially after he's made a decision to make his debut in Hollywood and will be filming in Berlin in the months of July and August. He's also dedicated to completing his world tour. Perhaps many fans in China are feeling uneasy with the Shanghai concert postponement. Will Rain appear in China this year? Will he neglect the China market now that he's making a debut in Hollywood? It's unevitable that fans have these doubts. Although Rain is unable to visit China frequently, this CF photoshoot session should suffice to tell everyone that Rain has his plans and confidence in China. Although a few partnerships with China in the past had left him with unhappy memories, many misunderstandings and unnecessary conflicts were due to communication barriers and a lack of understanding of China.

To Rain, being an artiste may have been his duty for the past few years, and even at present. The company's direction and the people around him had a lot of influence on how he managed himself and increase his value. Not long ago, Rain's contract with JYPE ended. He has decided not to renew the contract, and has now started on building up his own company. Rain's company commences operation officially in July. Intermittently, he will use his father's company as his agency.

Rainy Entertainment -- It represents the summary of a phase in Rain's life, and symbolises a greater task for him to complete.

In the past, prior to this photoshoot, I had gone to Korea to cover his concerts. During that time, I went to several places in Korea where he had done his advertisements. For two weeks in June, Rain had led his days filming or taking photos for all kinds of advertisements. First, the US filming crew rushed there to film a advertisement publicising the cooperation of a very famous media enterprise with the Korean government. Before that was the Lotte Tax Free Shops CF, and the LG notebook advertisement. Thereafter, he came to China...

The photoshoot with Rain this time showed the China photography crew as well as the ad sponsor how professional Rain is. Although his back started hurting in the midst of the photoshoot, once the camera turns to him, he becomes lively and full of smiles. Many said it's a good thing Rain left JYPE. In the past, too many people saw Rain's rapid ascent and quickly leeched onto him. In the end, Rain was blamed for many of the imperfections. Now, many of his cliques in JYPE has decided to leave with him to set up this new company. If these people have a sense of responsibility and some good conscience, Rain should be able to see even better developments.

The US ad producer side kept telling me that Rain has achieved remarkable success at too young a age. Naturally, he faces great pressure. But what they really want to tell Rain is how important personality is. As a singer, an artiste, Rain has done enough and done well. His next step is prhaps to lay down a set of beliefs on how he can tap on this very young heart to further his ambition, widen his perspective and broaden his heart.

Through conversations with Rain and his manager, I realised they have so much they do not understand about China. But the good feelings, the curiosity and eagerness to enter the China market is indisputable. Rain asked me, "Which Korean female artiste is the most popular in China?" He also asked, "I heard there are many exceptional performances in China. Will participation of overseas artistes like me help to improve those performances even more?" "Do the fans in China still like me?" " Is 'Full House' still being broadcasted?" "Is the Xiang Yang Market in Shanghai still existing?" "Have the imitation goods market been taken care of?"

These questions go to show Rain's interest and concern about China. Unfortunately, the amount of time he has to absorb all these new knowledge and information is simply too little. It's quite a feat he's got time to ask his questions. He's got so little time to listen to answers.

No matter what, Rain is now accepting China advertisements. This means this he will be making his entry in gradually this year and next year to come. In spetember, there will be a CF press confeerence. At that time, Rain hopes to have more time to stay and participate in some interesting television variety shows.

It's been a long time since I've worked with Rain. I have mixed feelings about the opportunity to work together again this time round. Throwing aside the complicated relationships, and starting to look at him as a person, I still think he's very innocent, very talented, but deserving of more protection and moulding. I hope through the cooperation deal with this China brand, he's able to get to know, understand and love China more and in return, be able to do more for his China fans.

Rain's concert canceled as pop star a no-show

2007-06-14T18:28:00.000-07:00

Posted on: Wednesday, June 13, 2007
By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Writer
Source : http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007706130404

A concert Friday by South Korean pop star Rain, scheduled for Aloha Stadium, has been canceled with an announcement by local promoters that may raise more questions than it answers.

The possibility of a future appearance by the Korean Wave idol hasn't been ruled out, but that may be only because there's little solid information to go on.

Honolulu promoters of the event, who are South Korean natives, have no alternate date. At a press conference announcing the canceled date yesterday, the promoters said they didn't know why Rain, whose real name is Jung Ji-hoon, would not appear on schedule in Honolulu.

In fact, they drew news of the cancellation from a Korea Times report Saturday that Rain's U.S. concert dates, including Honolulu's, were being scrapped, even though concert equipment had been shipped to Hawai'i and ticket sales continued throughout the holiday weekend.

Refunds for tickets bought through Ticketmaster will be available starting today. People who purchased $300 premium VIP tickets from Click Entertainment were advised to go to the company's local office beginning next Wednesday to request refunds.

PROMOTERS 'IN THE DARK

Rain had been scheduled to appear yesterday at a press conference to promote the concert. When it became clear that he was not coming, promoters used the room at the Royal Hawaiian to announce the cancellation.

Dong Il Min, creative director of TFD Big Band, a Seoul-based organization assisting Click, said the concert was "postponed" and apologized to ticket buyers.

Dong said neither he nor Click president Seung Su Lee have received official word about Rain's concert plans being changed.

"We've heard the rumors," said Dong. "As we are waiting for official word, we cannot take (specific) questions about the concerts."

Jay Lee, South Korean representative for the promoter of a Toronto concert that was also canceled, said at the press conference that he has not been able to refund money to Canadian ticket-buyers, since he has not yet been reimbursed for his $250,000 deposit.

"And it's been 40 days since the cancellation," said Lee.

His frustration raised fears that local people who bought VIP tickets for the Honolulu show may find it difficult to obtain refunds.

An undetermined number of sales were made to fans from Asia, who also purchased plane tickets and hotel rooms, but Dong said after the press conference that efforts would be made to inform those buyers.

Mark Russo, a freelance stage production designer for the American concerts, said tons of technical equipment for Rain's stage show, including a video element, were in place for installation at the stadium. While he's not doing the Los Angeles gig, he said it was still on.

Russo said he was "clearly in the dark" about the plug being pulled — but that he was also optimistic that Rain's concert would be rescheduled.

Promoters would not say how many tickets were sold. The venue would have been set up to hold a crowd of 20,000 to 25,000.

DISAPPOINTED FANS

Gerrie Nakamura, a Leilehua High School teacher who bought one of those $300 tickets, said she was deeply disappointed.

"I know Bi has said that he wanted to come to Hawai'i to perform, even if it were for a small crowd," she said, using the singer's Korean name, which means rain. "The cancellation is a disappointment for young people, who see him as their hero, who may think their hero let them down."

Rain's performance had been envisioned as a highlight for Asian pop fans, since he fuses rock with Korean lyrics.

Nakamura, who sold close to 100 tickets to friends and fans, said she was also bothered that few answers were provided by the show's organizers.

"I think it was shibai for Star M and Revolution Entertainment (two companies involved in Rain's production hierarchy) to not provide answers," said Nakamura, who was at the press gathering.

"Several K-drama clubs, including mine, came out and helped the promoters, who were trying to do their best," she said.

Geri Mehrtens, a devout Rain fan who bought $300 seats and rallied 150 friends and colleagues at Moanalua High School, where she is the Korean Club adviser, to attend the Rain show, said she's shell-shocked.

"This thing really hasn't hit me yet, but to me, Rain is the most important player in every component, and I cannot believe he has full knowledge what's happening, what's coming down. My concern is how this is going to impact his future, not only in the U.S., but elsewhere."

Frances Cotton, a 76-year-old Kane'ohe resident, had hoped to bring her granddaughter to the concert, since they watch Rain in K-dramas.

"He's a darling boy, a refreshing young guy, and I got two $115 tickets to see him, so I'm very disappointed the show's off," said Cotton, noting that Rain's appeal crosses all age demographics.

"I had a chance to see him in Las Vegas, but my son said he was coming to Hawai'i, so I waited. I even went to the stadium, with my handicapped parking permit, on a dry run, to see where I could park, since I have trouble walking. Now it looks like I have to go to Korea to see him."

Reach Wayne Harada at wharada@honoluluadvertiser.com.

U.S. Band Rain Thwart's Korean Star's American Tour

2007-06-14T18:26:00.000-07:00

English Chosun
8-June-2007
Original source: http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200706/200706080022.html

The Korean singer Rain’s concerts in the U.S. as part of his world tour have been postponed due to controversy over his stage name. His Korean name “Bi” means “rain” in English, but the singer faces legal action filed by U.S. recording firm Rain Corporation with the District Court-District of Nevada in February. The company, which works with an American band also called Rain, demanded the entertainer drop the English name in the U.S.

Star M Entertainment, the organizer of the singer’s world tour, said it did its utmost to reach agreement with the U.S. company, but the concert schedule had to be changed since the court will make a ruling on June 14, when the Korean singer was scheduled to perform in Hawaii, the first leg of his U.S. concerts. A Star M Entertainment spokesman said the singer will stage concerts in the U.S. after August, because he will be shooting the movie “Speed Racer” from July. The singer had scheduled concerts in Hawaii, Atlanta, New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles from June 15 to 30.

06.03.07. Rain made Bangkok drenched. Thailand treated him as a king

2007-06-14T18:25:00.000-07:00

source: http://news.media.daum.net/entertain/music.../v16957845.html
translated by windflower@rain-eu
Credits : Sexybi

Singer Rain was treated as a national guest in Bangkok, Thailand.

Rain opened a splendid begining of his last two concerts in Asia finishing his first concert successfully in Bangkok, Thailand on June 2.

The concerts were planned originally to be held in last February but it was postponed to June because its local political situation was in chaos with serial bomb attacks in the country. The first concert was finally held yesterday.

Rain's concert in Thailand is last schedule of his world tour concerts in Asia. So more international fans visited the concert place than the other time. And many fans from all around world gathered and filed a long line in front of the concert place since early morning despite of hot and wet weather of Bangkok.

On 26th of last month, Rain visited Bangkok for a day to promote his concert on the way to Berlin after his concert in Tokyo, Japan. At that time he was treated as a national guest begining from the airport. As soon as he left an airplane, he accessed to the street directly through the runway guided by polices without accessing passenger's terminal of the airport. It is said that he is the first person who was treated like that execpt royal families in Thailand.

