Jaejoong’s Video Interview at Hero Festival (Excerpts translated)
Q1: Three important things in interpersonal relationships:
Networking is really important. My friends disappeared a lot (meaning recently I’ve lost a lot of friends). So I spend more time at home these days. So I’m thinking about meeting new people. This is a really good question for this time [in my life]. Networking. It’s important.
It’s not like you can make new friends that easily just because I try to meet more people. Recently I’ve met a lot of friends with same interests or friends in the same field. When you meet someone, if you’re a good listener and understand that person well, and that person is looking for a friend who trusts him and listens to him well… That’s why people look for me. It sounded like I was bragging.
I think that’s the best method. If you really pay attention and listen to what they say and answer/talk with them with sincerity, then it’ll work.
You’ll be able to become a friend that [people/your friends] will feel truly happy to spend time with.
Ah~ it’s not much fun when I MC alone like this, right? Hehe
Please hold on a second, I have to pick the [next] question.
Oh, this seems like a good question.
Q2: What would you be like in 10 yrs? Please send a “video letter” with love to yourself, 10 years older.
In 10 years, probably, in my option, I’ll look older in terms of outer appearances. Uh… Honestly, as I age, I get younger/I age backwards. Probably everyone experienced acting like a grownup when you were young. And as you grow up, you find your good points or strenghts. You also realize your negative points or weaknesses, and as you do, you learn to depend on others. Uh… over time… you become more like a child over time? I feel that now. Maybe it will be even more so. (meaning maybe I’ll be even more like a baby as I age because I’m learning to depend on others). If I’m married with a child, I won’t be like that though… huh~
To myself in 10 years (video letter to self, 10 yrs older)
Ummm. “JaeJoong. Jaejoong, what are you up to?
Would you be singing…acting… or… living as a regular office worker with a family..?
I don’t know, anyway, I want you to be happy, be really happy so that you are the type of person who can make a lot of people around you happy, too.
Ha… and fans in front of you…I hope they’ll still be all there… so do a good job! Hehehehe
And I’ll answer the next question.
Q3: You seem like you don’t need a lot of sleep. What do you usually do at night when everyone’s sleeping?
Not much. Uh, I surf the internet, look at the city nightscape, drink a bit, sometimes read…
Uh… I talk with friends or my manager when they come visit me, uh… I really don’t do much.
That’s why I tweet late at night often.
I’m exactly like you. You stare at the bright monitor, into the wee hours, hiding from your parents, with the door closed and lights out… look at various things, like, maybe racy stuff, too 
. heh, or pictures of entertainers I like. Or even pictures of me.
I… uh… this is a real honest answer. I look for comments you guys leave on materials (meaning pics/vids, etc) about me. It’s emabarassing. But other entertainers do this, too. It’s a lie [if other entertainers say] they don’t.
Oh and, entertainers, behind backs (secretly), at personal gatherins, they talk about that kind of stuff. So please give me good feedback. Ah~ I’m embarassed.
Q4: What is your favorite personal belonging you cherish the most? Is there anything you always bring with you when you travel overseas?
Things I always bring with me… If it’s for 3 nights 4 days, even if I don’t wear them, I have to bring 3 sets of clothes. Because, this is rather funny, a while back, I went abroad for work with the members.[i] One of the members wore the same clothes [at the airport] when he left and came back. So did I.
But [fans] were picking on me only.
Ah, not exactly picking on me, but [fans were] saying “JaeJoong, why do you always wear same clothes~” 
I mix and match my clothes.
Uhhh, I don’t know, in your mind Jaejoong likes and is very interested in clothes and fashion, but I mix and match my clothes very often.
Recently, I wote 3 clothes for two weeks.
Are you shocked?
My lazyness-ism (Korean slang, the practice of lazyness as a way of life) is getting worse.
So I don’t change my clothes that often these days.
I change my underwears very often, though. Heh
Q5: You make eye contact with fans more often than other members. What is your know-how?
Know-how… when fans take pictures, they just, how can I say this? When fans look at us from the audience is very different from when they take pictures of us. When they are videotaping or taking pictures of me, they look like a reporter that’s set on getting a scoop.
Also, you know how there’s a red light in your digial camera, if I see the red light while on the stage, I somehow look at the red light even though we have to look [the other way].
Sometimes I’m surprised [that I make contact very often]. When I realized that there are so many pictures of me making eye contact [with the camera/video camera], I thought ‘oh, I guess I look [at the camera] a lot’. Then without knowing, I became self-concious about that. So… if there are a lot of cameras,.. from now on… I’ll look at more [cameras]…
How many questions were there? How many? How many did I answer so far?
