Lee Dong Wook 2025 Tokyo fan meeting – Summary & experience

Jotting down whatever I can remember from Lee Dong Wook’s Tokyo fan meeting 2 weeks ago. Photography and video recording during the event wasn’t allowed, so this post shall also serve as my personal record keeping for memory.

Please note there may be some inaccuracies in the content and sequence of events since my memory is sketchy and I do not understand Japanese at all (I can only understand what Dongwook says in Korean).

Introduction

This was my first time attending a fan meeting in Japan so I didn’t really know what to expect. The simple opening for the show took me by surprise as I was expecting him to make a grand entrance by singing a song just like the Seoul fan meeting and other live shows I’ve been to, but his entrance here was a simple one where he just walked out from backstage, gave a short introduction, and went to sit at the sofa in the middle of the stage.

He looked so handsome and luxurious in this outfit though!

The crowd cheered and clapped very loudly when the emcee, Furuya Masayuki, first appeared, so Dongwook joked that the emcee seems more popular than him 😅. (The emcee seems to be a very famous TV personality and radio deejay in Japan who has hosted many events for Korean celebrities)

Talk time

Regarding the theme “The Magical Moment” for the Japan fan meeting, Dongwook explained that it refers to the meeting between him and his fans as magical, since it has been 7 years since he last held a fan meeting in Japan. It has also been 25 years since his debut, so it is magical to be able to work as an actor for so long.

Dongwook said that when he held his fan meeting in Seoul last year, he knows that overseas fans had been demanding him to hold a fan meeting tour, but unfortunately he can’t because he is busy with all his acting projects. So he decided to have one in Tokyo at least.

I think the emcee was telling him it was impressive that Dongwook managed to have a sell-out show at this venue (Tokyo International Forum Hall A has a seating capacity of around 5000), so Dongwook joked that he might have to hold his next Japan fan meeting at Kyocera Dome instead 🤭😂 (Kyocera Dome is a baseball stadium in Osaka that can hold 55,000 people).

Dongwook shared that he went on a retreat with his staff after the filming of Divorce Insurance ended. He ended up being the leader since he was the oldest, and he used a mic so he wouldn’t have to strain his voice.

He hasn’t seen Divorce Insurance yet as he is too busy. But he usually doesn’t watch his own shows anyway.

About himself, Dongwook said he usually measures his height in the morning, because he claims that you will be taller when you wake up after lying down flat the whole night. 😅🤨

He picked sunglasses as his favourite item as he realised it is important to take care of your eyes. Especially now that he is in his mid 40s (he kept repeating this point about his age several times throughout the show 😂). Currently his eyesight is 1.2 and 1.5 on each eye.

He picked “work”, “rest” and “continuity” as the 3 words that describe his current self. “Continuity” because he prefers to keep working continuously and he has been doing this for the past 7 years or so.

About the food he eats most often, he thought about what he would eat 365 days a year, so he picked coffee as he drinks it everyday. Mostly iced Americano before exercise or oat latte when he craves something sweet.

The item he bought recently is Persil laundry capsules. The translator probably didn’t understand what Persil was because there was a brief awkward silence, so he repeated “The brand name is Persil”. 😆 The emcee said that Dongwook probably does his laundry very cooly (the emcee did a gesture of throwing the laundry/capsules in a cool way), Dongwook said no, everyone does laundry the same way. Dongwook got up from his seat to demonstrate how he squats down to stuff his clothes into the washing machine (seems like he uses a front load washer since he has to squat).

His goal for 2025 is to live healthily in the present. Goblin is a treasured piece of work but it was already 10 years ago. He wants to constantly take on new roles, live in the present and not dwell on the glory of the past.

When asked how he is like on his off day, he said it’s like how he is now. He doesn’t feel like he’s at work now when he is meeting his fans.

Quiz time

For the first quiz question, Dongwook was asked to arrange 4 pictures of himself shown on the screen in correct chronological order. The 4 images were of young Dongwook from “School”, “My Girl”, “Scent of a Woman” and an interview photo from “Strangers From Hell” period. Dongwook was able to identify and arrange the pictures in their correct order, and he said it’s because “You can see me getting older in the pictures”. 😆

Another quiz question was based on the drama “Touch Your Heart”. He had to guess the boyfriend score that Jin Shim gave to Jung Rok in the drama, but Dongwook said he couldn’t remember at all. The answer was 99.

Dongwook was asked to identify the name of this place in Tale of the Nine Tailed season 1. He got the answer right. This hell of daggers scene in TOTNT S1 was unforgettable for him because of the difficulty in filming that scene for 3D2N in front of a blue screen. But he said he will not be doing TOTNT anymore.

One of the quiz questions was about the brooch design of Grim Reaper in Goblin. Dongwook got the answer right (crown) because he was the one who chose the design. The emcee wondered if he chose it because of a deeper meaning since the Grim Reaper was an emperor in his past life, but Dongwook said he chose that design simply because he thought it was pretty 😅. Dongwook told the audience “please keep it as a secret 🤫” and stick to what we had originally assumed. 😆

The first few opening seconds of a song was played and he had to guess which drama OST it was. Dongwook seemed totally bewildered as it did not ring a bell for him even after listening to it twice 🤣. When they played the song for a second longer, he correctly identified the song as “How Can I Be Late” from A Shop For Killers OST. He knows the song as it was produced by Primary, a famous music producer in Korea.

Dongwook said he has already met Japanese actor Okada Masaki at the script reading for season 2. But Dongwook doesn’t have any Japanese lines in ASFK 2 because “Jeong Jinman doesn’t talk much in the first place, he uses his gun instead of talking.” 😆

Jeong Jinman will face more challenges in season 2 compared to season 1. He has also been bulking up and gaining weight for the role to be consistent with the first season.

