Memories of the Enishi 2022: Lake Biwa Jigsaw event
Park Sihoo-ssi’s Enishi Premium Event was held on the Monday past on 10 October 2022 at Lake Biwa, Japan. It was the first time this annual event was held after an absence of three years due to the coronavirus restrictions and it drew a good turnout of around 280 Japanese fans.
Unfortunately, due to the travel restrictions still in place on that day for overseas individual travelers, his international fans could not make it to Lake Biwa.
Instagram Reel Video – Park Sihoo: Enishi 2022: Lake Biwa Jigsaw Event, 18 August 2022
We are lucky that sister Bi-Ling (天涯比邻）, a Chinese fan who lives in Japan, could join and she has generously shared her memories of the Lake Biwa event with the Chinese fans.
ParkSihooSsi.com has taken the liberty to translate her article posted on Baidu ParkSihooBar so that Park Sihoo international fans can also hear her experience from this precious time with our Oppa. Many thanks Bi-Ling (天涯比邻 for your sharing.
Hear about my Enishi 2022: Lake Biwa event
Article: “Post event memories of Park Sihoo-ssi’s Enishi 2022 Lake Biwa event” by Bi-Ling (天涯比邻). Courtesy translation by ParkSihooSsi.com
At the end of Oppa Park Sihoo-ssi’s Tokyo Fan Meeting on 5 January 2020, our group of Park Sihoo-ssi fans committed to meeting again for his upcoming birthday party in April 2020 in Seoul. However, little did we expect that the coronavirus pandemic would halt all activities.
In May 2022, an event (Nance: face-to-face one) was held in Niigata, Japan after a lapse of two years. As the event venue could only accommodate 130 people, even though I submitted my application early, I was unsuccessful in securing a seat.
Remember 2018 Lake Biwa “Hug Event”?
The recent Enishi Premium Event 2022 was held at the Otsu Prince Hotel at Lake Biwa which was the same venue used for a previous event in 2018.
(Nance: This was the “Hug Event” held in 2018 as a reward to Park Sihoo-ssi’s fans when our Oppa’s KBS weekend drama “My Golden Life” broke the target audience rating of 30% which he had set for himself. The drama recorded 45.1%, its highest audience rating for the final episode.)
At that time, dozens of Chinese fans also participated (along with Japanese and a few international fans) and everyone had a most enjoyable time. For this recent Enishi event, I was the only Chinese representative, and I felt rather lonely.
Glamming up for his fans
The theme of the Lake Biwa event was the “Enishi jigsaw journey”. Unlike previous years, the event started at three in the afternoon. The seat I drew was at Table 32, Seat No. 4. I thought it would be at the back, but when I entered the venue, I found out that it was in the middle of the fourth row, facing the stage.
In the past, they arranged seats of 10 per table. This time, because of coronavirus, only 8 people were seated at a table and each person was separated by a plastic Perspex. Based on calculation, there should be 35 tables of eight each, so making it a total of 280 seats.
Our Oppa looking great!
When the music started, Park Sihoo-ssi, wearing a pink top and beige trousers, came on stage to the warm applause of the audience. He then went from table to table to hand out a postcard to each participant.
I could not help looking at him and followed his every move. His face is still so milk white and delicate, and he smiled gently. When I took the postcard from him, I deliberately said thank you to him in Chinese. After he has distributed the postcards to everyone, he went up the stage.
A section of the event hall
The compere, Ms Kim Tei, asked him how he felt. He replied that he was very happy to greet everyone one by one, and joked that he felt a little dizzy. The compere further asked how he felt about returning to Lake Biwa again after four years. To that, he replied that it felt very familiar. Yesterday, he walked along the lake for 2 hours until he reached the city center.
He was then asked what he did during the four months following the May 2022 event in Niigata. He had been enjoying a fulfilling time of traveling, camping and golfing.
Because it was an Enishi event, all the covers of the Enishi magazine were shown on the screen. Looking at each of them reminded me of the time when I helped Chinese fans to purchase the magazine. It was as if it were only yesterday. (Nance: Oh, how we miss this magazine! We hope Park Sihoo-ssi will consider publishing this again.)
Memories from Lake Biwa
Afterwards, the fans’ choice of their favorite Enishi magazine photo was shown on the screen. The hot favorite was one of a well toned, muscled, half body shot of Park Sihoo-ssi. He shared that he followed closely a fitness routine on weekdays. Before any photo shoot, he would exercise. To him, doing some exercise ten minutes prior to a photo shot will give the best effect of a well toned, muscled body.
(Nance: For the question and answer session, fans have submitted in advance questions for Park Sihoo-ssi they want answered by him. A selection was picked for response by him during the event).
During the question and answer session, one fan said she has a habit of watching his dramas before going to bed. She asked if Park Sihoo-ssi had any habit before going to bed. He replied that he likes to listen to articles on YouTube before going to bed. He then asked the audience if they would like it if he were to read novels on Youtube. The answer was obvious. Of course we want to fall asleep listening to Park Sihoo-ssi’s rich, baritone voice!
It’s all about Enishi between Oppa and his fans
Another fan watched Park Sihoo-ssi’s dramas when she couldn’t sleep at night, but ended up with insomnia. She asked him if there were times when he couldn’t sleep. He said when it was time to go to bed, sometimes he just could not sleep and ended up with insomnia. However, he later met a friend who always slept soundly. So he asked him for tips. His friend shared that if he felt sleepy, then naturally he would fall asleep easily. Park Sihoo-ssi thought this was a smart way.
