3,000 fans greet S Korean actor Bae Yong Joon at Kansai airport

South Korean heartthrob actor Bae Yong Joon arrived to a huge reception at Kansai international airport on Friday afternoon, with some 3,000 fans—mostly older women—crowding the terminal to greet him. The 35-year-old star — still the most popular foreign celebrity in Japan — will attend an event for the NHK drama “Taioshijinki,” in which he stars, at Kyocera Dome in Osaka on Sunday.

Police said more than 3,000 screaming women besieged the arrival lobby as Bae emerged. Some women said they had flown to Seoul in the morning so they could take the return flight with Bae in the afternoon. Meanwhile, hundreds of fans had camped in the terminal from 6 a.m. to get the best possible vantage spot. Other women came from as far away as Tokyo on chartered buses. Around 400 police, including anti-riot squad members, were mobilized to control fans.

Yon-sama, as Bae is fondly called in Japan due to his starring role in “Winter Sonata,” was last in Japan in September 2006. At that time, more than 5,000 fans turned up at Narita to greet him.