Despite getting most of the quiz questions correct, he was still made to do the Nanigasuki challenge as a penalty anyway 😆 Dongwook was so embarrassed doing it. He said something along the lines of “Why do I have to do this when I answered correctly?” 🤣

Intermission – Balance Game

While Dongwook went backstage for a change of outfit, a Balance Game video played on screen where he was given several this vs that questions about superpowers.

If given the choice of superpower, he would choose to teleport.

When he goes overseas to places like France, he will memorise certain phrases, but when the cashier asks him further questions, he wouldn’t understand, so he would choose to have the power to understand what others are saying.

If he had the power of time travel, he would like to go back to the start of the fan meeting. (Aww 🥹)

He almost never eats Korean food when he is overseas, he will eat the local food.

His tip for adjusting quickly to the time difference when travelling is to have your meal based on the local time over there. But he hasn’t tried it yet 😅.

Towards the end of the Balance Game video, Dongwook said “The Balance Game is about things that wouldn’t happen in reality, but I ended up answering it seriously.” 😂 (Yeah, why were all the questions in the Balance Game about superpowers? Perhaps to fit “The Magical Moment” theme of the show 😅)

Fan survey

A few days before the fan meeting, fans were given a Google form to fill up some survey questions about him. This segment of the fan meeting was spent going through the results of the survey. For each multiple choice question, Dongwook had to guess which was the most popular answer given by fans in the survey.

One of the survey questions was about what fans would like to know about his daily routine (1. His waking up routine, 2. How he reads his scripts 3. His bedtime routine). He said his bedtime routine is like everyone – brush teeth, wash face and apply lip balm. He also demonstrated his morning waking up routine of folding the blanket.

Another question was about what fans think his charm is (1. Acting abilities, 2. Tsundere personality, 3. His face, 4. Variety sense). I can’t remember which option he picked, but option 3 was the most popular answer given by fans. I think I might have picked 2 or 4 when I did the survey. Just a personal opinion, I was hoping it would be another answer rather than option 3 since it is already a universal fact that he is handsome. I wish he would know that fans love him for his other qualities apart from his good looks. 🥹

He was eventually made to pick a challenge among 3 choices and he ended up with the challenge of making a pleading (?) face. (I’m not exactly sure what he was being asked to do in Japanese, but I guessed it’s a cute “pleading” face based on what he briefly said in Korean) I recall one of the other options was to do different heart poses (I can’t recall what the 3rd option was), but Dongwook was relieved that what he picked seemed to be the best one among the three.

Dongwook’s “pleading”(?) face somehow ended up looking like a cute constipated face to me. The emcee said he is doing it wrongly, so Dongwook asked the emcee to give a demonstration to everyone instead (he’s so witty 😆). To everyone’s surprise, the emcee actually did a better job than him at acting out a cute puppy-like pleading face (something like this -> 🥹). Dongwook attempted again but ended up looking constipated again 🙈😆.

Giving advice to fans

Prior to the fan meeting, fans were asked to submit any personal concerns or worries that he can help by giving advice at the fan meeting.

One of the fans submitted a question seeking advice on decluttering the house. He said he is not good at throwing things away either. But everyone buys and throws stuff away eventually so just do whatever you like.

Another fan submission said that both mother and daughter liked him a lot, but the daughter doesn’t have a boyfriend because she likes him too much (I might not have understood the context correctly as the questions were only displayed in Japanese), Dongwook said it is hard to find a common topic for mum and daughter to bond over, so if both of you love the same thing then this is actually a good thing. He went on to talk about how MBTI explains how introverted and extroverted people normally behave, but he ended up concluding that “MBTI is a lie”. (Lol he really hates MBTI 😂)

A fan said she lives alone so she has trouble putting on pain plasters on her back herself. Dongwook suggested to put it on by placing the plaster on the floor and then lie down on it. Or go run around on the street and yell at people to put it on for you. 😅

Photo time

As mentioned earlier, video recording and photography are not allowed at fan meetings in Japan, but fortunately there was a brief photo time so I was able to film this fancam for memory 🥹

Dongwook went to both sides of the stage so that fans on both ends of the hall could see him. I can’t help but notice his huge biceps 🤤

When the emcee ended the photo time, Dongwook wanted to continue because he had to do his “signature” pose 🫶🏻 Thanks to that, we got to snap more pictures and footage of him.

Performance

Towards the end of the show, it was finally time for a performance. Finally a proper time for me to wave his lightstick!

Dongwook warned fans that he can’t sing well. He sang a Korean song titled “사랑하는 이에게” (To My Beloved), originally performed by DEUX. Dongwook had shared the song in his Bubble chat before the show.

Filming wasn’t allowed, so here is the song by the original singer:

Dongwook tends to recommend songs based on the message conveyed in their lyrics, so it would be worthwhile to pay attention to the lyrics of the song:

Wrap up

The entire show lasted slightly over 2 hours. Compared to last year’s fan meeting in Seoul, this one was much quieter and relaxed as he spent most of the show sitting and chatting with the emcee. As we weren’t allowed to do recording, I was able to pay more attention listening to every word he was saying and admiring his face with my own eyes.

The downside is that my memory is sketchy so I’m not entirely sure of the accuracy of whatever I’ve written down in this blog post. As I do not understand Japanese, I could not make sense of anything the emcee was asking him and the text that were displayed on the screen, so effectively (and frustratingly) I could only understand what Dongwook said in Korean, meaning I only understood 50% of the entire show. 😅 The ban on photography also prevented me from using Google Translate to make sense of whatever was going on during the show. So I apologise if there are any inaccuracies or mistakes in this blog post.

But nonetheless, I enjoyed the experience very much and I got to meet many fans that day. Another memorable fangirl adventure! 💝

Thank you for reading if you’ve made it this far!