Hmmm, six. How many did I do till now? I think about six. How many?
Ummm, I’ll answer the sixth question.
(He’s talking with the cameraman to see how many questions he answered so far)
Mmm, hmmm, yes… uhh…
Q6: I pride myself on being your fan because you’re an artist, a singer-songwriter. It looks like you’re working on composing songs these days. Which place is the best place for you to write music? Which style of music is the easiest to write? When you have trouble writing lyrics, what do you usually do? How many songs are there that you already made? How many are you working on right now?
Um, this question’s really long.
First of all, honestly, uh…yes, I’ve always thought this. I’m not partial to creating my own music all the time. Rather than feeling like I have to write music, I write music when I feel like it. Because, for example, if I write music because I feel pressured to, then writing music becomes a job rather than something I enjoy doing. I’m a singer, but I become a composer [if I write music because I feel pressured to].
So I want to focus more on singing, and then I’d like to feel that I want to write music and then compose songs for fans… I think that would be better.
I usually work from home.
As for lyrics, I don’t know. I don’t compose nor write lyrics first. I arrange first and then compose. If I don’t like how it’s arranged, if I don’t like the theme, I throw away that number in the middle of the process. There are countless number of songs that I threw away this way. But I still have some songs left.
I lost a hard disk [hard drive] in Japan while moving to another dorm, so I lost about 30 songs. If I counted [the songs I lost at that time], I’d have quite a lot of songs I wrote.
I have a lot of songs I wrote for you to listen to in the future. There are some songs that’s completed already. So please look forward to them. You say you take pride.. in me being a song-writer… so I’ll work hard, work harder in the future.
Next question. There are many difficult questions.
Q7: Are you still managing your body? (meaning watching what you eat, exercising, etc) It looks like you go to gym. Please teach us some simple indoor exercises you do that fans can do with ease.
Ah, I’ll show you an exercise that would be really good for you guys. Please pick something that’s between 0.5 kg and 1kg, like a dumbell, or a heavy bag’s ok, too. Grab it with your hands. Prbably you all know this, push it forward and hold for 3 secs, pull and hold for 3 secs.
If you keep repeating, eh, this…*put his hands on his chest*… when you see pictures, you know…that… you know… valley between your breasts (cleavage)… here… like this.
The reason why I recommend this to you is… please don’t think anything weird *laugh* ehhh, it’s not like that!
If you do this… *covers mouth and laughs* it’s not anything weird. Eh, it’s something you can do easily when you don’t have any exercise equipments at home.
For example, *picks up Jiji* when you have a cat *does the excerise with Jiji* look how easy it is to do this. You can play with your pet and do exercise. *repeats the exericse a few times then turns Jiji around to face the camera* Like this if you look from the front *repeats the exercise muttering something* But Jiji… doesn’t like this at all. So I’ll introduce Jiji later.
I’ll answer the next question.
Uhhh this is quite racy/risque.
Q8. What kind of kiss would you want with your lover if your body gets switched with a girl like in the show “Secret Garden”?
I apologize, I’ve never watched Secret Garden. Because of the picture I tweeted before, I got a lot of questions like “do you watch Secret Garden? How do you like it?” But it’s hard to answer those questions because I haven’t watched Secret Garden.
But since you’ve asked what kind of kiss would you want with a lover…
Umm, what I want is, In Secret Garden, the foam’s over the upper lip. But, mine’s… a little intense… Chin? It doesn’t seem very romantic. But on the chin.
If there was foam on her chin, I think I’d want to kiss [her] in the chin. And I’d pretend to wipe it but put it on the nose, put it on the forehead *pretends to put the foam on his own chin, nose, and forehead. Then pretends to kisses chin, nose and forehead* Ahhhhhhh *laughs* this is soooo embarassing.
Q9: Are you JiJi’s stylish ? Don’t just dress well yourself, please make some fashionable style for JiJi too
I want to dress him well too. But… Ah~~~ Actually, until now all JiJi’s clothes were gifts from fans.
What can I do? That is clothes bought by you guys. So I dress him like that.
But JiJi really hates wearing clothes. I got him to be dressed once; JiJi’s expression was not good.
I understand it (fans’ heart), JiJi too, but cuz he’s not an animal that can wear clothes…
I need to think for JiJi too. I’m sorry
Q10: Jaejoong’s self-composed songs are usually medium-tempo song or sad ballad. If you can produce your solo album, what kind of album you want to make?
If I produce my solo album, hmm… ballad, R&B or everyone’s favorite rock or dance.
I actually want to mix all the genres at once. Hmm Trot too.
So uh… You won’t get tired of each album’s track. I really want to make an album like that.
I don’t know yet when an album like that will be release.
