Within East Asia we see the dialectics of global culture by the way things are constantly moving throughout the region.  Despite the movement of culture and goods we still see evidence of Hall’s claims of countries defining themselves more by what they are not.  So even with the glocalization, the minor changes to adapt to a community usually happen in order to demonstrate the differences of what that country/region is not.  Sometimes this can be seen with minor code switching on reality shows that add a local flare.  They try to demonstrate how the countries in this region that we call East Asia define themselves more by what they are not, we are Japan, not South Korea, or We are China, not Taiwan.  To know yourself in relation to your nationalism is to know yourself in relation to another part of that region. (21).  Similarly Ching describes the unity of East Asia by it’s “play of identity and difference” (234).  

This representation coming from your knowledge of what you are not is also seen by how things are transformed and produced throughout the area.  The nature of this cultural representation creates marginalization, which in turn creates identity and this so-called authenticity that has been brought up throughout the semester.  These identities eventually become commoditized and turn into structured representations that are packaged, shipped, and sold as intentionally “authentic”.  Example so mass culture can be seen from the “popularity of “Japanese” mass culture (melodrama, animation, pop music, etc.) signals “commonality” and “resonance” within Asia today” (Ching, 234).  

Youth contribute to this global economy that is constantly trying to provide this world market with new authenticity and originality.  Sometimes this is seen in attempts of creating new technologies so they can participate in the global economy.  Other times they are developing new and old identities by taking something and then making it their own.  This is incessantly what youth is doing and can be grasped by the cultural and youth identities that belong to historical moments (e.g.” you must be a product of the 60’s) (Hall, 20).  

1. Burden of the Individual