Confucian heroes in popular Asian dramas18 Love from the Star was a very expensive production. Each episode cost about $US554,000 to produce.
See http://www.chinatimes.com/realtimenews/20140614001146-260404. Accessed February 10,
2015.
19 According to the population estimates of the World Bank, from 2010 to 2014 82 percent of Koreans
and 93 percent of Japanese resided in urban areas. See World Bank data for more information. Accessed
February 10, 2015. http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.URB.TOTL.IN.ZS.
20 In one of his most famous essays “Walking in the City,” de Certeau argues that city planners in their
capacity as supervisors help direct the foot traffic of the pedestrians by creating maps that guide people’s
walking habits. However, these overseers, according to de Certeau, cannot dictate the random actions of
the passers-by, who use their myriad footsteps to write the city into a complex and invisible text. As a
result, de Certeau asserts that the public does not surrender their everyday practices to the control of
the select few (de Certeau 1984).
21 One of the key attractions of both shows is the ways that both male protagonists are constructed as
“white knights,” saving women from their ruinous situations. In Hanzawa Naoki, two cases warrant
mentioning. One is Miki Fujisawa (Mitsu Dan) who plays a seductress, holding valuable informa-
tion that may help others indict her lover Mitsuru Higashida (Takashi Ukaji) in Naoki’s investiga-
tion of a fraudulent bank loan. Since Miki harbors a career dream to save enough money to open up
a shop in downtown Osaka, Naoki approaches her to negotiate a deal. The tussle between the two
intensifies when Miki tries to double cross Naoki by striking another deal with the tax inspector.
As a marked woman hunted by those around her, Miki lives up to the hype by selling her service
to the highest bidder. In a climactic scene where Naoki meets with Miki in an iconic street, we see
the effect of the hero’s edifice teaching a wayward woman right from wrong. Silhouetted against
flashing neo-lights, Miki in her mini dress, high heels, and shining accessories bows deeply to Naoki
with gratitude.
Another equally striking case is in series two when Naoki confronts a hotel tycoon Hane Natsuko
(Baisho Mitsuko) who harbors undue ambition to ascend to the top of the hotel’s executive chain.
To thwart her plan, Naoki exposes her evil connections to the corrupt figures in the bank and ends her
rule in the historic hotel. Like Miki, Hane exploits others to achieve her goals.
In My Love from the Star, Song-yi is a prime example of a woman in trouble. From her declining
career to murderous persecution to social media backlash, she is in one crisis after another. These crises
are to showcase the gallant prowess of Min-joon who leaps from place to place to put out the dramatic
fire created by Song-yi’s adventures.
22 Euny Hong, “Korean Cool is The Ultimate National Marketing Ploy” in Newsweek (August 8, 2014).
Accessed February 10, 2015. http://www.newsweek.com/2014/08/15/korean-cool-ultimate-national-
marketing-ploy-263505.html.
23 Roland Kelts, “Japan Spends Millions in Order to Be Cool,” in Time, July 1, 2013. Accessed February
10, 2015. http://world.time.com/2013/07/01/japan-spends-millions-in-order-to-be-cool/.
24 Simon Sheikh, “Representation, Contestation and Power: The Artist as Public Intellectual.” Republic Art.
October 2004. Accessed August 23, 2016. http://republicart.net/disc/aap/sheikh02_en.htm.
25 http://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/1538513/south-korean-tv-dramas-exploit-
success-push-products-across-asia. Accessed February 10, 2015.
26 Said argues that intellectuals must establish a set of universal principles: “all human beings are entitled
to expect decent standards of behavior concerning freedom and justice from worldly powers or nations,
and that deliberate or inadvertent violations of these standards need to be testified and fought against
courageously” (Said 1996). Said’s definition leaves room for interpretation. In particular, his repeated
use of the word “standards” to configure such abstract and complicated notions as “freedom and justice”
seems reductive. His statement begs two questions: Who has the authority or perspective to define these
concepts for us and for everyone? Is it anything but naïve to hope for a transcultural or transnational
way of understanding freedom and justice, either in theoretical or practical terms?
As for the notion of he or “harmony,” in Analects Confucius characterizes the key goal of li or “ritual”
and “propriety” is to achieve the “nobility of harmony” (li zhi yong, he wei gui 禮之用，和為貴).
For a brief but clear explanation, see http://baike.baidu.com/subview/4395786/7040674.htm.
Accessed February 15, 2015.
27 The original text is as follows: 夫仁者，己欲立而立人，己欲達而達人。能近取譬，可謂仁之方也已。
For further reference, see http://ctext.org/analects/yong-ye/zh?en=on. Accessed February 10, 2015.