Jun Matsumoto Speaks Tagalog for Role in SMILE
April 12th, 2009 | Published in Movies and Television, Music and Entertainment, Society and Business | 23 Comments
As part of his role playing a young half-Filipino, half-Japanese individual in his upcoming TBS drama SMILE, Matsumoto Jun of HANA YORI DANGO and GOKUSEN fame is learning Tagalog.
Some of his lines in the upcoming J-drama will be in Filipino, and Jun is doing his best to mimic a convincing Tagalog accent. Watch Jun in action in a sample video on YouTube.
SMILE is a human drama centered around the lives of two unfortunate but optimistic individuals portrayed by Jun and Aragaki Yui (Sh15uya, Code Blue).
Jun plays Hayakawa Bito, born and raised in Japan by his Japanese mother and Filipino father, who is wrongly accused of committing a crime. Yui, on the other hand, plays Mishima Hana, a girl who has lost her ability to speak due to a traumatic accident.
The series will air on the Japanese network TBS, every Friday at 10PM starting 17th April, 2009. For more information, please visit their official website (Japanese only).
April 14th, 2009at 11:22(#)
I’ve been waiting for this. XD The thought of a Jpop Idol like Matsujun speaking in Filipino is WIN. haha.
I’m so shallow. XD
April 17th, 2009at 17:38(#)
i’m thinking of providing weekly coverage and doing plot summaries/translations once the series is under way~ should i?
April 19th, 2009at 00:01(#)
you should!!! i would love to read the coverage^____^
April 22nd, 2009at 17:21(#)
yes, i think you should. at least we’ll know if the series is any good or not and how he fairs as a half-filipino in the series.
April 23rd, 2009at 21:19(#)
yes please!
i can’t wait to watch this jdorama~! i love matsujun and seeing him portray a half-filipino role is truly amazing…i just know from the trailers that this will be a real tear-jerker and i can’t wait to cry buckets of tears…
April 24th, 2009at 02:15(#)
[...] pilot episode for TBS Friday Drama SMILE aired on the 17th of April 2009. It stars Matsumoto Jun and Aragaki Yui in the lead roles. SMILE revolves around the stories of Hayakawa Vito — a [...]
May 7th, 2009at 11:00(#)
I got to watch the first episode already and I went through a whole box of tissues. Its really a tear jerker.
May 13th, 2009at 21:42(#)
hmm… i watched the drama. he didn’t speak Filipino at all. Although don’t get me wrong, I’d love to hear him speak my language.
May 13th, 2009at 21:47(#)
not yet — but keep in mind that the series is only in its fourth episode, and there are plenty of opportunities for him to spout lines in filipino later in the season. he did however speak tagalog in the trailer, so we’ll just have to wait and see which episode that scene originates from.
July 10th, 2009at 16:36(#)
Just for an update. I didn’t hear any Tagalog in the entire series at all. His character didn’t know the language.
July 10th, 2009at 18:06(#)
thanks for the update — i haven’t watched any episodes from the fourth one onwards since i can’t seem to find the time lately (as you can see, the episode synopses also stopped with episode three).
July 14th, 2009at 10:37(#)
and yeah i think that was a pre-made video or whatever you call it cause i saw the whole drama and he didn’t say anything in filipino, cause if you watch the first episode, he said he doesn’t know how to speak tagalog at all.
July 24th, 2009at 15:45(#)
i really love jun matsumoto!!!!1
August 7th, 2009at 11:15(#)
advance HAPPY BIRTH DAY….
watashi suki anata
o genki desu ka?
watashi maamaa desu…
jaane, sayoonara
i love you (ashteri)
August 7th, 2009at 13:41(#)
uhm, okay…
August 8th, 2009at 10:27(#)
*ROFLMAO*
XDDD
Sorry XD;
August 11th, 2009at 00:32(#)
shocks! i can’t imagine Matsujun speaking tagalog..LOL!! but i will certainly watch this..WAH!! MAtsujun!! :D
August 22nd, 2009at 15:04(#)
My mom loves MatsuJun (and the rest of Arashi) and she keeps on bugging me to DL episode 5 and up. I bet she’ll love him even more if she hears him speak Tagalog! But I only have til episode 4. Too busy to DL Ninomiya’s dramas to have time for the rest of Smile and she hates me for it! ^_^
August 29th, 2009at 16:07(#)
well why not watch kimi wa petto in youtube he’s so cute there and still dream of it ha ha ha try it and i promise you wont regret it ….
August 30th, 2009at 12:49(#)
already watched KWP years ago, thanks :D
January 20th, 2010at 23:28(#)
I’ve watched this series months ago, but did he really speak Filipino in certain episodes? I don’t think so.
January 20th, 2010at 23:36(#)
i dropped the series after the fourth episode so i have no idea if he did have any filipino lines or not :)
March 12th, 2010at 16:32(#)
I don’t think He will speak Tagalog because the character doesn’t know the language. It would be really nice to hear him talk in Tagalog though. :)