Yuu ~ ☆

'My Girlfriend is a Gumiho' is a south-korean drama, aired in 2010, starring Shin Min-ah and Lee Seung-gi. It is translated as 'My Girlfriend is a Nine-Tail Fox'. 

[Note: A gumiho -or nine tail fox- is a legendary fox that, after living thousand years, become a demon in the form of a fox with nine tails. It can transform into other creature too, like humans and mostly beautiful girls that seduces men and eat their heart or lives. ]

Shin Min-ah is the 'Gumiho' itselfs, in the begin of the story she is sealed inside an ancient painting in a temple. Then a clumsy boy, Cha Dae-woong, played by Lee Seung-gi, unintentionally frees her. Since he's scared he escapes but doing so he falls and nearly dies, what saves him is non others that the Gumiho. 

The next day he doesn't remember a thing but finds a pretty girl in a white dress following him. Cha Dae-woong thinks he's lucky but he'll soon change his mind..The girl really follows him everywhere, to his university till his home. She then claims to be the Gumiho that he freed and that she saved his life.

Of course he doesn't believe her and just think she's crazy, so he does everything he can to keep her away.  Then to prove it she's a real gumiho, on a full moon night, she shows him her real nature -that is to say her nine tails-

After that he lets her stay with him and tries to make her happy, all that while hiding to others her true identity. On her part she doesn't know anything about modern society- and she likes Dae-woong so she follows him around. After a little while we get to know Mi-ho -that's how Dae-woong call her- past. She was in love with a man and wanted to live with humans, but he betrayed her. Even after that she still wants to live in the human world and act like them. Her story is just so sad and she really comes off it as super cute and pure.

Well, obliviously a drama is no drama wihtout some antagonist. So we have Park Dong-joo, an half-human that tries to bring Mi-ho back to the painting, so he pursue her while pretending to be a kind veterinarian. After a while he finally understands her reasons and tells her who to become an half-human, that is to say she has to make so Dae-woong keeps her bead within him for 100 days, enter a 'Love Contract' and keep the bead from being harmed by remaining chaste.

However by doing so, after 100 days the human will die. But Dong-Ju doesn't tell her about that, nor does he tell her about his past or reasons.. we'll find out about that much later.

Finally, Mi-ho and Dae-woong fall in love. They don't know anything about the truth, if Mi-ho becomes partly or full human he will die.

They just live happly, being cute, as he tries to break-out as a action actor and film-maker. What will happen after that? Will he be safe and will she manage to become human? Well, for that, you have to see the drama.

I know you'll love it as much as I did. I hope Shin Min-ah and Lee Seung-gi will do more movies and dramas together because they have such a great chemistry and are so cute! Obliviously there are a lot of characters, I just named three because they were the most important, but you can find out about the others -and the actors- here. 

This is singed by Lee Seung-gi himself.  

 This is by Lee Sun Hee, the 'fox' theme.

So, please, definitely watch 'My Girlfriend is a Gumiho'!

She is a child model, half korean and half canadian, but most important of all she was on the show 'Hello Baby 5' with kpop band MBLAQ and that's how I know her.

 She's so cute, I bet she'll be a great idol or actress in the future.

She has an official facebook page too, so if you want to see more go here.

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Anyway I really suggest you to go watch 'Hello Baby 5', it was an awesome show and you'll see so much different sides of MBLAQ plus three super cute babies.

With Thunder appa and Dayong.

Here she is with Seungho appa. They were really affectionate to each other and you could tell Seungho was heartbroken in the last episode, when they said goodbye.

I'll leave you with some clips and full episode number 5, subbed in english.

I don't know why the font size got messed up in the last post, but I couldn't change it even after I tried several times. Anyway...This is like a short recap through pics called 'what you need to know about New Year in Japan'. 

During Shogatsu mochi will play a big role, they will be served as food as well as decoration. In the temple people can cook them together to do Zoni.

 During the visit at the nearby shrine there will be serveral cerimonies, so here are some with a little history and other things.

I should have done this post a week ago, for the perfect timing, but whatever. Since I was posting about festivities in Japan, I'll go on and do this 'New Year' post. So, first, how was yours??

New Year is the most important celebration in Japan, more than Christmas, the first of the year is an ancient tradition that starts from the 31 December to the 3 of January.  It's that big. 

In December people start preparing for it, writing wishing postcards 'Nengajo' so that they can be delivered on January 1st. 

After a while, circa 2 weeks earlier, people start cleaning their houses (the reason is to get rid of the dirt of the past year to welcome the new one with a fresh mind and spirit) and do some big shopping. Then everyone put up their New Year's decorations, especially Kadomatsu which are made from bamboo, pine branches and strips of white folded paper. When the house is clean and decorated, then everybody gets busy preparing New Year's food.

Then on  New Year Eve 'Omisoka' they eat some traditional dishes called 'Osechi-ryori' and 'Toshikoshi-soba', after that they stay up until midnight to listen to the 108 chimes of the temple bell.

Janurary 1st is called 'Shogatsu', families gather to the temple nearby in their hometown, get items, like a lucky talisman called 'Omamori' and pray for a good omen. 

During shogatsu it is a tradition to visit a shrine or temple, all dressed up with familiy or friends. The first visit of the new year is known as 'Hatsumoude', temple visitors ask for safety, health, and good fortune. Many well-known temples and shrines are extremely crowded and you might even get lost.

Shogatsu traditional food are mochi, sweet sake called Toso, and Zoni soup. Then there is the visit to the relatives, most likely grandparents, which gives off the 'Otoshidama', which is basically a special allowance to nephews, nieces, children, etc.

There is even the 'Oseibo', the new year gift given to costumers, superiors, teachers and such to express gratitude for the past year.

During New Year, when the whole family and relatives are gathered, children usually play traditional games, like the Karuta Game, while adults do some calligraphy 'shodo' or poetry games. Otherwise the family watch New Year's shows on tv and, obliviously, later eat all the food prepared.

Here is a link if you want to know more about japanese traditional games, played even during Shogatsu.

If you've been wondering.. yes, even japanese people celebrate Christmas. But don't expect too much, especially if you're christian or religious, because Japan's Christmas is very different from what western countries usually do.

That is because it's a celebration borrowed from western countries that believes is the birthday of Jesus Christ. Well, Japan is mostly a mix of Shintoist or Buddhist. 

So, in the end, what is Christmas like in Japan?

It's a party of lights. Infact, you can find plenty of decorations around the streets and inside shops, with special sales etc, but that's it.

Also, Christmas in Japan is not an holiday, you get to work like always. In the evening some go to fancy restaurant -usually fully booked- or do a gathering of friends in a karaoke place or something like that. 

And if you don't have any of that you spend it at home with your family.

But infact, Christmas is considered a couple-holiday in Japan, the second one after Valentine-day. You eat a cake and exchange a gift, basically it's the same. 

Now onto the cake, the Chrismas cake is very popular in Japan. It's definitely something like a tradition for them during this holiday. They are usually very small cakes, decorated with Christmas characters and props.

These little cakes are called 'short-cakes' and this particular one is the 'Kurimasu Keki', that is to say the 'Christmas Cake' written in Katakana.

That's it.  There is no real spirit in Chrismas for Japanese. They do say a lot about Santa but have not clear ideas about the story LOL. Anyway it's wonderful to see, the streets, and the malls are all heavily decorated and I think it's great to see.

So it's メリー・クリスマス (Merii Kurisumasu) to you all! :) -sorry it already passed but I just had no time-