It was a warm day with spring sunshine in Yokohama.

On that nice afternoon, KpopStarz got to do a special interview with ZE:A leader Jun Young. He came to Japan to promote ZE:A events coming up later this month - live concerts and fan meeting.  ZE:A will hold 'Empire of ZE:A-episode3- ZE:A LIVE 2013 IN YOKOHAMA' at Pacifico Yokohama on March 21-22 starting at 7:00 PM.  The following day, 'ZE:A Fan Meeting 2013 Let's Get Together!' and ZE:A's School Festival at Pacifico Yokohama will be held starting at 3:00.

Jun Young came into the interview room in casual but stylish style with broader top and skinny bottoms. Jun Young had a very vibrant smile on his face.

Every time ZE:A members come to Japan, they don't have enough free time. But during the interview, we could see Jun Young still able to enjoy himself well after a long time since he last visited in Japan.

"It's been a while since your last visit to Japan. How are you feeling?" was the first question I asked.

"It's very warm here in Japan. It's still cold in Korea," Jun Young answered in Japanese.

"It's still very cold in Korea but it's very warm here in Japan and it's hard to adapt to it," Jun Young continued but he seemed to like it better to be in the warm spring weather.

In that very relaxed and gentle atmosphere, our interview began.

Q: Since ZE:A debuted in Japan, do you have any impressive experiences? Please tell us 3 of your most memorable experiences.

"When we first came to Japan, it was for promoting "SEOUL TRAIN" (ZE:A was main cast). When I saw that the auditorium seating was full, I remember being very surprised and I cherished that memory. Also, we had a lot of cheers from our fans for that event of "SEOUL TRAIN" and I was so impressed, so I cried for the first time in front of people since I debuted. That one is definitely unforgettable. And when we came to promote our new album 'PHOENIX' last year, I had my leg injured and couldn't dance, but there were fans since we first came to Japan and so many fans came for the event, I was so pleased. "

Q: As leader of ZE:A, are there any hard times or good times?

"I'm enjoying my role as a leader now. My role as ZE:A's leader is different from when I became a member of ZE:A, and I take it as I'm given another role to do. To be honest, there has been nothing I thought was hard or had a hard time since I became ZE:A's leader. I would like to keep enjoying my role as ZE:A's leader from now on." he answered with smile.

Looking at his smile, we could see that Jun Young had strong commitment and responsibility to be a leader of ZE:A, a band that has 9 members, therefore also with 9 colours like a treasure box.

Q: Well, do you often spend your free time with other members in your private time, like eating out or shopping?

"In Korea, we often go and see films. All the members at last became adults (coming of age), some members have cars and are good at driving, so we go for drives as well. But we can't go out easily, mainly we go to see films or book a restaurant and have dinner late at night."

"We haven't had enough time for shopping every time we come to Japan so far and it's a shame...But I go out with other members to eat Curry, sushi or Soba. It's really a pity that we haven't had enough time for shopping." 

"If I had free time in Japan, I would like to go shopping and go to Harajuku and places where young people go and enjoy. It's not necessary doing a lot of shopping, but I would like to go to many places and enjoy the scenery and people there."

Then when I asked Jun Young if he wanted to go to tourist places (like Mt.Fuji) or onsen (Japanese word for 'hot springs), he answered, "I went to Fujikyu Highland with Kevin-san and Siwan-san when we came for Japanese course. I haven't been to Mt.Fuji yet though. In Korea, the president of our agency takes us to climb mountains to keep physical strength and training, so I'm good at climbing and I would like to climb Mt. Fuji if there is a chance through some TV program or something," he answered.   

Q: Now, K-POP became a global phenomenon and set its place in world entertainment, how do you see or do you want ZE:A to be in that?

"I think our advantage is that ZE:A has many members. Each member has large popularity in different countries. Recently, "Gangnam Style" of Psy became very popular all over the world. That gave us an opportunity to know that Oricon Chart isn't the largest chart, but also Billboard is one of the largest charts worldwide. I knew that for the first time. ZE:A is still immature as a group.  By making a lot of effort from now on, we would like ZE:A to be known and loved worldwide," Jun Young answered with enthusiasm.

Q: ZE:A does a lot of overseas activities, are there any countries you would like visit?

"There are a lot of countries in the world, but I never thought about it though, I would like to go any countries where we are invited.

Q: Are there any memorable experiences with overseas activities?

"Yes, there is!" Jun Young immediately answered in Japanese. "I immediately remember about Thailand. When I think about it, I still laugh. We were in Japan the day before we went to Thailand. We had a press conference in Thailand and when we all greeted in Thai, "Sawasdeeka," Tea Heon san wasn't sure if he was in Japan or Thailand, he greeted with "Konnichiwa" in Japanese alone. The venue was wrapped with laughter. It was the most memorable thing" when Jun Young talked about that unexpected thing happening, his eyes didn't hide the smile and laughter of the funny memory.

ZE:A has had a busy schedule with overseas activities and travelling all over the world.

Commencing with the leader Jun Young whose Japanese is very good, ZE:A members often say "Ne" (Yes) in Korean, they say "Hai" in Japanese instead. So staff who don't know Japanese think that they are saying "Hi" in English and they always ask the members, "Why are you answering in English?"

Jun Young told us that he often gets mixed up with Korean and Japanese.

Q: It's been a while since you came to Japan last time. How do you feel about fans who waited long?

"I had to stay in the hospital for a while for my leg treatment. While I was in the hospital, many fans from Japan came to see me. They all went to our agency as they thought they would be able to see me there, but I wasn't able to go. When I read Twitter or other SNS, my fans wrote they couldn't see me and went home, I felt so sorry," he showed his apology and concern towards his fans.

"But, when we held a fan meeting in Korea a little while ago, there were many fans from Japan who came. I felt grateful, so I decided to come to Japan and greet our fans. I'm very grateful," he continued.

Q: Lastly, Please send message to ZE:A fans in Japan and tell us your enthusiasm for 'Empire of ZE:A -episode3- ZE:A LIVE 2013 IN YOKOHAMA'.

"We held an event at Pacifico Yokohama before, so we've been there and it's been a while. I'm very honored to hold live concerts and fan meeting at Pacifico Yokohama again, especially with all 9 members this time. This time we can tell you with great confidence, we will show our fans as young men grown up from young boys. And we all think our fans as our 'Girlfriends', so we would like our girlfriends to see us as young men this time," Jun Young told us with his eyes beautifully shining.

When I told Jun Young, "Surely, everyone is looking forward to see you all, please work hard and give it your devotion," he said, "Yes, we will," in Japanese with a big smile on his face.

During our interview, Jun Young seemed to enjoy it with his sweet lovely smile just like the nice and warm spring day of the interview.

When he talked about ZE:A, his beautiful shining eyes glimmer a bit more and showed us his sense of hope that fans would enjoy their concert and they would like to enjoy with fans at the same time.

Please look forward to see the grown up ZE:A from young boys to young men as Jun Young mentioned.

Interview by: Melissa K.

Photo Credits: Yasuhiko Akiyama