[Beanie Recs] Cross-cultural couples
by DB Staff
Ahoy, Beanies! It’s time to gather your collective genius for a recommendation series that features you and your drama knowledge. We’ll drop a drama conundrum and leave it up to you to provide a drama rec, and the appropriate rationale behind it, be it long or short.
I’m currently watching What Comes After Love and I’m starting to wonder “what comes after this drama?” I find the mix of Japanese and Korean so beautiful, as well as how the leads connect over their respective cultures. Are there other dramas that have such lovely portrayals of cross-cultural couples?
Have a very particular drama itch that needs scratching? In need of a Beanie Rec? Email us at hello @ dramabeans.com and we’ll feature your topic in a future post.
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Tags: Beanie Recs, Drama recommendations
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1 peiyeelai
October 9, 2024 at 9:06 PM
Friends, starring Won Bin
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peiyeelai
October 9, 2024 at 11:30 PM
Virgin Snow (Korean: 첫눈; Japanese: 初雪の恋 ヴァージン・スノー Hatsuyuki no koi) is a 2007 South Korean film directed by Han Sang-hye and starring Korean actor, Lee Joon-gi and Japanese actress, Aoi Miyazaki.
Upcoming project by Han Hyo Joo and Oguri Shun In New Netflix Series “Romantic Anonymous”
The Secret Message (Kor & Jap): Top and Juri Ueno
Star's Echo (Korean: 별의 소리; RR: Byeorui Sori), also known as Anata ni Aitakute (Japanese: あなたに逢いたくて), is a 2-part mini-series broadcast by MBC and Fuji TV in 2004(Jo Hyun-jae as Sung-jae and Noriko Nakagoshi as Misaki)
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Gikata
October 10, 2024 at 7:25 AM
VIRGIN SNOW may lack a bit in terms of plot, but it is super lovely, esp both leads making an effort to learn each other's language to communicate. Also, they both are so young and pretty in it!
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peiyeelai
October 10, 2024 at 8:10 PM
Yes.The sincerity of their acting more than make up for the plot.
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Gikata
October 11, 2024 at 6:15 AM
This! I'm hardly the big fan of innocent youth romance genre, but when it's done well, it WORKS!
Kitsune Moon
October 10, 2024 at 7:52 AM
I HAVE to see Virgin Snow now - Lee Jun Ki ♥️♥️♥️
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peiyeelai
October 10, 2024 at 8:10 PM
It is a must-watch for fans like us
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2 Kurama
October 9, 2024 at 9:26 PM
Boku to Star no 99 Nichi (99 days with the Superstar)> A Japanese drama with Kim Tae-hee and Hidetoshi Nishijima in the main roles. There was TaecYeon too.
Eye Love You A Japanese drama with Fumi Nikaido and Chae Jong-Hyeop
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Kurama
October 10, 2024 at 12:16 AM
Ru: Taiwan Express it was a TW-J drama. There was no love story, so I didn't think about it. But I really liked the story. It was interesting.
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Ahjummaaa
October 10, 2024 at 8:12 PM
sounds interesting!
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DK-Drama 🫘 Giffing n Space Cadetting🍉🌱
October 11, 2024 at 3:14 PM
I came here to say "Eye Love You" except that I don't find it in anyway as charming as the good dramas. Chae Jong-Hyeop was lovely, but I lost interest when he asked the FL if she liked him (because clearly, he liked her) and she reacted as if she was chased by a serial killer.
And CJH was not playing the kind of questionable ML who would be a dangerous and spicy aquaintance: He was the sweetest, kindest thing on earth in this thing.
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3 tabong is ironing the crosswalk
October 9, 2024 at 10:18 PM
Except for "Crash Landing on You", or, Idk, "So Not Worth It", I have no idea. And I don't think you mean anything like those two shows, so I'm just going to recommend movies:
Decision to Leave
Late Autumn (2010)
Shortcomings (I'm not sure this one counts but maybe?)