Ten thousands of fans gathered at Siam Center where the outdoor press confrence for Rain was held, and welcomed Rain's visit to Bangkok. And all of scenes from his arriving there to his moving were broadcasted through tens of screens in Siam Center. (yah, this is crazy !) It looked that all of Thailand was admiring 'Rain's day'.

Pathumwan Princess Hotel, where Rain stayed, welcomed Rain after renovated two rooms on the 14th floor for Rain into 'RAIN'S SUITE' and stitched his real name 'Ji-hoon Jung' on all of towels and gowns in the room.

The response of Thai media was enthusiastic also.

The staff of World tour told that more than 500 reporters of about 200 media attended at the press conference on 26th of last month and it recorded the highest number among the number of attending media which reported world tour to this day. He also said that on the day of concert on June 2, the press area for filiming the concert was too narrow than the number of media which requested to attend. So it was determined that all of two concerts would be open to media. It was the first time during world tour.

In Impact Arena with 11 thousand of seats, about 15 thousands of audiences entered. So there were crowded even in the aisles and stairs. It made people realize Rain's popularity in Thailand. Rain looked to return enthusiastic response of the audience with the actions and gestures which were not seen in the other concerts.

Rain will come back to Korea on the night of June 4 after having one more concert on June 3 in Bangkok.

"I thought I'm going to faint on the stage because I starved myself two days ago before the concert." Rain told this to the press in Tokyo.

2007-05-26T03:57:00.000-07:00

Source: DAUM
Chi translation by lovebi_rain@Baidu RAIN bar
Eng translation by jjbug@rain-malaysia

International star, RAIN is the first Korean singer to have his gorgeous concert in Tokyo Dome, the largest performance stage in Japan.

Tokyo Rain's began from 7pm, May 25 at Tokyo city. Rain conquered 40,000 audience with the magnificent dances and songs

After his concert, the press met Rain in a restaurant in late night. Being asked about his opinion, Rain revealed "I thought I'm going to faint on the stage, it's exhausting. I stop eating from yesterday (May 24) and now my body is exhausted. I just drink water before concerts and hardly eat anything. If not, I'll have stomachache and cannot dance for 2 hours."

He added, "I'm very tired before the show, I was worried if I can stand properly on the stage, I pray hard for the strength and now I'm happy that it's over."

"Strange... It's raining today. Every time before big concerts, it will rain. In the previous concerts, it rained before the show. And the shows in raining day were great success!" From last December, Rain had gone through 29 concerts including Las Vegas, Sdyney, Tokyo.

"I feel I'm alive after eating. I'm very happy to hold this concert successfully~"

The last Japan concert was held on Sept 2005 at Budokan, Tokyo. Rising from Asian star to be the international star, the Japanese fans gave the greatest applause and fullest support to Rain who made his return. The fullhouse of Tokyo Dome qualifies Rain to be the same level as Beyonce, Rollng Stones, Madonna, Ayumi etc.

In his presscon on May 24, Rain told the Korean press, "I hope that many years later, people will say 'Ah I remember there's a wonderful singer called Rain' when it's raining..."

Rain is going to invest 10 billion Won to setup his own company

2007-05-26T03:55:00.001-07:00

Source: Tom Entertainment
Translation by jjbug@rain-malaysia

StarM representative, Mr Lee told the media that Rain is planning to setup up his on company and he's collecting the capitals.

Mr Lee attended Japan presscon of Tokyo concert at 4pm, May 24 with Rain. "It's true. Rain does have the intention to setup his own company. Like what we know earlier, he is going around to consolidate capitals and he plans to collect 10 billion Won as start-up funds." Mr Lee told the media when being asked about the issue. "Being independent means that Rain is getting mature. It shows that he knows the rules behind entertainment world, and he's able to arrange his future plans properly. We wish him all the best~" Mr Lee added on later, "So far I only know some info, but not quite sure about the details. Rain never talks about it, or to be precise, he is too busy recently to look into it."

Rain is tied up by his world tour schedule until he can't think over too much about his own company, nor discuss with others. However, everyone believes that Rain is a very potential artist with lots of ideas of his own. He must be able to make it~

After May 11, Rain's contract with JYPE ended and he denied the extension of the existing contract. From then on, Rain's future plan becomes the forus. Many companies make great offers and hope to work with him, some 'potential' agencies that might sign up with Rain even experienced the rising of their stock values in the market! And this phenomenon is called "RAIN effect". Later, there are news saying Rain plans to setup his own company.

Busy with his world tour over 12 countries, Rain is going to rock Tokyo, Japan on May 25.

Rain Is Surrounded By Fans In India Too

2007-05-26T03:53:00.001-07:00

Source: Naver
Chi translation by lovebi_rain@Baidu RAIN bar
Eng translation by jjbug@rain-malaysia
Edited by dsl99a@rain-usa

World Star Rain went to India for his CF filming. However, he can never run away from his fans. There were about 50 fans who ran after him to take his photos, and this again shows Rain's popularity.

Rain stayed in India between May 20-22 for the CF filming of LG notebook. Local fans and Japanese fans who purposely flied there gave him a warm welcome in India. Some of them even hired taxi and their own cars to follow Rain to airport and CF shooting location.

India is somewhere that Rain has never performed his show. Initially they didn't expect many fans but when they were there, fans surrounded him to take photos and wished to shake hands with him. Therefore, it wasn't an easy shooting session for Rain.

On the other hand, Rain will be the first Korean singer to hold his concert at Tokyo Dome on May 25. He will be back to Seoul on May 23 and goes to Tokyo in the next day for presscon. Based on the earlier announcement, more than 25,000 tickets were sold out. The hotels near Tokyo Dome were fully booked by the fans and not much air tickets left as well. Indeed, it caused some inconvenience for the organisers to fix the date of presscon.

Soon after his Tokyo concert, Rain is going to attend the movie making presscon of in Berlin on May 31. This is a movie by Wachowski brothers who directed .

Rain visits 5 countries

2007-05-26T03:51:00.000-07:00

Source: Starnews
Chi translation by lovebi_rain@Baidu RAIN bar
Eng translation by jjbug@rain-malaysia
Edited by dsl99a@rain-usa

Rain who is busy with world tour still had to arrange his schedule for India trip

Rain had been to Spain and Atlanta (USA) for yatch competition and press conference, respectively. His India trip from May 20 is mainly for the CF filming of LG notebook. He will be back in Seoul on May 23 and immediately the next day will fly to Tokyo directly for his Tokyo 'Rain's Coming' at Tokyo Dome. Followed by that, Rain needs to attend the movie making press release for his Hollywood movie , at Berlin, Germany on May 31.

Therefore, he will step onto 5 countries this May and will stay more than 15 days overseas. However, the busy overseas schedule in June is waiting for him, too. Starting from Bangkok concert on June 2 and 3, there is a concert marathon in USA including Honolulu, Atlanta, New York, Los Angeles, etc. By then he will end his world tour.

Rain will have to go Germany as soon as his world tour finishes to participate in the filming of "Speed Racer" by Wachowski brothers.

'Rain' and Stephen Colbert

2007-05-22T03:03:00.000-07:00

By Robert Allen
Opinion Article, The Korea Times Newspaper
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/opinon/2007/05/137_3247.html

Regarding a recent episode of the American comedy show The Colbert Report and the reaction that Koreans have had to it, I feel an obligation to set the record straight. Korean Nation: by giving his American audience a brief glimpse of the singer Rain and Korean pop music in general, Stephen Colbert has done more good for your country and its culture than you could possibly imagine.

In essence, Stephen Colbert has handed your country a marvelous gift, and I would encourage you to understand exactly how he has done so.

First, some important background information about the American Media Culture. In America, one can find a number of television and radio programs hosted by power-hungry, ego-driven, ultra-conservative spokesmen.

These journalists thrive on being divisively critical of any part of an open-minded, liberal way of thinking. Their tactics are to inflame their audience by portraying anyone who fails to follow the conservative doctrine as a dangerous enemy to all that is good and decent in the world. They intentionally use extreme language to criticize and condemn, keeping their audience at a fever pitch of paranoia and indignation.

Moreover, they are very successful, very powerful and very, very rich. And the most extreme media personality in America, the man with the most inflamed ego and the most self-righteous attitude, the man who feels that he alone can deliver the American people to righteousness, is Mr. Stephen Colbert, the host and self-exalted deity of his television program The Colbert Report. But wait, there's more.

Stephen Colbert (actually the character he so deftly portrays) is a clown, a buffoon, a parody of those other neo-conservative celebrities. And, believe me, Colbert's audience "gets" the joke.

Although the tactics and actions of neo-cons like George W. Bush and his cronies have repeatedly disgusted many open-minded Americans, many have realized that perhaps it¡¯s better to laugh than to get angry. And that is why The Colbert (pronounced, like the French "Col-bear¡) Report (pronounced, for no good reason "re-pour¡), is not only one of the funniest programs on American TV these days, it's also one of the most necessary.

Korean Nation: The Colbert Report is a perfect satire of all that is laughable about those hate-filled programs. The character Colbert portrays on his program is so extreme in his comments; he is so consumed by the importance of his own ego and so clueless as to the absurdity of his thinking that, well, he's exactly like the men he is parodying. His "rant" against Rain is a perfect example of Colbert's character taking himself much too seriously.

Look at the facts: Only a fool would be indignant at being outvoted by a Korean pop star in Time Magazine's poll. Only a clueless individual would then go on national television and rave about his newest "nemesis," and only a deranged human would make his own music video in an attempt to show that he is the more talented individual while wearing a bizarre combination of fashions, including misfired hip-hop, Korean trendiness and button-down Ivy League.

Finally, only an individual with a serious lack of taste would produce this music video singing what he truly believes to be a quality Korean pop song with his rather limited Korean vocabulary (Hyundai, kimchi, etc), while creating a new dance style one could possibly call Korean-hiphop-techno-constipation. And somebody is offended by this?

In the end, Rain could not have asked for better publicity than being "put on notice" by Stephen Colbert. Colbert's audience is intelligent enough to understand his humor and hip enough to check out Korean Pop Music and culture. Thanks to Colbert, millions of Americans now know who Rain is, where he is from, and the kind of music he makes. Again, Colbert's audience "gets" the joke.

