Who initiates a global flow? Japanese popular culture in Asia

Abstract

This article examines the diffusion of Japanese television programs in Hong Kong and China. It demonstrates how dramas designed for the Japanese younger generation proliferated in the form of pirated video compact disks (VCDs), without being on the air and without marketing campaigns. Far from being cultural imperialism pushed from the economic center, the Chinese people have actively initiated the in-flow of these dramas. The complex combination of local demand, digital technology and the Chinese people’s highly developed literacy in regard to Japanese popular culture made this flow possible. Tokyo was not even participating in the diffusion when the dramas crossed the border into China. To better illustrate globalization processes, this article argues that we should not focus solely on the story of corporate-led cultural flow, but should also examine its twists and turns from the perspectives of unforeseen consumers and unauthorized intermediaries.