ABSTRACT

Even after the end of Japanese colonization, Koreans have continuously consumed Japanese popular culture along with Korean and Western texts. Through ethnographic research, this chapter explores how Korean women continue to negotiate Japanese culture and make sense of their culturally hybridized media consumption. It also considers how American culture introduced to Korea was mediated by Japan for many years. The chapter argues that Korean women’s childhood memories are illustrative of the three-way postcolonial relationships between the three nations. It also illustrates, however, how these women do not passively accept Japanese culture. Instead, they actively transform it through an internalizing process.