Japanese TV dramas have huge followings. In China, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand, bootleg copies of Japanese music recordings and movies, and merchandise like Hello Kitty dolls are popular. The number of Asians studying Japanese has increased 29 percent in the past five years, according to the Japan Foundation. The foundation, a government agency that promotes, cultural exchanges, attributes much of the growth to young people who are interested in Japanese popular culture or are joining a Japanese company. It flows from stronger nations to weaker ones.
People tend to idolize countries that are wealthier, freer and more advanced.
And in Asia that country is Japan. Other factors contributing to the popularity of Japanese culture include Japan's proximity, the availability of TV programs via cable and satellite, and aggressive marketing and packaging. But Mr. Kang said that perhaps the main reason Japanese cultural products are so popular in Asia is that they borrow heavily from Western culture, particularly in their reliance on sex and violence. So Koreans and Chinese who are familiar with Western culture feel a unique Asian trait in Japanese culture that is very appealing. The keen interest in Japanese culture among young East Asians marks a major departure from the decades of disdain that their elders who lived under the iron hand of Japanese colonization have had for things Japanese.