Monsoon
Moonlit Winter
The Before Trilogy: Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, Before Midnight.
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Isa is always time travelling
October 9, 2024 at 10:35 PM
I'd add the movie 18x2. Beyond youthful days. It's available on Netflix. The ML (Greg Hsu) is from Taiwan and the FL (Kiyohara Kaya) is from Japan.
The story takes place in both countries.
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Lostpanda is celebrating My Ajusshi 💔
October 9, 2024 at 10:50 PM
This 💯 %. The show with the weird name, 18x2 represents both Taiwan and Japan extremely well.
Warning though- you’re gonna cry
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Ahjummaaa
October 10, 2024 at 8:15 PM
interesting it came out this year too!
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Isa is always time travelling
October 10, 2024 at 10:28 PM
I watched it some weeks ago. I knew about the movie because I follow Greg Hsu since I watched Someday or One Day.
I only had a slight idea about the plot. It's a beautiful movie.
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Ahjummaaa
October 10, 2024 at 9:45 PM
Just reading about the collaboration process is fascinating... it seems like the Japanese director has a Taiwanese grandfather... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/18%C3%972_Beyond_Youthful_Days
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Nessa (Bebe) 🌹
October 9, 2024 at 10:51 PM
This is what I’m wondering, too— are we just thinking about cross-cultural casting for the ML/FL or is the cross-cultural aspect also part of the drama’s plot??
The only one I can think of is the Mainland Chinese drama, Fairytale, starring Taiwanese actress, Janine Chang, and S.Korea’s, Lee Joon Hyuk— you’ve got China, Taiwan, and S.Korea lol
https://mydramalist.com/3457-fairytale
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tabong is ironing the crosswalk
October 9, 2024 at 11:54 PM
I tried to only add movies where the cultural differences are mentioned.
I think the Before Trilogy is the one that goes better with this theme, since What Comes After Love is the reference. The drama has many things in common even tho it's totally different.
LOL Late Autumn is the same. She's Chinese, he's Korean, but the movie happens in the US.
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Ahjummaaa
October 10, 2024 at 8:17 PM
well Lee Joon Hyuk's name certainly caught my eye here! I remember hearing about this collaboration project he did in China/Taiwan but haven't seen it yet
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Ahjummaaa
October 10, 2024 at 8:19 PM
it's kinda hard to find lol
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Nessa (Bebe) 🌹
October 10, 2024 at 8:24 PM
It is!! 😅 I don’t even remember where I watched it— it very well could have been on YouTube 🤣
Nessa (Bebe) 🌹
October 10, 2024 at 8:27 PM
Definitely YouTube, and the little logo on the top of the screen is telling me that MangoTV/HunanTV is the Chinese network that aired/streamed the drama at the time (2012)
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLS6lWB1h7a0FaT283Uk35NFRVh5rQvO90&si=kpb7D24jgIyccSK7
Ahjummaaa
October 10, 2024 at 8:58 PM
@Nessa (Bebe) yay!!! thank you for sharing the link~~~ and thanks Mango TV ^^ it's been wonderful having all these tv channels uploading shows on Youtube for free...
Nessa (Bebe) 🌹
October 10, 2024 at 9:22 PM
No problem! I just hope the audio is still okay after all these years, i.e. Doesn’t cut out/go mute in some places because the bgm is playing but the music license for the network’s YT channel for it has run out 😅
I’m also not sure if this playlist has subs available. I basically didn’t check anything but just saw the playlist is still available so just linked it blindly 😅
Ahjummaaa
October 10, 2024 at 9:49 PM
@Nessa (Bebe) oh no worries, this won't be the first drama without subtitles that I watch for this man... ^^ he has old dramas that were never subbed in English but are availabe on Youtube (oh the irony!) these are looong dramas with like over 100 episodes I think and I went through almost every episode just to see his face and have no idea what's going on ^^ if they're speaking Mandarin, I think I can understand it!
