ABSTRACT Is my joy, your joy? Recent theory suggests the key mechanism of joy as the right relation between self and situation. To investigate joy at the intersection of culture and self, we collected quantitative and qualitative data from White, Asian American, and Asian International participants (N = 257). Based on their own definition of joy, participants recalled a recent joy experience. We found significant cultural differences in three dimensions of self during joy experiences: Asian International participants sampled less from the personal dimension than White participants. They also sampled less from the relational and more from the collective dimensions than both Asian American and White participants. The resulting qualitative themes support the mechanism of right relation across culture – joy is shared, fulfilling, and experienced in the moment – with cultural nuances in composition, source, and timeframe. This research thus reveals how personal identity and cultural milieu are engaged in affective experience and meta-affect.