A joke is never funny if one must explain it. However, if Korean people miss the not-so-subtle satire in Colbert's tribute to Rain and allow themselves to become offended or indignant without comprehending the context of Colbert's comedy, the joke, unfortunately, will ultimately be on them.

My prediction: Rain will soon be a guest on Colbert's program. Trust me. It's a good thing.

The writer is a teacher in the English Education Department at Hannam University in Daejeon. He has lived in Korea nearly seven years.

******

Rain Nominated in 44th Daejong Sang Awards

2007-05-22T02:59:00.001-07:00

Source: NAVE
Chi translation by lovebi_rain@Baidu RAIN bar
Eng translation by jjbug@rain-malaysia
source: http://www.daejongsang.com/

Rain who won "The Best New Actor" award in PaekSang award, is again nominated in another Korean film award, i.e. the 44th Daejong Sang for "The Best New Actor". MC Mong, Liu Dehuan (pinyin), Pu Guangzhen (pinyin) and Daniel Henney are his competitors for this award.

The judge committees of Daejong Sang announced 29 nominated movies. From the announcement, Jeong Jihun (Rain) was nominated due to his movie "I'm a Cyborg but it's Okay".

Rain who recently revealed his casting in Hollywood movie "Speed Racer", had been nominated in the 1st Asian Film Festival for the award "The Best Actor". Everyone is curious if he can win the award in Daejong again.

The 44th Daejong Film Festival begins on June 1 at HanRiver Park and the award presentation is held on June 8 in Sejong Centre.

Award ceremony:
Date: 8 June 2007(6:00p.m)
Broadcasted on TV: at 9:00p.m broadcasted via SBS
Fr: RainAsia
credit: orengi@soompi

Rain Nominated in 44th Daejong Sang Awards

2007-05-22T02:59:00.000-07:00

Rain Lands Part in Hollywood Movie

2007-05-21T04:59:00.000-07:00

Source: http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200705/200705170015.html
17-May-2007

The Korean singer and actor Rain has a foot in the door in Hollywood after being cast in "Speed Racer," the next film by the Wachowski brothers, who created "The Matrix." Rain is to play a character who takes part in high-speed car races to secure his father's company. Rain’s manager claimed the K-pop star’s role "holds the key to the movie.” “Though it is a supporting role, Rain will manage the flow of the movie between the two main parts." The character’s name has not been decided.

He was picked by the director after competing with 20 Asian actors including top stars in Asia. Rain met with the Wachowski bothers at Berlin in April. He will participate in a production press conference in Berlin on May 31, and start filming in the German capital for two months after finishing his world tour in June.

"Speed Racer" is based on the popular Japanese animation "Mach Go Go." The movie is expected to be released next May and cost W260 billion (US$1=W924). Emile Hirsch, who starred in "The Girl Next Door," is to play the hero Speed. Oscar-winning actress Susan Sarandon, John Goodman, Christina Ricci will also appear in supporting roles.

"It is my debut in Hollywood. I will do my best, taking each step cautiously,” Rain was quoted in a press release as saying. It is the singer’s second movie role after "I'm a Cyborg, but That's OK" directed by Park Chan-wook. Park Joong-hoon was the first Korean actor to appear in a Hollywood movie.

"The best Hallyu stars are BYJ-Boa-Bi"

2007-05-21T04:56:00.000-07:00

Reported by Cha Heeyeon,enter@gonews.co.kr
Copyright ©Gonews
Gaeulyeoja posted this on the Talk Box of BYJ's official home.
Korean to English translation by Joanne in BYJ's Quilt
Posted by:The beautiful Liezle @BYJ thread@soompi
credit: j.lee@soompi

Top stars BYJ, Jang Dong-geon, Boa. Bi, Lee Young ae, etc. were selected as winners of 'The first Hallyu Grand Award'.

The 'Hallyu Grand Award', being sponsored by Korean Entertainment Industry Academy and supported by Ministry of Culture and Tourism, is an award given to people who contributed to the Hallyu. The award ceremony will proceed at 7PM on 18 at the International Conference Room on 6th floor of Baeknam Academic Informational Building in Hanyang University.

An official of the event told, "The Hallyu phenomenon is an epoch-making event in which popular culture is exported overseas for the first time in 5000 year history of Korea, " and "Although there have been outstanding meritorious services by people in the industry for almost 10 years since the Hallyu began and our People also have enough desire to appreciate them, no one has ever recognized their meritorious services."

For each category, they selected the winners dividing into film, drama, music, and game. As a result, in the section of stars, Jang Dong-geon & Cheon Jihyeon(film), Lee Youngae & BYJ(drama), and Boa & Bi(Music) were selected as winners, For the game, Kim Namcheol, CEO at the Yedang Online was chosen as a winner.

Also for the planning/production category, Director Bong Joonho, Yoon Seokho PD, Lee Sooman, a board director at SM Entertainment, etc. were selected. Kim Kwangsoo, board director at the M-net Media, Park Jinyoung, CEo at the JYP Entertainment, etc, were chosen as winners in marketing category. Also Chung Hoontak, CEO at the Sidus HQ, Kim Jonghak, CEO at the Kim Jonghak Production, and Andre Kim , etc. also listed their names as winners.

The winners were processed with recommendations from entertainment reporters in various media and 21 media participated. As to the method of selection, they critically evaluated degree of contribution to promote national pride, accomplishment worthy of respect, and degree of contribution to community of mankind, etc.

Rain to Star in Hollywood Film

2007-05-17T05:34:00.000-07:00

Pop singer-actor Rain (Bi) will play a rookie racer in Hollywood film Speed Racer.
By Cathy Rose A. Garcia
Staff Reporter

cathy@koreatimes.co.kr
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/special/2007/05/178_3030.html

K-pop superstar Rain will make his Hollywood debut in Speed Racer, the much anticipated live action adaptation of the iconic Japanese animated car racing series.

Yonhap News reported Rain, 25, whose real name is Jung Ji-hoon, will play the role of a rookie car racer in Speed Racer, which will be written and directed by Andy and Larry Wachowski. The Wachowski brothers are the creative team behind the sci-fi blockbuster Matrix movie series.

Yonhap News quoted Rain??s manager as saying the K-pop singer will be attending the "Speed Racer" press conference on May 31 in Berlin, Germany. Hollywood actors Emile Hirsch, John Goodman, Susan Sarandon and Christina Ricci will attend the press conference. Shooting for ``Speed Racer" will start in June in Berlin, and the film's release date is May 2008.

After his world concert tour ends in June, Rain will head to Berlin to start filming his scenes. He is expected to stay in Berlin for two months.

His manager said Rain met with the Wachowski brothers last April in Berlin, where they discussed the film. Rain was reportedly impressed with the film??s story, and the directors originality and creativity.

Speed Racer will be Rain's first international movie, and only his second movie. He made his film debut in director Park Chan-wook's film I'm a Cyborg, but That's Okay last year. The film had a disappointing run in South Korea, but Rain??s acting received favorable reviews.

Rain gained popularity throughout Asia for his role in Korean dramas such as ``Full House, as well as his chart-topping R&B and dance songs. He is reportedly planning to release an English-language album in the United States this year.

Rain also recently topped an online poll of Time magazine??s 100 Most Influential People in the world. The singer is currently on his world concert tour, which has taken him to the United States, Japan, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia and Australia.

Speed Racer is based on a Japanese comic created by Tatsuo Yoshida. Hirsch, who starred in ``The Girl Next Door and ``The Emperor??s Club,?? will play the title role of Speed. Goodman and Sarandon will play Speed's parents, while Christina Ricci will play his girlfriend Trixie. Matthew Fox, who stars in the TV show ``Lost, will play the Speed Racer's rival named Racer X.

In recent months, there have been several Korean actors who have been cast in Hollywood films. Jeon Ji-hyun, who adapted the name to Gianna Jun for her Hollywood roles, has been cast in Blood: The Last Vampire. Jang Dong-gun will co-star with Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi in the Hollywood film ``Laundry Warrior.??

Actor Park Jung-hoon had previously appeared with Mark Wahlberg in the thriller The Truth About Charlie in 2002.

[16-May-07][Sportskhan] Rain to debut in '300 Million Dollar' Hollywood Film

2007-05-17T05:14:00.000-07:00

Source: http://news.media.daum.net/entertain/broad.../v16752107.html
Translation: Krn to Eng by jihoon¢¾tokki @rain-usa.com
source:rain-asia

Rain to debut in '300 Million Dollar' Hollywood Film

There is great news in the Korean Entertainment world. Singer Rain agreed to star in the new movie 'Speed Racer' Directed by the Wachowski Brothers who also directed 'The Matrix'.

Rain is the third Korean to enter to Hollywood movie scene after Park Joong Hoon and Jeon Ji Hyun. On the 30th of this month, Rain is changing things in his schedule so that he will be able to be in Berlin to attend the public announcement of the movie to the world's media.

At the public announcement of the movie AP, AFP, other foreign media will be present as Rain will stand among Susan Sarandon, John Goodman, Emile Hirsch, Christina Ricci, and Matthew Fox and other famous world stars. One of Rain's staff said on the 15th, "We confirmed Rain's Berlin schedule" and that "Rain met with the Wachowski brothers last month in his trip to the US."

In the meeting with the Wachowski brothers at their request, Rain learned about the character he would play and about the overall movie. Rain will be an action racer who rides one of the best race cars. He will be acting with Susan Sarandon and Christina Ricci, which will be an interesting site to see. Rain's first Hollywood debut movie 'Speed Racer' is a remake of a popular Japanese Anime called 'Maha Go Go'. The anime was produced in 1960s and was very popular due to the characters that played the race car drivers.

The movie will require about 300 Million dollars to produce. Many of the best race cars will be needed and the various SF racing scenes are thought to catch the viewers' eyes.

The shooting of the movie will take place in Potsdam and Brandenburg Germany starting June 9th this year and it is projected to hit the movie screens next May. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer will be producing the movie.

