From US to East Asian Culture – the Kids Have Decided

Posted: February 7th, 2026 | No Comments »

A bit of an essay – sorry….

There’s one fascinating phenomenon to the rise of Trump and his own-brand of American fascism which intersected last week with Starmer’s visit to China and the public interest in the images on TV of the PM in Beijing and Shanghai. Namely, the way in which so many British kids have totally switched off from American “culture” and pivoted towards East Asia.

As twentieth century UK kids we were saturated in US culture – films, TV, music. No choice pre-internet, pre-streaming when the BBC and ITV bought in US TV shows and films to fill airtime. We often knew that with a few exceptions it was crass, vulgar and rubbish, but couldn’t avoid it until we were old enough to seek out the better video/DVD stores and indie cinemas. But not now – the media world is your oyster.

I see UK kids currently fascinated by all things K-pop and Hallyu, they’re wanting to visit Japan and Korea, they’re trading Labubus, they love Crunchyroll, Pop Mart and Mini So. Friday night dinner? – they want sushi, ramen and bibimbap. Of course some families can facilitate these interests more than others – and yes, this week I will sit in Cineworld Eastbourne watching the Stray Kids DominATE tour movie surrounded by happy kids and also a lot of bemused parents and grandparents (it’s rated a 12A).

And hopefully all this will grow into a deeper love of Asian art and culture spurred by reading manga and manhwa as well as watching anime and playing Asian-themed video games. Many kids are progressing to wanting to see exhibitions like the new “Samurai” at the British Museum that offers them a more scholarly look at the images they adore but with references to popular culture too. Anyone who went to the Kawaii exhibition at London’s Somerset House a while back will have seen how kids took eagerly to the galleries. Of course we can only hope a desire for language learning will also follow.

UK kids naturally have their own stuff from TV shows to Jelly Cat, footie teams to bands, and some American stuff seems to resonate – Stranger Things especially. But to many kids the US is now largely culturally and creatively irrelevant, and, to many, it is an increasingly scary, shouty and frightening place on the nightly news. They don’t like it, they don’t want it, they’re turning away from it.

The amazing creatives of East Asia dreamt up these worlds of kawaii to healing literature, Labubu to Skull Panda, TV soaps to crazy good movies for us all to access. Meanwhile Trump has sealed the fate of US cultural and soft power for a few generations at least. The shift has happened.

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