Japan’s Cool Japan strategy (anime, minimalism, tea ceremony aesthetics) and Korea’s Hallyu (K-pop, K-drama, webtoons) have long competed for Southeast Asian audiences. Recent scholarship notes a shift from competition to hybridization (Lee & Kim, 2021), where consumers blend Japanese wabi-sabi with Korean ppalli-ppalli (fast-paced trendiness).
Japan’s Cool Japan strategy (anime, minimalism, tea ceremony aesthetics) and Korea’s Hallyu (K-pop, K-drama, webtoons) have long competed for Southeast Asian audiences. Recent scholarship notes a shift from competition to hybridization (Lee & Kim, 2021), where consumers blend Japanese wabi-sabi with Korean ppalli-ppalli (fast-paced trendiness).
