Great read. Totally see this and 'get it' , though I didnt grow up in SEA , but live here now.
Reminded me of a few others playing the reverse game, of sorts. Paris Baguette is a Korean bakery chain, La Opala and Lakme are very much Indian and another one I cant recall which was a very French glass brand I watched ads for, but learned it was based in Chennai, India.
There’s a huge restaurant chain in Hong Kong called delifrance… though I think french copycating has more to do with how revered their cuisine is generally
To your point, I guess these are just things everyone does everywhere but the conditions in which they arise are different. Something I think is really interesting is how many japanese clothing brands present themselves as American or only sell American style clothes. I think an entire essay can be dedicated to that lol
checking in for my weekly THE CHOW read 🕺 I really love your exploration of this topic. perhaps now that other parts of Asia have slowly risen their soft power, I wonder if there will ever be a time where the faux japanese phenomenon will be seen applied to other asian countries and recieve the same level of aspirational brand imagery.
This comment is giving me plenty to think about. I was going to say that IRL brain rot aesthetics (so anything inspired by labubu or Dubai chocolate) is an aspirational form of Chinese or Arab consumption but it’s also not bc even though buyers/sellers like the stickiness they’re universally recognized as bad taste lol…
Pakistani citizen here. I informed some friends and relatives two years ago that MINISO, found in big malls across our country, is in fact Chinese origin. They were genuinely shocked but one shrugged "Well it's the look that matters".
A friend recently asked me what my favourite Hong Kong snacks were, to which I said the majority of brands you see in a grocery shop are Japanese 😅. Says a lot about consumer tastes but I would personally love to see more local brands lining the shelves
Great read. Totally see this and 'get it' , though I didnt grow up in SEA , but live here now.
Reminded me of a few others playing the reverse game, of sorts. Paris Baguette is a Korean bakery chain, La Opala and Lakme are very much Indian and another one I cant recall which was a very French glass brand I watched ads for, but learned it was based in Chennai, India.
Miniso always feels faux to me, for some reason!
There’s a huge restaurant chain in Hong Kong called delifrance… though I think french copycating has more to do with how revered their cuisine is generally
To your point, I guess these are just things everyone does everywhere but the conditions in which they arise are different. Something I think is really interesting is how many japanese clothing brands present themselves as American or only sell American style clothes. I think an entire essay can be dedicated to that lol
Thanks for reading!
Ah yes. I saw Deligrance for the first time in Hong Kong some two decades ago (?) , and it’s around here Singapore which is home now too.
You’re right , there are many reasons and each region looks at another as aspirational. (Maybe note US!)
checking in for my weekly THE CHOW read 🕺 I really love your exploration of this topic. perhaps now that other parts of Asia have slowly risen their soft power, I wonder if there will ever be a time where the faux japanese phenomenon will be seen applied to other asian countries and recieve the same level of aspirational brand imagery.
This comment is giving me plenty to think about. I was going to say that IRL brain rot aesthetics (so anything inspired by labubu or Dubai chocolate) is an aspirational form of Chinese or Arab consumption but it’s also not bc even though buyers/sellers like the stickiness they’re universally recognized as bad taste lol…
Anyways, perhaps we’ll unpack this at discourse
Pakistani citizen here. I informed some friends and relatives two years ago that MINISO, found in big malls across our country, is in fact Chinese origin. They were genuinely shocked but one shrugged "Well it's the look that matters".
I guess deception is acceptable to some.
Isn’t all good marketing just deception anyway? 😅
Point taken!
another banger, awesome piece
You’re too sweet Rafi, thank you!
A friend recently asked me what my favourite Hong Kong snacks were, to which I said the majority of brands you see in a grocery shop are Japanese 😅. Says a lot about consumer tastes but I would personally love to see more local brands lining the shelves
Real. I was about to mention calbee for their corn snacks and then I googled them and found out they were Japanese lol
We do have siu mai and yu daan tho! What we lack in chips etc. we make up for in streetfood
this is supa interesting