Another fan asked what screen image Park Sihoo-ssi has set for his mobile phone and if he changed it often? To this he replied that his mobile screen image is always the factory default and he doesn’t change it. This surprised everyone. The compere then jokingly said the screen images of everyone in the audience will probably be that of Park Sihoo-ssi and everyone applauded in agreement.
Putting together the Enishi jigsaw
The last fan question was whether Park Sihoo-ssi likes modern or period dramas. He shared that filming period dramas was very hard in the past, and he didn’t get to sleep for days and nights, so he liked modern dramas. However, now the filming conditions have improved. Filming is usually completed within the scheduled time and he does not need to worry about taking care of his own costumes, makeup and props. With the changes, he now also likes to film period dramas.
The fun and games during the event
Following the Q&A session was the exciting photo time when fans are allowed to photograph Park Sihoo-ssi within the short timeframe given. (Nance: Usually this is one minute, with the compere controlling the time). Park Sihoo-ssi waved to everyone and walked back and forth across the stage. He made different gestures such as hearts, wave, love etc.
Unfortunately, I was a little far away, and the shots taken from my mobile phone were not very good, so I can’t share them with you. Fortunately, there have already been photos shared on the social media, so please refer to them.
Our suave looking Oppa
Good times always pass so quickly. Before I knew it, the event has come to an end. Finally, the compere asked Park Sihoo-ssi about his future plans. To this he replied that he has been carefully reviewing scripts, and hoped to have new works to share with everyone in the near future.
He then sang another Korean song, and his soulful and rich singing voice deeply touched my heart. Finally, Park Sihoo-ssi shouted out “I love you!” and waved goodbye to everyone. So ended the first part of the event.
The 60 secs free photo session. Click!
The next part was the one-on-one photo session with Oppa Park Sihoo-ssi. When it was my turn, I said to him “Park Sihoo-ssi, I wish you happiness” in Chinese, and he replied “Thank you” in Chinese. After the group photo, I said to him in English “Chinese fans miss you too”, and he smiled and nodded to me.
As I left, I met the representative of Mentor and I told him that it was a pity that Chinese fans (Nance: And I add: international fans) could not participate this time. I came on behalf of the Chinese fans. He replied that he looked forward to Chinese fans’ support in the future.
Enjoying the fireworks at Lake Biwa
The climax of the event was the fireworks display. Everyone waited at the hotel swimming pool for this spectacular sight. At that time, the moon shone brightly through the clouds and illuminated the surroundings, as if it were watching out and blessing us with its presence.
Park Sihoo-ssi had changed into a white sweatshirt and came out to join everyone. He was looking youthful and chic in his outfit. The fireworks rose spectacularly from the Loquat Lake not far away. But it seemed everyone’s attention was not on the fireworks, but on Park Sihoo-ssi. Lucky fans who were in close proximity to him took close up shots of him on their mobile phones, capturing these precious moments for eternity.
And we enjoyed watching Oppa
After the fireworks Park Sihoo-ssi saw everyone off at the hotel door but many fans were unwilling to leave. Finally they sent Park Sihoo-ssi off instead. He might have gone out for dinner as he had not had a moment’s rest from three in the afternoon to nine at night.
Instagram Reel Video – Park Sihoo: Enishi 2022: Memories of Lake Biwa, 13 October 2022
I went back to my room alone and felt a little lonely. In the past, at this time, after the event, many of us would have gathered together and passionately shared our impressions of the event and everything about Park Sihoo-ssi. Those were such good times. Now I am sitting alone in front of the window, looking out at the quiet Lake Biwa and the lights outside the window, sorting through my emotions, recollecting today’s events, and writing down these memories to share with everyone. Hopefully this will help you get over missing our Oppa.
(Nance: Now this really sounds very familiar. Whenever I attend Park Sihoo-ssi’s events, when the event is over, I will take a shower, then sit down in front of my laptop and type away my thoughts and relive the memories all night long. No matter how tired or sleepy I was, my commitment had always been to share the event details the very next morning with our sisters at ParkSihooSsi.com.)
Sending love to our Oppa for his Lake Biwa event
Since I fell in love with a Park Sihoo-ssi’s drama back in 2011 and joined the Chinese fanclub, I have met many like-minded sisters. We cheered for him together, and participated in the his events held in Korea, Japan and China together, leaving us with many unforgettable memories.
In recent years, due to family and work reasons, I have rarely visited the Chinese fan site and communicated with Chinese fans. Regardless, I am always thinking about our sisters and what we have gone through together over the years. As people often say, life is like a moving train. There will always be people getting on and off. I hope that some of us will always be on the train to keep our Oppa company.
I hope also that there will be a birthday party organised in South Korea next year, so that we can gather together to share our love and talk about our lovesickness during these years.
As we always said, “Let us use our original hearts to accompany Park Sihoo-ssi to go the farthest distance ❤️ 让我们用最初的心，陪厚厚走最远的路 ❤️.
Instagram Reel Video – Park Sihoo: Sending love to Lake Biwa, 10 October 2022
Credits – Many thanks! Park Sihoo Instagram, e._.namgyu, te2tt, 天涯比邻, ParkSihooBar, Miracell, Unsplash, ParkSihooSsi.com, ParkSihooHongKong.com