Please look forward our activities.
Q11. Indispensable thing when you stand on stage?
Yer, I have. It’s rather funny. I can’t stand on stage without my necklace. Without necklace, I feel like some part of my body is taken away, really empty. I feel anxious. That’s the reason why I always wear necklace. Really simple right?
Q12: Do you have any question to fans?
The thing I want to ask is really personal/private.
Fans have shown me their double-sidedness. The fan who is in front of me and the one who isn’t seem so different, though it’s a same person. In front of me, you call “Oppa~~~” but then, when you’re not in front of me, it become “Jaejoong ah~~”.
So I’m really curious. When you’re with friends, what will you talk about me behind my back?
Among my fans, there are students, workers and high school students too. “Our Jaejoongie is like this; our Jaejoongie is not like that”. I’m really curious about how you guys talk about me. If you shoot a video of that (how fans talk about him), I really want to watch.
In the future, please upload that kind of video on youtube or twitter, I’ll definitely watch it!
Q13: You have a pretty strong self-management. We’re being worried that you’re getting tough diet.
After seeing Jaejoong’s legs, many fans wanna go on diet for 365 days. Please teach us some tips (to have thin legs LOL~)
I have some words to the fans that wanna go on diet for 365 days after seeing my legs.
I really eat a lot! I just go on a diet 2 days before the shooting. Compared to Junsu and Yoochun, I’m not on diet very often.
These legs make problem.
I can feel that the part from the waist down of my body is getting thinner. I know it and I was trying to find out the reason. I will honestly tell you. The reason is that….. I don’t move much.
So everybody too~ Don’t move (? -“- ??)
I do exercise a lot, just my upper body. Lower body workout is really tiring. Sometimes when you walk or go shopping?
So maybe my legs will just stay like this. They are too thin. It’s my legs’ complex.
I’ll try my best to have iron legs (legs with muscles) cuz I need to get married someday too.
Q14: Recently fans are jealous the most with JiJi. What made you raise JiJi? What is the hardest thing while raising him?
Well… Actually, every time I look at myself in the mirror, I get this feeling: “Ah~ really like a cat”. I mean, rather than personality, appearance, right?
I have thought much about cat. Then for a moment, a thought passed by “Ah~ Should I try to raise a cat?” And I ended up going to a pet shop with manager hyung.
And Vick…
Vick is at my parents’ house now. I need to say sorry to Vick but………………………………………………
He has become a yellow-dog! Kekeke
That very famous… that luxury kind of dog… has become a yellow-dog now.
It’s just… Compared to dog, he looks more like a cow now.
When I go see my parents, I‘ll take a picture of him and show you guys.
Q15: You use twitter as a tool to communicate with fans. The tweet the most memorable? Twitter’s advantages and disadvantages?
Well… First, the most memorable tweet….
There are many mentions that have same meaning. Cuz I took picture with JiJi…. “I want to become JiJi” or “I want to become JiJi’s rice bowl” hahaha~~
Or “I want to become JiJi’s clothes”…
Many fans tweeted to me like that.
Ha…. Though…. What? Isn’t it? “I want to become JiJi’s food.”
Want to become food, want to become clothes… This is… rather… Ah~ But …. It’s not like that… hahaha
But I really appreciate it, I’m really thankful that you love me that much
Twitter’s advantages…. Uhm….
Like you said, I can communicate with everybody and we show you my true feelings. It’s really good.
About disadvantages…
I want to share my thoughts to you but the information I shared get much distorted. Or people write comments for us in the bad way. This is big disadvantages.
I have thought a lot before post those tweets. There are emotional words and rational words too. (It’s hard to chose the word here, he want to say that some of his tweets were posted when he was too emotional and some were not)
But really, you know that I lack a place where I can express my feelings, right? So twitter is an excellent place. I hope that I can talk a lot on twitter. And please don’t blame Yoochun and Junsu for not tweeting much.
I will try to tweet as much as possible. Haha
Q16: We make choices at every moment of our lives. When the time comes for you to make an important decision, is there anyone who you prioritize to talk with or you think of as a mentor?
It’s a really good question.
Honestly, in this career, you need to make choices at every little moment. It’s really tiring. Tiring and… Uhmm… For example, people around us, manager hyung, our representative, our members… do help us a lot.
In fact, I chose that life and have been living like that but I don’t have any mentor. Who to admire, who I want to be like, who I don’t want to be like, I don’t have such thing.
I want to be a person like me.
………
JiJi is my mentor! (Awwww this guy~~)
Look at him. He’s sleeping behind me now.
Really… The most comfortable life in the world haha
There are a lot of things that we can learn from cats. Everybody too… please learn from them. Haha