Make Believe Bonus: Japanese Pop Culture Report From An American Mall

Surely T-Shirt Stalls Next To A Wetzel's Pretzels Offers Deep Insight

I’ve been in the United States for about two weeks, and have been surprised how pervasive Japanese pop culture is here. Anime-style art abounds on TV, including something called “Chibi Tiny Tales” by Disney. A Vons supermarket near my parent’s house sells “lunch bentos” which are just fruit salad, cold cuts and some crackers. I’ve watched multiple college football players do the “fusion dance” from Dragonball Z.

Yet to truly understand where Japanese entertainment stands in the American zeitgeist, I decided I needed to visit the epicenter of the country’s cultural trends — a mall. While many such establishments have transformed into 21st-century ghost towns, the one nearest to where my family now resides was bustling when I visited in late December. I’ll chalk it up to the post-Christmas blitz of people with extra stocking money / gift cards to blow, but it felt lively, with multiple stores featuring lines to get into.

I was not interested in Pandora Jewelry or The Cheesecake Factory, however. I was there to see how Japanese pop culture manifested itself in the mall retailers of 2024 — and what it said about the way the country was received by a very suburban crowd. I got more than I bargained for.