International Superstar Rain Announces First U.S. Concert Tour

2007-05-17T05:07:00.000-07:00

Source: PR NewsWire, NY Press Release

One of People Magazine's '100 Most Beautiful People' Will Perform Across the U.S. This Summer

NEW YORK, May 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Korean pop singer Rain hosted an event today to announce his first full U.S. concert tour to Asian American and mass market entertainment media. The announcement signaled the official beginning of the U.S. leg of Rain's "Rain's Coming" tour, which is set to begin in June and will include stops in Atlanta, Honolulu, Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco. Tickets to these events are available through Ticketmaster.

At the event, the singer spoke about being a leading star of the "Korean Wave," a phrase coined to describe the surging international popularity of Korean pop music and television dramas, and his desire to appeal to fans here in the U.S. Rain's meteoric rise and international success in both music and television has made him one of the most recognizable entertainers in Asia. His urban style, athletic dancing ability and soulful voice have translated even to fans who speak no Korean. The musical superstar is also known for his versatile acting, starring in the leading role in several television dramas in Korea. Rain has won several MTV Asia awards for his music and Best Actor honors at the KBS Acting Awards. Rain was voted the world's most influential person by Time magazine readers in a 2007 online poll. In 2006, he was named one of Time's "100 Most Influential People Who Shape our World." According to Time, "Rain is the face -- and well-muscled torso -- of pop globalism."

In 2006, the singer held concerts at Madison Square Garden in New York and Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, both of which sold out within days of the ticket release. The concerts featured appearances by American artists including Diddy, Omarion and JoJo. Rain's concerts are created with the help of the same stage designers and producers used by Michael Jackson, U2, and Madonna.

Tentative U.S. dates and locations for the tour are: Honolulu on June 15; Atlanta on June 19; New York on June 23; San Francisco on June 27; and Los Angeles on June 30. Tickets for select dates are now available at http://www.ticketmaster.com. More information about Rain's tour dates and photos can be found at http://www.weloverain.com or http://www.rainworldtour.com.

Entertainer ‘Rain’ Disclosed to Help Cancer Patient

2007-05-17T05:02:00.000-07:00

Source: http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/
Pics credits : Starnews - Osen

Top singer Rain, 25, with original name of Jung Ji-hoon, will be disclosed to have helped in secret his fan living a time-limited life due to serious cancer in a five-part special TV documentary Saturday.

Part 4 or “Promise of Mom” of “the Human Docu Love” to be aired by MBC at 11 p.m. on May 19 contains a tearful story of Ahn So-bong, 33, who had been told to live a six-month life due to stomach cancer checked after the birth of her first daughter.

In the process of the documentary production, the program producer found the undisclosed good deed of Rain. He has ecouraged Ahn mentally and supported her financially.

Rain is a fervent fan of Ahn since he found that her husband Kim Jae-moon had posted a story in the fan cafe of JYP Entertainment Rain belonged to then, “I hope Ji-hoon to encourage my wife.”

Rain, who lost his mother at his earlier days, got much pitied upon reading the story. On Chuseok holiday last year, the singer called at the ward where Ahn had been hospitalized, surprising the cancer patient to her delight. He also delivered 20 million won for her treatment before leaving for the Winter World Tour concert last year. Thereafter, he has often made calls to her husband to ask about her health.

“Rain felt very painful on the story of a young mother who had faced a time-limited life after her first childbirth, recalling his mother who had died at earlier age,” a close aide said. “It is very awkward to me as it has been disclosed in disregard of my intention although I have done the thing simply as a personal reason,” he was quoted as saying.

MBC has manufactured and aired the five-part documentary as a feature in the month of family, May.

Korea Superstar Rain might join hollywood movie by director of Matrix

2007-05-10T01:18:00.000-07:00

[Brief translation done by Pearl @ Rain Usa]

If the Korea Superstar Rain accept the offer, he is going to cast in a Hollywood movie! The director is previously famous for his movie series !

Korean star RAIN has caught the eye balls of Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski, who are the director for movie series "Matrix"! They may film a new movie called 'Speed Racer', which is based on the Japanese manga of the same name. If Rain accepts the offer, it will be his first movie to enter Hollywood. Male lead of 'Lost' is also one of the casts.

The movie production team is going to have a press release in Berlin at the end of this month. The filming begins next month and the screening time should be next summer.

Although Rain's role in this movie is not revealed, it is said that the movie has a lots of action scenes to let him show off his outfit.

07.05.08 NYT: Rain is Korean 'Bon Jovi'!

2007-05-10T01:13:00.000-07:00

Source: Starnews
Chi translation by lovebi_rain@Baidu RAIN bar
Eng translation by jjbug@rain-malaysia

New York Times, one of the most famous newspapers in USA quoted a comment from a music professional "Rain is the Korean 'Jon Bon Jovi'!"

Rain who's working on his way to world star, is recently described as Korean Jon Bon Jovi and this catches the attention of media!

The article in New York Times wrote "Rain is a Korean singer whose name is Jeong Jihun. He is extremely popular in Asia and recently casted in the movie "I'm..." The previous music columnist from commented so in his article "Rain is someone like Korea's Jon Bon Jovi".

The reason why Rain can occupy so much space in New York Time magazine is due to the online polling of TIME100 Most Influential People. Although he is the NO.1 in online polling, he failed to be shortlisted in TIME100 this year.

"TIME magazine has nominated 'You' in their previous TIME100, however Rain still cannot get into the TIME100 list this time." New York Times also quoted some words from TIME editor, "TIME magazine shall look into more readers' opinions in the future pollings or elections.... We will invite Rain to the dinner on May 8 so that we can introduce him to more people."

Rain has already received the invitation letter for TIME100 dinner on May 8 (local time). As usual, it is at Lincoln Centre. Rain is invited as the alumni of TIME100 regardless of his absence in the latest TIME100 list.

Time Learns That Popular Taste Can Vary a Lot With the Test Market

2007-05-10T01:12:00.000-07:00

By SARA IVRY
Published: May 7, 2007
Source : http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/07/business/media/07time.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Last year Time magazine declared “You” the person of the year, paying homage to everyone who had blogged or contributed to sites like YouTube, MySpace and Wikipedia.

This year Time again reached out, asking online participants to vote for the person they considered the most influential in the world.

This time, it seems, You may have gotten it wrong.

Two and a half million votes were cast — with users selecting from a list of 200 nominees chosen by Time editors. And by far, the most influential person on the planet, according to Your Results, is Rain.

Who?

Rain, who drew far more votes than the runner-up (Stephen Colbert), is a 24-year-old South Korean singer whose real name is Jung Ji-hoon. He is phenomenally popular in Asia, where he made his film debut last year in a Korean movie with the English title “I’m a Cyborg, but That’s O.K.”

With 470,174 votes, Rain beat not only Mr. Colbert (278,381 votes) and the third-ranking Sanjaya Malakar, recently of “American Idol,” but also J. K. Rowling, Steven P. Jobs and Barack Obama, among others.

Time editors said that the poll was an international one and that people were allowed to vote as many times as they liked. The results, they said, could have been influenced by the poll having been publicized on blogs and fan sites, making it possible that Rain’s devotees stuffed the virtual ballot box.

Josh Tyrangiel, deputy managing editor of Time.com, acknowledged that the results were not scientific. “People love numbers, and they like to cast a vote,” he said. Speculating on who will appear in the official Time 100, he declared, is “a great parlor game, and while everyone at the magazine takes it seriously, it’s fun to do and sharing in that fun is what the Internet is all about.”

Mr. Tyrangiel, a former music critic for Time, said that Rain sometimes seems like “Korea’s answer to Jon Bon Jovi.”

Oddly enough, Time’s editors did pick Rain last year. This year’s list, published in the May 14 issue, also included a blend of people who are very famous (Queen Elizabeth II, Al Gore, Warren E. Buffett) and some less so (like Wesley Autrey, who rescued a man who fell onto New York City subway tracks as a train was coming).

Adi Ignatius, the deputy managing editor of Time who oversees the Time 100, said he could foresee the magazine’s taking readers’ opinions into account in future Time 100 lists. Tomorrow, he said, the magazine will be running an event for the Time 100, and Rain was invited. “We want to introduce and acknowledge him,” Mr. Ignatius said. SARA IVRY

Rain, King of Pop Artists, Affects the Stock Market

2007-05-10T01:10:00.000-07:00

Source: http://ent.tom.com/2007-05-01/000D/07297297.html
credit: ye xin dong
Chi to eng translation: Julia@rain-malaysia
edited: dsl99a@rain-usa

According to Guang Zhou Jit Poh, the hottest korean male artist, is none other than Rain, Jeong Ji Hoon. His every move and action not only captured the media's focus, but recently has also became the South Korean economic world's focal point!

Rain and the JYP entertainment company's contract will expire in May 10, and whether Rain is going to renew his contract or seek new company is still a mystery. Thus, Rain and his father's every movement have received outsider's close attention. Recently in South Korea Stock Market, any company which is slightly associated with Rain will have a huge rise in shares. For instance, after Rain's father has purchased an entertainment company's shares, rumour has it that Rain will sign the contract with that particular company, thus causing the company's stock to sky-rocketed.

The question now is, how much is Rain worth? According to universal reports, he currently surpassed 10 Billion won (with conversion it's about US$10,794,000.00--more than 10 million dollars, right?)! The public thinks that Rain is well worth the price, as just last year alone, he has earned 18.6 Billion won, making him a popular choice among companies. Not only Korea's entertainment companies are competing to take him up, it is reported that some Japanese large-scale entertainment company hoped to offer him 40 Billion won to sign the contract. At the same time, there's a high possibility that Rain will remain with JYP entertainment company as he is acknowledged as JYP's "money plant".

As of now, Rain is still discrete about whether he will renew his contract, and has not disclosed any news with this regard. It is stated that he will only take a stand and express his opinions on June 30 after the end of his world tour.

"Explode at Tokyo Dome!!"

2007-05-10T01:08:00.000-07:00

Source: Daum
Chi translation by lovebi_rain@Baidu RAIN bar
Eng translation by jjbug@rain-malaysia
credit to : AsianFanatic.net

Rain shows his incredible box office influence even he is considered as a 'newbie' for Tokyo Dome.

After a simple news release on March 18, the pre-ordering started in the next day. According to the ticketing response, nearly 50% tickets were sold out. Fans from Japan, China, Thailand, Hong Kong etc are coming to this concert as well.

