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).
Special Note Added 20th May 2010
Despite this being an old post (over a year old, in fact), I still get comments from people who think this is a current article and have made “corrections”. Let’s get a few things straight:
1) This post was written on 12th April, 2010 when the series was just announced, so there was not a lot of information available then. This post was based mostly on what little info was available at the official website then, and speculation from Japanese gossip sites and fan BBS.
2) After the series was concluded in the fall of 2009, much of the speculation from the Japanese sites were debunked. But since I dropped the series after watching just three raws, I can neither confirm nor deny if — for example, Matsumoto Jun did not speak any Filipino lines, and so I have no opinion on the matter.
3) Lastly, although the main post was untouched for over a year, I was in fact replying to previous comments that there was indeed a huge possibility that the supposed Filipino lines were misheard (sora-mimi) but since I was not able to finish the series, I again neither confirmed nor denied it.
In conclusion — yes the post is incorrect now, but it was not incorrect at the time it was published. With that said, I will no longer be entertaining comments complaining about the veracity of this post. Thanks for your understanding and cooperation.
JPOP Manila 
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
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i’m thinking of providing weekly coverage and doing plot summaries/translations once the series is under way~ should i?
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you should!!! i would love to read the coverage^____^
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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.
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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…
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I got to watch the first episode already and I went through a whole box of tissues. Its really a tear jerker.
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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.
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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.
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Just for an update. I didn’t hear any Tagalog in the entire series at all. His character didn’t know the language.
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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).
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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.
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i really love jun matsumoto!!!!1
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advance HAPPY BIRTH DAY….
watashi suki anata
o genki desu ka?
watashi maamaa desu…
jaane, sayoonara
i love you (ashteri)
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uhm, okay…
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*ROFLMAO*
XDDD
Sorry XD;
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shocks! i can’t imagine Matsujun speaking tagalog..LOL!! but i will certainly watch this..WAH!! MAtsujun!! 😀
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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! ^_^
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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 ….
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already watched KWP years ago, thanks 😀
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I’ve watched this series months ago, but did he really speak Filipino in certain episodes? I don’t think so.
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i dropped the series after the fourth episode so i have no idea if he did have any filipino lines or not 🙂
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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. 🙂
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Awtz, I’d like o watch this series because Jun Masumoto will speak little words of Filipino, but when i read all the comments here that Jun really not speak Tagalog words, Im too much depressed and I don’t have eagerness o watch the series, how sad. But still, i love Jun Masumoto! 4ever fan!
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!! CORRECTION !!. Jun NEVER practiced any Filipino word for Smile, nor did he ever say “HINDI AKO, KAYO. (Not me, you.)” As the video says. This article is not incorrect. He didn’t practice the language.
And it wasn’t even him who was speaking. It was the bad guy saying, “FILIPINO YAROU WA YO-” which means “Filipinos are bastards.” (I don’t like saying this.)
I’m not sure of the Japanese words. It might be filipino yarou da yo or filipino yarou wa you… I just received this info. And I’ve watched the first episodes.
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This article is not incorrect. He didn’t practice the language.
uh can you please clarify yourself? are you saying the post was correct or incorrect?
anyway — as you can see this post was done well over one year ago, and a lot of things have changed since then. for one thing, this post was done based in the scant information and speculation available on april of 2009 in japanese websites and fan bbs. by the end of the series in fall 2009, a lot of this speculation has already been debunked.
and another thing, i personally stopped watching the raws by the fourth episode so i really don’t have an opinion on the matter if he ended up not speaking any tagalog lines at all. what’s important for me as a viewer was that the drama was successful in tackling racism and social injustice against half-filipino children in japan.
i’ll be revising the post as soon as possible in order to prevent more comments along these lines. i’m honestly taken by surprise that people think this article is recent even if the post date says april 2009 when it’s already may 2010.
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I watched the whole series…but I didn’t remember if he ever did say something in filipino..*if he did then I really failed listening to it carefully!!*..he was asked why his name was Vito because it doesnt sound Filipino…but what I liked the series it opens up your mind about a life of this half-jap and fil, he was discriminated because he was half….but he never gave up in his life and his dream….I really like the series it was really dramatic, there are a lot of times I have to skip some parts because I can’t take it anymore!!!..**yeah he was called bastard…mean words…because he was half pinoy** if could have been better if they add a bit more Filipino somewhere there….especially in the last part…there were no filipino food in the menu…**spoiller**….this was the first japanese drama that I watched…**I usually watch funny ones…**…and it was really good…=)
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i love jun matsumoto so much! he is my favorite actor and singer!
i’m so happy that they did a drama like this-talking about filipinos.
i hope jun matsumoto will visit the philippines soon!!!!
i can’t wait! 🙂
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Is Matsumoto Jun HALF Filipino?
What the hell? Can some one please clear this up for me? I tried doing my research but nothing came up it only states that he plays it for a role in this drama called SMILE. I am 100.99% sure he is full blood Japanese and NOT Filipino.
So does anyone know if he is?
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He is 100% Japanese. He only plays a half-Filipino on TV.
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