Rain’s Mistaken Identity in Speed Racer Mix-up

Hallyuwood megastar Rain, who plays a Japanese character named Taejo Togokhan, is creating a lot of confusion among fans and the general public in the US and Europe who still aren’t familiar with the actor, despite his immense popularity in Asia.

During the premier of Speed Racer in the US at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles, the announcer introduced the Korean star as “Taejo Togokhan”. Worst for Rain, he was also listed as “actor Taejo Togokhan” in the caption of a photograph of him with costar Susan Sarandon.

Even more ironic, the publicists managed to get the correct name of Japanese actor Hiroyuki Sanada, who also appears in the movie. The foreign press were able to correct the Korean actor’s name however the damage has been done and was too late.The premier drew reporters from all over the world with several Hollywood stars gracing the event such as Jon Voight, Jodie Foster, and Tim Robbins.

Check out the rest of the premiere pics in the gallery

Over in the U.K., Rain is being mistaken as a Japanese citizen since his character’s name is in Japanese. The movie film site Den of Geek printed on its site:

Japanese pop megastar Rain appears as Taejo, a competing racer. The film will, undoubtedly, do well in Japan as a result.

This has caused an uproar especially in Korea where Koreans are saying: “Rain is Korean!” The part in the Den of Geek Speed Racer article where they call Rain a Japanese has already been corrected and removed from the site, but that hasn’t stopped Rain fans from pouring in hate mail for the poorly done research of the said article.

Part Credits: coolsmurf

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