From this trend, this can be a sold-out concert when the ticket selling is officially open to public on May 13. All the tickets cost JPY12,000 and the audience can choose the areas they want. Whereas the seats will be determined by balloting.

There are 40,000 tickets in total. Compared to Arashi's recent concert that accomodated 55,000 audience, Rain's concert has to cut down the number of audience due to the unique stage design. SM representative said, "The stage at Tokyo Dome can exactly fit into Rain's world tour requirement. We have to empty some spaces for those special effects."

More and more details are released since the concert date is nearer.

The organisers are confident with Rain, thus they choose Tokyo Dome for Rain's Japan concert, although it's not that easy for local artists to perform there. The daily rental of Tokyo Dome costs 540 million Won, whereas the total profit from ticket selling is about 3.7 billion Won.

It is said that many Japanese super stars will attend this concert, too. "The namelist is under progress so we're not able to tell now. We're aware that these artists mention about their interest in Rain's concert during TV programmes."

07.05.01 Rain auto- leaved Kyung Hee University, admitted to Dankook Unitiversity

2007-05-10T01:06:00.000-07:00

Source: starnews
kor to chi by lovebi_rain @ baidu
chi to eng by lilan @ rain-malaysia

The news recently only spread out.

Recently the news only spread ' The most beautiful male ' Rain, is admitted to the Dankook University College in March.

Rain entered to Dankook University Mass Culture Art College (direct translate, not so sure the course name) in March. Rain on February 22 has sent his congratulation video to the Seoul Jamsil Olympic Stadium; they hold ‘The Dankook University 2007 matriculations ceremony and A+ Vision 2017 announcements ceremonies ', expressed through the video sent the best wish to Dankook University.

Rain is admitted in March 2006 to the Kyung Hee University College, it is reported because individual reason automatically leaves school, this March has been admitted Dankook University College. Rain in 2001 entered to Kyung Hee University PostModern music Course, has got his bachelor degree in last year February, and then was direct admitted to Khyong Hee University ARTfusion Design Performing Arts Course.

Recently Rain succeeded finish the Sydney concert, he will visit to Spain on 5th May for participate the brand Louis Vuitton who are the sponsor of ‘13th session of Valencia Louis Vuitton Cup’ world yacht match, held concert on 25th May as the South Korean first singer in the Japan Tokyo Dome. Afterwards, in June concert world tour will go to American New York, LA, and Toronto.

Moreover, Rain recently was selected American performance weekly People ' most beautiful 100 People ', has decorated the Yahoo Canada's main page layout. The Yahoo! Canada quotes Seoul AFP communication news, introduced Rain is selected ' the most beautiful 100 People' situation as well as Rain synopsis and the selected feelings and so on.

Rain to Fall on World's Most Beautiful List

2007-04-28T03:41:00.000-07:00

Source: http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200704/200704270009.html

Korean pop singer Rain has been named one of the world's most beautiful people by an American entertainment magazine.
Rain, who is currently on a world tour, was selected by People magazine for its annual roundup of the world's 100 most beautiful people. The list will be published in this Friday's edition with Hollywood star Drew Barrymore on the cover.

According to Rain's management company JYP Entertainment, Rain is one of just seven non-Americans on the list. The company said that Rain spoke with the magazine on the phone last month for a half-page article about him to accompany the list.

Rain was selected last year as one of the world's 100 most influential people by Time magazine, but it's his first time on the "most beautiful" list.

Last year Ursula Mayes, a Korean-American model working in the U.S., was included on the beautiful list. In 2003 the Ahn Trio, a three-sister classical music act, became the first Koreans selected for the honor.

Beautiful Rain

2007-04-28T03:39:00.000-07:00

posted by Rubie@K-drama news
Source: http://english.donga.com/srv/service.php3?bicode=130000&biid=2007042784248

The singer Rain has been chosen by People magazine in the United States as one of its 100 Most Beautiful people in 2007.

Actresses Drew Barrymore, Halle Berry, Jennifer Lopez, the bassist of the rock band Fall Out Boy, Pete Wentz, and the star of the television drama â€œPrison Breakâ€ Wentworth Miller, known as Seok Ho-feel, in Korea, also made it onto the list.

The magazine grouped together 45 â€œfirst time beautiesâ€ like Rain and Miller, who made it onto the list for the first time.

The only Koreans who have made this list in the past were environmentalist Danny Seo (Seo Ji-yoon) in 1998 and the classical music band Ahn Trio in 2003.

Rain was previously chosen as one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in 2006.

Rain Received Baek Sang 'New Male Actor Award'

2007-04-26T05:00:00.000-07:00

Source: Special Press Team, Jung-Ang Ent.&Sports(JES)
Translated by Jay@rain-usa

a

Rain received 'New Male Actor Award-Movie Caterory' at the 43th Baek Sang Award.

Rain said few words after receiving the award, "I'm very shaking... I have few I need to say thanks to. Hong Seung-Sung(JYPE President), Jeong Wook(JYPE Director), JYP, Jo Dong-Won(JYPE supervisor).

Movie was a dream and I thank Pak Chan-Wook for giving me a apportunity to carry out my dream. Also, I thank Lim Soo-Jung for giving me a beautiful memory while making the movie together"

RAIN in People's "50 Most Beautiful People"

2007-04-26T04:58:00.000-07:00

Source: FNN
Chi translation by lovebi_rain@Baidu RAIN bar
Eng translaion by jjbug@rain-malaysia
edited by dsl99a@rain-usa

International super star RAIN is recognised worldwide!

Other than being nominated in TIME100 Most Influential People, Rain also appears in the list of "The Most Beautiful 50 People" by People magazine.

The event is organised by People magazine every year, Brad Pitt, George Clooney etc were some of the winners last year. For Rain who is going to enter USA market after his world tour in June, obviously this is quite encouraging to him!

JYPE expressed, "It's something honourable and exciting... especially now we are preparing for it (entrance into USA music industry)." "Maybe it's a result of Rain's world tour. It is the first time that Asian singer has such a large scale tour concert."

Rain Atop Time 100 Online Vote

2007-04-23T04:49:00.000-07:00

2007-04-23
c: KBS Global

Singer Rain could well be named as one of the world's top 100 influential people by Time magazine for the second year.

The singer current sits atop the ongoing online survey to determine this year's Time 100 list.

Rain made it on the list for the first time last year and attended the award ceremony and the Time 100 party at New York Lincoln Center last May, which earned him global fame.

In the online poll underway on the Time Web site, Rain has garnered 22,310 votes as of Monday morning, Korean time, followed by rock band U2 frontman Bono and U.S. President George W. Bush. There are a total of 200 candidates.

The Web site introduces the Korean singer as having topped music charts in Japan, China, Taiwan and Indonesia, performed at Manhattan's Madison Square Garden and recorded a duet with B2K's Omarion.

Rain to Perform at Madison Square Garden Again

2007-04-19T05:14:00.000-07:00

2007-04-19
c: KBS Global

Top Korean singer Rain will hold another concert at Madison Square Garden in New York, the venue of his debut performance in America. The New York concert is part of his June world tour, which includes stops in Atlanta, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

Prior to his American tour, Rain will hold a concert at the Tokyo Dome in Japan on May 25th for over 35,000 Japanese fans. The Tokyo Dome is also the home field for Korean slugger Lee Seung-yeop, who currently plays for Japan's top professional baseball team, the Yomiuri Giants. It has also served as the venue for concerts by the global pop stars Beyonce and Madonna.

Rain's world tour organizer confirmed his North American tour schedule in June. Rain will first perform at the Molson Amphitheater in Toronto, Canada on June 9. Then his next concert will be staged at the Philips Arena in Atlanta on June 15, New York's Madison Square Garden on June 23, at the Cow Palace in San Francisco on June 27,and the Staples Center in Los Angeles on June 30.

At the end of this month, Rain will hold a concert in China, followed by one at Japan's Tokyo Dome. Before Rain leaves for North America, he will wrap up the Asian tour with shows in Thailand from June 2 to 3.

Rain to Perform at Prestigious Tokyo Dome

2007-04-19T05:12:00.000-07:00

In yet another confirmation of his stature as an international star, Rain is scheduled to be the first Korean singer to hold a concert at Japan's Tokyo Dome stadium. The pop sensation traveled to Japan on Wednesday, two days after returning from last week’s successful performance in Australia, and announced his plans to perform at the Tokyo Dome at an official press conference.

Star M Entertainment, which is promoting Rain's world tour, recently agreed to bring the "Rain's Coming" tour to the Tokyo Dome on May 25. The Dome has hosted the world's top talents, such as Mariah Carey, the Rolling Stones, and Beyonce. The Dome, which is also the home of the Yomiuri Giants and Korean slugger Lee Seung-yeop, is the ultimate dream of many Japanese performers, but only top-drawer local acts have ascended its stage, including Ayumi Hamasaki, Glay, and SMAP.

Star M Entertainment announced the news in Japan with Rain and said, "With Japan as the axis, Rain spread the wave to Southeast Asia. Now he's reconfirming his stature with the concert at the Tokyo Dome."

The performance at the Tokyo Dome means Rain is one step further from being just an Asian celebrity and one step closer to being a world star. The Dome can hold up to 42,000 people but it requires a minimum of 35,000 tickets to be sold. Only top-selling performers attempt to play there. Among Korean celebrities, Lee Byung-heon held a fan meeting at the Dome last June with 42,000 guests. The Japanese press at the time made a great fuss, calling it the biggest event in the history of the "Korean Wave."

Lingering rumors say that Star M Entertainment was worried about bringing Rain's tour to the Dome, which would mean just once performance there. Rain, however, decided to go ahead with the idea, believing himself to be "Asia's singer" and eager to be the first Korean singer to perform at the fabled stadium. It is said that the concert promoter's Japanese partner UAE strongly pushed for the concert at the massive stadium.

Credits to: (englishnews@chosun.com )

Welcome Rain to Lotte

2007-04-19T05:11:00.000-07:00

Source: Naver
Chi translation by lovebi_rain@Baidu Rain Bar
Eng translation by jjbug@rain-malaysia

Well, it's time to say goodbye to Bae Youngjun~ And Rain will be the next spokesman for Lotte Duty.

The giant posters of Bae Youngjun are gradually replaced from the headquater of Lotte, which is located at Seoul. In the past three years, Bae was their spokesman.

