Friends (2002 TV series)

*Friends*
Friends
	Official poster
Directed by	Nobuhiro Doi; Han Chul-soo;
Starring	Won Bin; Kyoko Fukada;
Country of origin	South Korea; Japan;
No. of episodes	4
Production
Running time	129 minutes (per 2 episodes)
Original release
Network	TBS; MBC;
Release	February 4 –; February 5, 2002

Friends (Korean: 프렌즈; Japanese: フレンズ) is a 2002 South Korean–Japanese television series starring Won Bin and Kyoko Fukada. The four-episode series was co-produced by TBS (Japan)^[1] and MBC (South Korea).^[2] This was the first time in history that the two countries collaborated on a series. It was originally broadcast on February 4–5 in Japan and February 15–16 in South Korea.

Plot

Tomoko, a Japanese tourist, and Ji-hoon, a South Korean film student and aspiring movie director, meet in Hong Kong. Despite a rocky meeting and the language barrier, they become friends. Over time, they eventually head back to their respective countries but only after exchanging email addresses, promising to keep in touch and meeting again. Tomoko decides to go to Korea to work as a tour guide and sees Ji-hoon again, but problems occur.

Cast

Korean

Won Bin as Kim Ji Hoon
Lee Dong-gun as Park Kyoung-joo
Han Hye-jin as Park Hye-jin
Dokgo Young-jae as Gyu-han
Sunwoo Eun-sook as Soo-kyung

Japanese

Kyoko Fukada as Tomoko Asai
Akiko Yada as Yuko Yamagishi
Naho Toda as Midori Kaneda
Yukiyoshi Ozawa as Shota Sakamaki
Keiko Takeshita as Satoko Asai

Production

The series was created to commemorate the 2002 FIFA World Cup, which was co-hosted by South Korea and Japan. Filming took about two years. Episodes one and two were produced by TBS, and episodes three and four were produced by MBC.^[3]

References

^ 日韓共同制作ドラマ「friends」 [Japan-South Korea co-produced drama "Friends"]. TBS TV (in Japanese). Archived from the original on April 28, 2025. Retrieved April 28, 2025.
^ 프렌즈 [Friends]. MBC (in Korean). Archived from the original on April 28, 2025. Retrieved April 28, 2025.
^ [방송]MBC 한일 합작 드라마 '프렌즈' 15~16일 방영 [[Broadcast] MBC Korean-Japanese joint drama 'Friends' to air on the 15th and 16th]. Donga (in Korean). February 13, 2002. Archived from the original on April 24, 2025. Retrieved April 25, 2025.

External links

Official site
Friends at IMDb

[1] 日韓共同制作ドラマ「friends」 [Japan-South Korea co-produced drama "Friends"]. TBS TV (in Japanese). Archived from the original on April 28, 2025. Retrieved April 28, 2025.

[2] 프렌즈 [Friends]. MBC (in Korean). Archived from the original on April 28, 2025. Retrieved April 28, 2025.

[3] [방송]MBC 한일 합작 드라마 '프렌즈' 15~16일 방영 [[Broadcast] MBC Korean-Japanese joint drama 'Friends' to air on the 15th and 16th]. Donga (in Korean). February 13, 2002. Archived from the original on April 24, 2025. Retrieved April 25, 2025.

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