Asian Popular Culture New Hybrid and Alternate Media edited by John A. Lent and Lorna Fitzsimmons is an interdisciplinary study of popular culture practices in Asia including regional and national studies of Japan China South Korea and Australia. The contributors explore the evolution and intersection of popular forms gaming manga anime film music fiction YouTube videos and explicate the changing cultural meanings of these media in historical and contemporary contexts. At this studys core are the roles popular culture plays in the construction of national and regional identity. Common themes in this text include the impact of new information technology whether it be on gaming in East Asia music in 1960s Japan or candlelight vigils in South Korea hybridity of old and new versions of the Chinese game Weiqi of online and handheld gaming in South Korea and Japan that developed localized expressions or of United States culture transplanted to Japan in postWorld War II leading to the current otaku fan boy culture and the roles that nationalism and grassroots and alternative media of expression play in contemporary Asian popular culture. This is an essential study in understanding the role of popular culture in Asias national and regional identity. show more