From April 17, Lotte will use the giant posters of RAIN, a dedicated singer who is working hard to be an international super star.

Lotte Shopping Mall released announcement on April 17, stating that singer Rain and actor Park Yonghe (pinyin) will be their new models. Bae's spokesman contract is going to end this month. His contract was signed in year 2004.

From the viewpoints of marketing strategy, Lotte replaced Bae who has strong influence in Japan with world class singer Rain, it may show Lotte's ambition to explore in more overseas markets. Rain who is influential enough in Asia and Southeast Asia regions, is now moving towards the world. Therefore, it is said that Rain's current image fits with Lotte's marketing strategies. Lotte is one of the worldwide logistic enterprises.

In addition, Rain will be an attractive selling point to China travellers, indirectly it will promote Lotte's brand name in China since Lotte China was recently set up.

Even if I fail in the US, I want to make it a successful failure

2007-04-19T05:09:00.000-07:00

13 April 07, Korea Herald
Credit: biwithrain.com baidu.com
Kr to Ch: lovebi_rain @ baidu
Ch to Eng: rayndrop

Exclusive Interview with singer, Rain, who will be holding his concert in Sydney on the 14th.

In our 15 minutes interview, Rain repeated the words "Enter the US market" and "Best performance" etc -- words which he often uses -- more than 10 times. Journalists waiting for their interview slots were either observing this no-nonsense interview, or busy trying to capture some shots. With the Sydney concert just three days away, this journalist was fortunate to be able to locate out interview venue: a hotel crowded with groups of female fans at Double Bay.

"I intend to give the most wonderful stage to the "few" Sydney and Asian fans here. You can say this is a pre-event to heading towards a bigger stage." Rain admits he has yet to have enough to "walk out of Asia". He also said, "My performance is linked through a series of well-though choreographies. Even if the location may change, the stage will not undergo too much changes."

As of last year, Rain has been transitting through US, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan for his world concert tour. China, Japan and US are also stops scheduled within his World Tour. What does Rain, who is now busy with his world concer tour, normally do in the plane?
"I conceptualise my next album and project, or listen to music. In preparation for my debut in the US, I'm also learning English. I'm not bored during my flights"

Rain is drifting from place to place in a plane with his promotion printed on it. Because of this, senior singer, Lee Seung Chol (known as the king of "LIVE" in Korea) said on a recent TV programme, "Among all the singers, I envy Rain the most".

"I exist to perform. It's my honour that a senior I like in the singing industry said those words. I consider myself a fortunate man being able to perform in different parts of the world."

As one of the first Korean singer to have a world concert tour, Rain said, "To me, it is still to early to label me as a 'World Star'. It is my dream to be worthy of this label when I make a successful debut in the US." "There are many dangerous factors and lackings in this world concert tour. Going thorugh these hurdles, I'll like to pave a smoother road for artistes to have their world concert tour in future."

A Shrewd CEO, A Successful Entrepreneur -- Rain in the next 10, 20 years.

Although exuding a high level of confidence, his tone suddenly became quiet and calm.

"I don't feel uneasy about my long period of absence in Korea. Because if I do my best for the next album, I will be warmly received. Otherwise, I will be harshly criticised. I may only get one of such chances in this life. If I give up this chance (to make a debut in the US) because I cannot bear to take my absence from the Korean market, I will regret it for the rest of my life," Rain said. Even if the US debut "is a failure, I want to make it a successful (glorious) failure". "If you hold tight to the sand in your fist, that sand will still escape and disappear through your fingers sooner or later. I want to try to grasp hold of a new fistful of sand, and take on a new challenge."

Rain said, "Touring the different countries like what I'm doing now may very well be the climax of my career as a singer". But then later, he changed his tone and added on "If I lead every single day of my life seriously, I should be able to enjoy the fruits of labour when I'm 50, 60 year old?" With regards to what he thinks he'll become in the next 10, 20 years, he said, "Hopefully a shrewd CEO and a successful entrepreneur. It'll be nice, even if it's not in the entertainment industry. So I intend to take time to learn about business management."

What are the songs you like to sing normally? -- "Mona Lisa"*, "I only have you"* etc

In the previous interviews, Rain said before, "Even when I'm having a glass of soju, I'll be thinking, 'I really should spend this time practising. It's such a waste of time to spend it drinking'." "When I was a student, I thought studying was dry and boring. But practising my singing and dancing is something I love; something I find interesting and can rid of my straying thoughts. Because of this, I think a person should live on doing something he/she loves. This seems to be the way of life."

"Century Icon" Rain and 25-year-old Jung Jihoon. Doesn't he have any reminiscences about those pleasures in life which he has yet to enjoy?

"Perhaps some people will pity on how I'm already standing at the top at such a young age, unable to enjoy the joy and freedom of my age. But now, I just want to pour all my passion into my work."

He said, "Occasionally, I'll go to the Karaoke with good friends. I like to sing senior Cho Yong Pil's 'Come back, come back to Pusan habour'*, 'Mona Lisa'* and Senior Lee Seung Chol's 'I only have you"*.
(* Rayndrop: my own direct translation of the song names...hee...)

When this journalist asked him, "Let's change our positions. If you're a journalist, what would you like to ask Rain?"
"Well, I have no special questions. I just have one thing to say, 'An article with misrepresentation can pierce the heart of the other person'."

Rain's coming - Produce China's best concert by 2 billion Korean Wons

2007-04-17T05:00:00.002-07:00

Source : asianfanatic

Mentioned super popularity in Asia Music, it must have Rain's name on it. Since the end of last year, Rain, Korea's new superstar, who was once awarded one of The 100 most Influential People by Times magazine, has started his world tour.

As it's said earlier that Rain's concerts in China act most important part in his world tour, any information about it attracts wide attention so that various reports about it were popped up. Rain, known as The Magic Feet from Korea, has grown up as a shining international super star which could be fully displayed from production of this world tour. Finally, the winner gaining the agency leaks the trace recently.

It's announced from the press conference of Rain's Coming World Tour in China, which was held in Park 97 in Shanghai today, Rain will kick off his concerts in China this April in Shanghai. Star M, the planning company for Rain's world tour, announced Shanghai Bellson to be the agency of Rain's Coming World Tour in China and co-partner of his Shanghai concert stop, competing over 10 candidates. Shanghai Bellson has signed an official performance contract with Star M.

Mr Beom-Chang, General Manager of Star M said China is one of Rain's favorite places, especially Shanghai. Shanghai has given Rain a great impression while shooting the famous Korean TV series Full House. Rain is looking forward to meeting his Shanghai fans again. Mr Boem-Chang said Star M, general host for Rain's Coming 06-07 World Tour, is glad to bring Rain's concerts to China and expect Rain to shine super star's light through concerts at the international level.

Hua Yan, CEO of Shanghai Bellson, said at the press conference that preparation has already been underway. Due to his fully-planned schedule, Rain could only play concerts in six to eight cities in mainland China. However, there have already been over ten cities that have a mind to host Rain's concerts. How to present the best concerts in limited numbers of showings puzzled Bellson quite a lot. Bellson sincerely hopes that all the Chinese audience could enjoy the international first-ranking large-scale performances and Rain's amazing charm on the stage.

You can guess who is the creative supervisor for Rain's Coming 06-07 World Tour?

It's Jamie King, talented well-know choreographer, takes charge of all the dance composing. Jamie King has participated in several concerts by international super stars including Madonna, Christina Aguilera, Ricky Martin, Britney Spears. No wonder, with Jamie King's support, Rain can create a fascinating skillful dance. Professional production team with vision supervisor Dago Gonzalez and light effect supervisor Roy Bennett will make great contributes to Rain's Coming World Tour.

It is said from Shanghai Bellson that the 2-billion-Korean-Won production invest breaks the record in Korea even in Asia while that wasn't the first record that Rain broke and won't be the last. All the most expensive tickets for 2006 Rain Korea concert were sold out within the first date of the official ticket selling and continuous incoming calls has even caused the paralysis of ticket booking system.

Besides, Rain's Coming World Tour in China is going to make a new record of audience attendance in one single concert. Tens of thousands of people will savor a crazy and vigorous audio-visual feast with Rain one night after another. There is no doubt that Rain will present a well-worthy world top show with the fabulous stage design.

Shanghai in April begins the rainy season while Chinese fans in 2007 will get crazy about Rain in furious storms.

Date:April28th, 2007
Venue: Shanghai Stadium
Hot-line:F021-54070065
E-Mail:Ticket@bellsongroup.com.

For more information, please visit www.bellsongroup.com

Rain's Australia concert was highly appraised by local media "Rain comes, he did much better than Beyonce"!

2007-04-17T05:00:00.001-07:00

Source: Newsen & Daum
Posted by Baidu RAIN bar
Translation by jjbug@rain-malaysia

International Star RAIN successfully held his concert in Sydney, Australia.

Although there were some screw-ups such as sudden change of location, etc, Rain still deeply impressed his fans and local professionals with his excellent dance and stage performance in his Sydney concert started at 7.20pm on Apr 14.

This concert took place in Acer Arena within Sydney Olympic Park, which is also the biggest performance stage in Australia and only world class super stars are able to step on it, says Beyonce.

The entrance of concert hall was jammed up by Rain's fans. They were wearing customised uniform with the word 'RAIN' or his icon. Yuli (19) said, "Since I knew him 5 years ago, I am already his fan. Well, this concert is quite sudden actually, there're still many people who are not able to come even they are aware of it..." She hoped that the organiser can plan the schedule properly next time.

It was said that the scale, equipment & setup, performance level were highly appraised by local professionals. The passionate response from the audience also proved that this concert was a great success~

Performance manager Jade admitted that Rain is the first Asian singer who held his concert in Acer Arena. Indeed, initially they were shocked when knowing that an Asian singer wanted to hold his concert in such a large scale stage. However, the most advanced equipment and strong technologies showed by Korean team during concert preparation surprised them more! He commented that Rain's world tour is definitely high quality no matter where he goes.

Another manager Don Elfor said, "Rain did come... and WOW... What a show it was!" From the viewpoint of performance planning, he agreed that this is the most advanced performance held in Acer Arena. In the meantime, the scale of overall performance, as well as Rain's cultural values and professionality impressed them very much. Undoubtedly the fans are demanding, but Rain's performance satisfied them, and even performed better than what they expected!