4 kiara
October 9, 2024 at 10:52 PM
NEVER FOREVER (movie) - Ha Jung-woo and Vera Farmiga.
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kiara
October 10, 2024 at 8:29 AM
Rated R for sex and language...
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5 Sharon
October 10, 2024 at 9:58 AM
Line Romance, Lee Min Ho and Kuo Bea-ting.
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6 welh
October 10, 2024 at 12:21 PM
SHOGUN (FX)
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kiara
October 10, 2024 at 3:27 PM
❤️
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bomibeans
October 10, 2024 at 3:50 PM
A fascinating cross-cultural couple depicted with a a lot of nuance and respect to their respective culture.
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kiara
October 10, 2024 at 5:53 PM
The most authentic, IMO. I learned so much about Japanese culture from "Shogun."
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7 bomibeans
October 10, 2024 at 3:48 PM
I haven't re-watched My Lovely Sam Soon in ages, but the relationship between an American Dr. Henry Kim (Daniel Henney) and prideful Jung Ryeo-won has left quite a strong impression on me and still shines bright in my imagination. I don't remember whether they ended up together (was there some ambiguity about that?) but they are easily my favorite cross-cultural couple in k-drama-verse.
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technicat
October 10, 2024 at 6:08 PM
Daniel Henney was also in the movie Seducing Mr. Perfect where he only spoke English to Uhm Jung-hwa who only spoke Korean.
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Kurama
October 10, 2024 at 9:03 PM
In Spring Waltz, he spoke mainly English too.
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8 Ahjummaaa
October 10, 2024 at 8:41 PM
I'm trying to hold back my opinion of this drama but there was that time Japan's top actor made a cross-cultural drama called Tsuki no Koibito with Taiwan's top supermodel. Unfortunately, she was playing a Shanghai girl for some reason. As I mentioned, she's famous for her beauty and sweet personality but acting, not so much. The cognitive dissonance I experienced watching this drama was off the charts. It was such a strange experience. Why did they cast a Taiwanese supermodel to play a Shanghainese factory girl is one of life's mysteries.
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Ahjummaaa
October 10, 2024 at 8:47 PM
IMHO they could have: changed the drama setting to Taiwan if they wanted to cast her so much. Or they could have cast a Shanghainese actress!!! China does not lack talented beautiful actresses especially in that part of the country!!! (south of the Yangtze river is known for their beauties)
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Ahjummaaa
October 10, 2024 at 9:03 PM
The drama is basically a Taiwanese supermodel's bizarre interpretation of what a Shanghainese factory worker is like. It's just...ah...err... hmm...
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9 Ahjummaaa
October 10, 2024 at 9:58 PM
cross cultural drama pet peeves: no chemistry between leads, inability to speak each other's languages fluently, lack of humor, etc.
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Ahjummaaa
October 10, 2024 at 9:59 PM
watching someone speak broken Japanese, Korean, or Chinese on the screen is not something I enjoy watching time after time, either.
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10 DK-Drama 🫘 Giffing n Space Cadetting🍉🌱
October 11, 2024 at 3:20 PM
Love is Like a Cat is cross cultural since a Taiwanese Youtuber plays the ML-a who has come to Korea.
It is the worst acted thing I have seen ever in my life.
I giffed a good deal about it:
Ep. 1-4: https://www.dramabeans.com/activity/p/1562204
7-8: https://www.dramabeans.com/activity/p/1568498/
+ this, that finds a mysterium and explains it: There is an Alien in the story!
Mysterious Doppeltganger (UFO): https://www.dramabeans.com/activity/p/1562684/
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Ahjummaaa
October 11, 2024 at 3:30 PM
lolol
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DK-Drama 🫘 Giffing n Space Cadetting🍉🌱
October 11, 2024 at 3:38 PM
It's Mew Suppasit Jongcheveevat who plays that ML-a. And the ML-b is JM from Just B. It's Mew who moves the drama from "Meh" to "OMG How is it possible to act so badly?"
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