Lee Jun Young Recalls Being Left Alone in Shibuya During Early U-KISS Training

Lee Jun Young is drawing renewed attention for a difficult story from his early years promoting in Japan with U-KISS, after a preview for his upcoming appearance on tvN’s You Quiz on the Block showed him recalling a moment when language training became a test of survival as much as study.

According to the preview released on July 6, the idol-turned-actor looked back on the period when he was active in Japan and had to rapidly adapt to a language environment that other members already understood far better. Lee said the older members were already skilled in Japanese, while he arrived with only a handful of basic phrases he could rely on.

The story centers on an incident in Tokyo’s Shibuya district. Lee said he was dropped off in the middle of Shibuya and told to find his way back to the dorm. The trip should have taken about 15 minutes on foot, but he did not have his phone and could not communicate comfortably in Japanese, turning the short route into a four-hour ordeal.

For Lee, the experience appears to have become one of the sharper memories from the behind-the-scenes side of overseas idol promotions. He described knowing only simple greetings and expressions such as evening and daytime hellos and a thank-you phrase, then suddenly needing to ask strangers for directions while overwhelmed in a city he did not yet understand.

A Training Method Remembered Years Later

Lee said he knew the dorm was in Kamiyamacho and kept asking people how to get there. That detail gives the story its tension: he was not completely without a destination, but he lacked the tools that usually make a new city manageable. Without a phone, and with limited language ability, even a nearby address became hard to reach.

The preview frames the incident as part of a demanding adjustment period rather than a light travel mishap. Lee said it was his first time in Japan and that he felt overwhelmed. His account suggests the pressure to learn quickly was not abstract; it was tied to the immediate demands of working abroad as an idol, navigating schedules, places, and public spaces while still building basic fluency.

U-KISS spent significant time promoting in Japan, where K-pop acts often have to handle interviews, fan events, concerts, and media appearances in a second language. Lee’s story offers a glimpse at the less polished side of that process, before performances and public appearances make the transition look smooth.

While the preview does not present the full conversation, the remarks have resonated because they show how early career experiences can stay with performers long after their public image changes. Lee Jun Young is now widely known as both a singer and actor, but the anecdote points back to a period when he was still learning how to function inside a fast-moving overseas schedule.

Why the Story Is Getting Attention

The account arrives at a time when fans often discuss the pressure placed on young idols during overseas expansion. Language study is usually described as part of professional preparation, but Lee’s memory makes that preparation feel concrete: confusion, embarrassment, and the practical fear of being lost without help.

It also highlights how entertainment training stories can be interpreted differently over time. What may once have been treated as a harsh learning exercise can now invite questions about whether the method was necessary, excessive, or simply reflective of an industry that expected quick adaptation from young performers.

Lee’s full appearance on You Quiz on the Block is scheduled to air on July 7 at 8:45 p.m. KST. The episode is expected to give more room for his account, including how he processed the experience and how it fits into his broader path from U-KISS member to actor.

For now, the preview has already turned one early-career memory into a wider conversation about the unseen stress behind international promotions. Lee Jun Young’s story is not only about getting lost in Shibuya; it is about the moment a young performer realized that learning the language was not optional, and that the work of adapting could begin in the most uncomfortable way possible.