A local crew Andre Smith said that such large scale concert is quite rare in Australia. Rain's concert is about two times bigger than Beyonce's concert and in fact it was a spectacular stage! On that day, the locals were shocked by the screams of audience.

One of the performers, Joven knew about Rain through this concert. It was his first time watching Rain's performance but he can't feel there's any difference compared to USA pop stars. Thus he could understand why the audience were so mad about him.

Rain will rest in Sydney on Apr and leaves in the morning of Apr 16.

Won't Cheat Jay Chow. Rain's Agency acknowledge Mistake & Returned Deposit

2007-04-17T04:59:00.000-07:00

13 April 07, Kuaibao News
Journalist Sun Yee reports
Credit: ╭⊙_⊙╮at baidu
Ch to Eng: rayndrop

News on Rain's Shanghai concert hasn't been pleasant since the beginning of this year. From legal disputes and official approval papers problems to date postponement, this concert seems to meet with so many hurdles. Yesterday, this matter finally sees some silver lining. Rain's concert agent for his Shanghai Concert Tour, Bellson, announced yesterday that Rain's Shanghai concert has been confirmed to take place this end April. at the same time, Jay Chow's agency has managed to get back their deposit of RMB 1.76 million from Rain's agency, amicably settling this dispute on both ends.

Swindling Dispute: Jay's Side Accepts Apologies

The main hurdle of Rain's Shanghai concert was primarily due to the contractual dispute with Jay's agency, jushi. Earlier, Zhao Shaowei, boss and manager of Jay Chow, told the press that Rain's entertainment company had "conned" him of RMB 1.76 million, and he hasn't heard any news about this for more than a year.

Yesterday, through a phone interview, Zhao Shaowei confirmed with our journalist that jushi has received their deposit refund in full, and Rain's agency has officially apologised for this mistake. Zhao has accepted the apology, amicably resolving this issue which he had originally wanted to bring to court.

Zhao expressed that that he had lost a few millions producing Rain's concert in Beijing. He had intended to make them back with the Ghanghai concert. Now, he's happy just getting back his RMB 1.76 million. "i was furious back then, but it's all over now. Bellman, Rain agent for his performances in China, has been very responsible in handling this issue right from the start. This dispute has been going to and forth for about a year now. Without intervention from Bellman, this issue between jushi and Rain would not have been resolved so quickly. Now, we have officially withdrawn from Rain's Shanghai performance, allowing them to continue with organising this event." Apparently, an important reason for jushi to withdraw intervention is JYPE's apology to them.

Shanghai Concert: Cut Losses By Maximising Ticket Sale

Bellman's CEO, Ms Luo Jiahui, told this journalist with certainty that Rain's Shanghai concert has not been cancelled or postponed like rumoured. It has been confirmed that the concert will happen end of this month. The exact dates will be announced within these two days. Ms Luo revealed that the several hurdles have caused them great losses of up to 7-digit in terms of ticket sales and production for this concert. Because of this, the Shanghai concert must go on. In addition, the fans are very passionate. Despite all negative factors, about 30% of the tickets have been pre-booked. The location of this concert has been confirmed to be an outdoor stadium. This allows them to achieve more ticket sales, and enable more fans to see their idol.

Rain: Income is of Secondary

Rain's organiser for his concert tour, StarM, called up Rain himself during our interview yesterday. Rain expressed his anticipation towards having his concert in Shanghai as well as meeting all his fans. He assured that he will definitely meet the Shanghai fans in his best condition.

Rain has come to Shanghai numerous times for various promotion activities. Although many papers have reported the concerts in Taipei and Beijing as popular but lacking in ticket sales, Rain exhibits full confidence in his Shaghai concert, "I know everything is not progressing very smoothly, but I will not give up. Even if I have to reduce my personal income, I want to make good my promise to fans. I don't care how many people are listening below the stage. Even if there is only one person there, I will give my hundred percent."

News Recap: Jay's Agency Plan to Take Rain's Agency

Jushi announced during a press conference in January this year, accusing Rain's agency of receiving RMB 1.76 million from jushi, but did not fulfil their part of the contract. They openly warn concert organisers in China to be cautious when working with Rain's agency.

According to Zhao, Rain agency had given DR Music and Beijing Luo Lin Ji De Cultural Company rights to the Beijing concert. In order to obtain official approval documents, Luo Lin Ji De went to Bellman. Zhao said "We knew the Beijing concert was going to make a loss, but we took it up anyway. The condition was the rights to produce Rain's Shanghai concert. Because we were sure at that time that Rain's Shanghai concert would make profits, making up for the losses incurred in Beijing." In order to secure their rights for Rain's 2007 concert in Shanghai, Jushi paid a sum of RMB 1.76 million to Luo Lin Ji De. "But Luo Lin Ji De and DR kept dragging their feet on giving us the official contract, and at the same time, did not return us the deposit." JYPE said they did not sign a contract directly with Jushi, so they should not be held responsible. However, Jushi opened this issue to the public, and announced their intentions to bring Luo Lin Ji De, DR and JYPE to court.

Rain Arrives on Specially Designed Plane

2007-04-17T04:57:00.000-07:00

Thursday, April 12, 2007
Source: E-Travel Blackboard
View Photos: http://www.etravelblackboard.com/index.asp...63458&nav=2

Rain arrives in Sydney on Korean Air抯 specially designed aircraft for the first concert in Australia of his world tour 揜ain抯 Coming? sponsored by Korean Air.

The aircraft is designed by Korean Air to promote Rain抯 world tour, which is of the largest scale ever for a Korean star. The aircraft exterior is wrapped with the image of Rain which symbolizes an angel that brings peace, hope and new life. Korean Air is flying the angel to different parts of the world.

As Korea抯 national carrier, Korean Air抯 sponsorship will help promote Korea and Korean culture to the world. Many performance and production specialists from around the world are joining efforts to make the tour a world-class show, underlining the harmony of east and west culture, ultra modern technology, style and presentation. Rain抯 World Tour will be the take-off of his career as a true international star, and Korean Air抯 support will add wind to his wings.

揟his is not just a commercial sponsorship for a single entertainer. Korean Air is helping to promote the cultural expansion of 慸ynamic Korea??said J.H. LEE, President and COO of Korean Air. 揜ain抯 World Tour is the first of its kind for a Korean artist, and Korean Air is proud to be a part of it. We will provide all the support we can to make it a successful tour,?Mr. Lee added.

Korean Air shares Rain抯 mission for his tour ?to reach out to the neglected people around the world. Rain will donate part of the concert earning to help children suffering from AIDS in under-developed countries in Asia through World Vision, an international Christian relief and development organization.

Rain hoping to make a splash in Australia

2007-04-17T04:56:00.000-07:00

13 Apr 07
1:44
Source: http://www.bruneitimes.com.bn/details.php?shape_ID=26769%20

KOREAN hip hop has brought Rain to drought stricken Australia. The 23-year-old Korean pop star, touted as the Justin Timberlake of the East, arrived in Sydney this week on his "Rain's Coming" world tour during which he hopes to further his ambitions to break into the English-speaking pop scene.

Rain, whose real name is Ji Hoon-jung, plans to release a Hollywood film and an English album within the next year the only hitch is he still doesn't speak English.

"This year I'm looking to make these changes and I'm also studying very hard with English, and English is the hardest thing," Rain says with the aid of an interpreter.

But language has so far proved no barrier to Rain winning fans outside Korea, with the tour making stops in several Asian countries.

He is the leading star of the Korean wave, otherwise known as Hallyu.

The singer-actor, who played to a large audience in New York's Madison Square Garden a few years ago, attributes his international success to the universality of hip hop.

"One thing I am confident in is my stage (presence). Having a cross of both Western and Eastern cultures in the stage is, I think, my strength," Rain says.

Voted one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people in 2006, Rain has performed with American R&B stars Christina Aguilera and Omarion, and usually attracts a crowd of fans at any appearance.

Only a small group turned out for a late morning press conference in Sydney, which also featured a live koala.

Dressed in a black suit, the normally cool pop star looked a little taken aback, giving the animal a diplomatic pat before turning again to deal with questions from local media.

His "Rain's Coming" tour began on December 15, 2006 at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul and continued throughout this year with concerts in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan. The Australian concert scheduled for this Saturday will be followed by events in Thailand, Japan, the US and Canada. Agencies

Korean music sensation visits Australia

2007-04-17T04:55:00.000-07:00

Thursday Apr 12 14:13 AEST
Source : http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=114254

Rain has arrived in Sydney.

Not the torrential drought-breaking kind, but an Asian pop sensation.

Rain is his stage name and he's hailed as Korea's answer to American icon Justin Timberlake.

Like the wet stuff, the man called Rain is virtually an unknown quantity in Australia.

But he's been whipping up a storm all over Asia with his third album, It's Raining, selling more than a million copies.

Even so, it's been a hard road to the top.Rain reckons in the early days he was rejected as too ugly to be a pop star.

But now the fans accept his looks, he wants to go global by showcasing his talents in a stage show extravaganza, with fireworks and props, including a mock submarine.

Rain, whose real name is Jung Ji-hoon, is in Australia for a one-off performance at Sydney's Acer Arena on Saturday, before continuing on his six-month Rain's Coming world tour.

The performer hopes his Australian show will give him an extra global boost, before he launches his first English-speaking album late this year or early in 2008.

He also hopes to rid himself of the Timberlake comparison.

"I do have plans for an English album for others to experience ... I will be going to the American market with this album and hopefully I will be getting a new nickname (not Timberlake) after the debut," the 24-year-old said via a translator at a press conference held in Sydney.

While Rain currently has a niche market in Australia, his popularity is growing - more than 60 media types and fans jostled for the best positions at Wednesday's press call.

Some die hard punters waited more than five hours to catch a glimpse of Rain, including Sheryl Teoh, 24, from Perth, who spent $1000 for a concert ticket and airfare.

"I am his biggest fan and was willing to travel across the world to see him before I read he was coming to Sydney," the Malaysian-born, Perth-raised university student said.

"He shook my hand and I got to meet him, he is my idol and it's a dream come true."

