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Pop Pacific

Pop Pacific

Photo by Ciaran O'Brien on Unsplash

The Pacific connects, it doesn't divide. The Pop Pacific explores how popular cultures such as K-pop, J-pop, and anime (and more) cross borders and blend together. We study the places where cultures meet such as ethnic neighborhoods in the U.S., major cities across the Asia-Pacific, entertainment centers, YouTube sites, and American military bases. Just as ancient Polynesians saw the Pacific Ocean as a bridge between people, we examine how media cultures from Korea, Japan, China, Southeast Asia, and the Americas travel across borders and influence each other. We connect fan communities with academic research through clear, accessible writing. For educators: Many posts include discussion questions for classroom use.

We welcome submissions and suggestions from anyone interested in popular culture. See our writing guidelines for submission details. Please contact Dr. Jayson Chun (jmchun@hawaii.edu) or Dr. Pat Patterson (ppatters@hawaii.edu).

Pop Pacific Index: Browse blog posts organized by category. Updated periodically.

 

Kpop Demon Hunters and the Transnational Sound of Diaspora
Labubu: How a Dutch-Chinese designed elf became the unlikely face of transnational pop culture
Pop Pacific Blog Index
Tokyo kōshinkyoku, 1929 The World's First Movie-Music Marketing Tie-up
Japan's best baseball player of the 1950s was an American from Hawai'i
A Tale of International Identity: The Origins and Meanings of J-pop and K-pop
Come Write for us: The Pop Pacific Blog Guidelines
Young Love, 1963: From up on Poppy Hill (2011)
Beonangayo: How Korean Musicians Transformed Western Songs into the Foundation of K-pop
Spirited Away (2): Power and Moral Choices for Gen Z
Spirited Away (1): Navigating Economic Collapse Through Fantasy
Large Eyes, Pointy Chins, Pointy Noses: How Manga Became "Manga"
Neon Genesis Evangelion: The Perfect Anime for Japan's Economic Crisis
Happy End’s Happy End: The Band that Made “Japanese” Rock
Spy x Family and Japan’s Need for Kizuna
Cold War Chic: Spy X Family Pushes all the Right Aesthetic Buttons
"Akira": The Groundbreaking Anime That Reflected Japan's Economic Bubble Era
Heartthrob: How James Shigeta became Hollywood's first Japanese American leading man (and he was one of ours)
Red Hunting in Paradise. John Wayne's worst movie inspired my second novel
Doraemon as High Speed Growth Manga (2): Social class and Nobita’s friends
Doraemon as a High Speed Growth Manga (1): Nobi Family as 1960s developmental state family
Underrated: The Showa Era's best female vocalist wasn't Hibari Misora
One Punch Man as Postbubble Pop Culture
Aaaan-punchi! Defeating the Problem, Not the Enemy in the Era of High-Speed Growth
Beyond Anpanman: Understanding Yanase Takashi’s Unlikely Rise to the Pinnacle of the Japanese Popular Culture Pantheon
Attack on Titan (2014): Examining 21st Century Global Youth Through Anime
Transnational origins of manga
Transnational K-pop (2): “K” as “Asia”
Rosé Chaeyoung Park: The Pop Pacific artist
Apt.: The Transpacific pop pacific song
Okabayashi Nobuyasu and the Rise of the Pop Gods
Transnational K-pop (part 1) - REMIX
What is J-pop and K-pop? (part 2) - K-pop innovations REMIX
What is K-pop and J-pop (part 1) J-pop roots REMIX
Asian Man, Black Woman (AMBW) and the K-pop and anime connection
Introduction to the Pop Pacific - REMIX
Asian Man, Black Woman (AMBW): Transpacific love emerging from the Shadows (part 1 introduction)
Generation Z is Japanese
Languages of the Pop Pacific (part 3) - Japanese
Radio Killed the Record Star
Languages of the Pop Pacific (part 2) – English
Reverse-engineering popular songs
Languages of the Pop Pacific (part 1) - Korean
Tokyo Ondo
The Hidden Mainstream
Baby Metal: Musical Entrepreneurs
The Great "Rokabirī" panic of 1958
Bedlam at the Nichigeki Theater: The Japanese Rokabirī (rockabilly) craze of 1958
“The Girl is Mine”: Selling Dreams in Akihabara
BLACKPINK, New Jeans, Stray Kids, Enhyphen, and NMIXX: Australian K-pop Idols
Kasagi Shizuko, Tokyo Boogie Woogie and the Reinvention of Post War Japanese Popular Culture
Patti Kim: US Bases, Korea and popular music in the 1950s
Apples, boogie and shamisen: A Brief look at Japanese Popular Music during the Allied Occupation
J-pop is J-WAVE Pop
American Bases: Crucibles of the Pop Pacific
The Wildcat of Shanghai
Manila Sound and the Roots of Pinoy Pop
Something Old and Something New
Transnational K-pop, part 3 (China)
Tokyo March
Transnational K-pop (2): “K” as Asian America
Forging the formula: the making of Japan’s first “hit song,” 1914
Transnational K-pop (part 1)
The “Butterfly” effect: how a Boston music teacher and an ambitious Japanese bureaucrat changed Japanese music
Hawai'i, Okinawa and the Pop Pacific
Shanghai: The 1930s, Jazz, and Popular Music in “The Paris of the East”
K-culture and J-culture
What is K-pop? (part 2)
What is K-pop and J-pop (part 1)
Prewar Transnational Pop Stars
Introduction to the Pop Pacific

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