Rain says a host of audition rejections ultimately made him a better performer.

"When I first auditioned I got rejected 18 times because of my looks," he said.

"In the beginning I was very conscious of my looks, now I dare say I have created a new image and in Korea people are now more concerned with talent rather than looks."

In 2006 Rain was listed as one of Time Magazine's top 100 most influential people in the world.

Singer Rain Descends on Australia for World Tour

2007-04-13T04:56:00.000-07:00

(englishnews@chosun.com)
Source: http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200704/200704120011.html

The Stamford Plaza Hotel in Sydney on Wednesday was bustling with about 100 reporters and photographers from all over Asia and Australia. They were there for a press conference with Rain who had arrived a few days ahead of his Saturday concert, his first show in Australia and part of his "Rain's Coming" world tour.

Journalists from the Sydney Morning Herald, ABC TV, Rueters TV and other local and international news outlets turned their attention to the Korean pop singer who is rapidly becoming a global star.

Korean singer Rain looks at an Australia koala known as 'Jaffa' before a news conference in Sydney on Wednesday.
Rain, whose real name is Jung Ji-hoon, will perform in a concert in Sydney on Saturday night as part of his current world tour./REUTERS

Rain, in both one-on-one morning interviews and at the press conference, talked confidently about his feelings preparing for the show, the results of the tour so far and his future plans.

Rain arrived in Australia on Tuesday to find a crowd of 150 fans waiting for him at Sydney Airport. Despite a hiccup in the tour date -- the concert was postponed a week because of a venue change -- ticket sales have been going well. Even the Easter holidays didn't slow down the weekend bookings.

Rain will take to the stage on Saturday at Acer Arena, where other top international acts such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Beyonce Knowles have performed.

Korean singer Rain descends on Sydney, eyes West

2007-04-12T03:12:00.000-07:00

11 April 07[
Source : http://www.chinadaily.net/entertainment/2007-04/11/content_848524.htm

SYDNEY - Korean hip hop has brought Rain to drought stricken Australia.

The 23-year-old Korean pop star, touted as the Justin Timberlake of the East, arrived in Sydney this week on his "Rain's Coming" world tour during which he hopes to further his ambitions to break into the English-speaking pop scene.

Rain, whose real name is Ji Hoon Jung, plans to release a Hollywood film and an English album within the next year -- the only hitch is he still doesn't speak English.

"This year I'm looking to make these changes and I'm also studying very hard with English, and English is the hardest thing," Rain told Reuters, with the aid of an interpreter.

But language has so far proved no barrier to Rain winning fans outside Korea, with the tour making stops in Hong Kong, China, Taiwan and Japan.

The singer-actor, who played to a large audience in New York's Madison Garden a few years ago, attributes his international success to the universality of hip hop.

"One thing I am confident in is my stage (presence). Having a cross of both Western and Eastern cultures in the stage is, I think, my strength," Rain said.

Voted one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people in 2006, Rain has performed with American R&B stars Christina Aguilera and Omarion, and usually attracts a crowd of fans at any appearance.

Only a small group turned out for a late morning press conference in Sydney, which also featured a live koala.

Dressed in a black suit, the normally cool pop star looked a little taken aback, giving the animal a diplomatic pat before turning again to deal with questions from local media.

Korea's Timberlake arrives

2007-04-12T03:06:00.000-07:00

AAP
April 11, 2007 - 7:20PM
Source : http://www.smh.com.au/news/music/koreas-timberlake-arrives/2007/04/11/1175971174436.html

Rain arrived in Sydney today. Not the torrential drought-breaking kind, but an Asian pop sensation.

Rain is his stage name and he's hailed as Korea's answer to American icon Justin Timberlake.

Like the wet stuff, the main called Rain is virtually an unknown quantity in Australia.

But he's been whipping up a storm all over Asia with his third album, It's Raining, selling more than a million copies.

Even so, it's been a hard road to the top.

Rain reckons in the early days he was rejected as too ugly to be a pop star.

But now the fans accept his looks, he wants to go global by showcasing his talents in a stage show extravaganza, with fireworks and props, including a mock submarine.

Rain, whose real name is Jung Ji-hoon, is in Australia for a one-off performance at Sydney's Acer Arena on Saturday, before continuing on his six-month Rain's Coming world tour.

The performer hopes his Australian show will give him an extra global boost, before he launches his first English-speaking album late this year or early in 2008.

He also hopes to rid himself of the Timberlake comparison.

"I do have plans for an English album for others to experience ... I will be going to the American market with this album and hopefully I will be getting a new nickname (not Timberlake) after the debut," the 24-year-old said via a translator at a press conference held in Sydney today.

While Rain currently has a niche market in Australia, his popularity is growing - more than 60 media types and fans jostled for the best positions at today's press call.

Some die hard punters waited more than five hours to catch a glimpse of Rain, including Sheryl Teoh, 24, from Perth, who spent $1000 for a concert ticket and airfare.

"I am his biggest fan and was willing to travel across the world to see him before I read he was coming to Sydney," the Malaysian-born, Perth-raised university student said.

"He shook my hand and I got to meet him, he is my idol and it's a dream come true."

Rain says a host of audition rejections ultimately made him a better performer.

"When I first auditioned I got rejected 18 times because of my looks," he said.

"In the beginning I was very conscious of my looks, now I dare say I have created a new image and in Korea people are now more concerned with talent rather than looks."

In 2006 Rain was listed as one of Time Magazine's top 100 most influential people in the world.

Rain has come

2007-04-01T00:09:00.000-07:00

'Asia's king of pop' has been trying to pump some life into flagging sales for his concert today at the Taoyuan County Stadium

TAIPEI TIMES
By Jules Quartly
STAFF REPORTER
Saturday, Mar 31, 2007, Page 16

Rain's star power may have reached it's apex.
PHOTO: NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE

Rain came prematurely to Taiwan because ticket sales for his concert today in Taoyuan have been slow. What should have been a quick in-and-out has become a promotional slog for "Asia's king of pop."

Though just 25,000 tickets were on offer at the 35,000-seater Taoyuan County Stadium for the "Rain's Coming" world tour of 17 cities in 11 countries, local organizers were not feeling the love. In comparison, tickets for Rain's 2005 tour sold out as soon as they became available.

Hence, Rain's personalized jet arrived a day earlier than expected on Thursday. The plane has a picture of the South Korean idol, with wings, wrapped around the tail. The image is strikingly similar to the mythical Icarus, but the symbolism is probably lost on all concerned.

The same day he checked into the Grand Hotel, Rain was asked to perform at a press conference. Some fans tried to get in for an audience with their hero but meekly gave up the quest when a small security detail told them to go away.

There was no screaming or fainting and no groupies, either. It was a little disappointing.

Possibly the most enthusiastic fan was Aiko Moriguchi from Japan, who managed to get into the press conference as her tour group had access privileges to Rain in its package deal.

The senior manager at a trading company in Hong Kong has seen five Rain concerts in the past two years.

"I was on vacation so I took my chance and came here," she said in a combination of English, Chinese and Japanese. "He's so sexy, his personality, the way he talks, sings and dances. He's so shiny."

Like many of his female (and male) fans, Moriguchi wanted to be Rain's

Jeon Ji-hyun Cedes Advertising Power to Jang Dong-gun

2007-04-01T00:07:00.000-07:00

English Chosun
30-March-2007
Original source: http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200703/200703300020.html

Consumers no longer feel that Jeon Ji-hyun is the most bankable advertising model and instead name Jang Dong-gun. The finding is the result of a survey of 1,465 people in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province by brand consultancy Brand38 from March 5 until 15. The interviewees were asked to choose three stars they think are most appealing as commercial models. Jeon, who had always ranked top or second from the top in the biannual survey that started in 2003, fell to fifth place.

仧 Jeon Ji-hyun out, Jang Dong-gun in

Jeon took the top spot five times and second place three times in a total of eight surveys by Brand38, beating out superstars like Lee Young-ae, Lee Hyo-lee, Kim Tae-hee, Song Hye-gyo and Lee Na-young. But in the latest survey Jeon surrendered her place to Jang Dong-gun, the last survey乫s runner-up, and ended up in the fifth place.

What the two stars have in common is that they have done nothing but appear in commercials for quite some time. So why is one falling and the other rising? 乬Jeon still has name value as the most bankable commercial model, but it seems consumers are getting tired of her eternal sexy image and so-called 乬mystery乭 which has meant she appears on hardly any TV programs except commercials,乭 Brand38 says. 乬By contrast, Jang has successfully changed his image through commercials from unapproachable aristocrat to guy next door.乭

仧 Where have all the pretty boys gone?

Comedian and TV presenter Yoo Jae-suk rose to second place from 15th in the previous survey. Other comedians like Park Myung-soo (17th) and No Hong-chul (31st) also rose. The three saw their popularity grow on MBC乫s popular TV show 乬Infinite Challenge.乭

The consultancy says appearance still matters when it comes to commercials, but it is getting less and less important. 乬Economic hardship and harsh realities throughout society seem to make comedians more appealing to consumers,乭 it explains. 乬In the previous survey in the first half of 2006, Lee Jun-ki -- the star of the film 乪The King and The Clown乫 -- and Daniel Henney, who rose to stardom with MBC hit drama 乪My Name Is Kim Sam-soon,乫 ranked near the top in fourth and 12th respectively, but they both fell below 50th this time. That shows that good-looking stars tend to experience a sudden rise and fall.乭

仧 Who is suitable for what?

The survey also focused on what type of advertising is suitable for which star according to his or her image. Jang Dong-gun, who is thought of as 乬handsome乭 and 乬gentlemanly,乭 was thought to be suitable for fashion and car advertising. Singer Rain, who is associated with 乬passion,乭 was judged to be perfect for telecom commercials, and 乬sexy乭 and 乬pretty乭 Jeon Ji-hyun and 乬sexy乭 and 乬attractive乭 Lee Hyo-lee were thought best suited to fashion advertising.

仧 Politicians make it on the list

With a political season coming up with the presidential election, politicians, made their way into the list of the top 50. Former Seoul mayor Lee Myung-bak ranked 40th and former Grand National Party chairwoman Park Geun-hye 44th. Among businessmen, Samsung Group chairman Lee Kun-hee shared 40th place with the former mayor.