Looking West

Japanese housewives can't get enough of Asian pop culture:

Erimo Tsurui has watched a movie 13 times mainly because of its Hong Kong-born co-star and once viewed Chinese television dramas for 40 straight hours in a marathon session.

The mother of two daughters also learned to play the erhu, a traditional two-stringed Chinese instrument, and mastered the lyrics of Chinese songs from a variety of genres.

Tsurui's obsession with Chinese pop culture helped to propel her to victory in the 10th Japan-China Karaoke Meet in May. There, she crooned a chanson-style, slow Chinese song while strumming on the erhu.

"Chinese pop music is cooler than that from the United States," the 39-year-old Tokyo resident said. "Fast and hot numbers like rap and hip-hop are particularly good."

Music, dramas and movies from China and Taiwan have caught on in Japan, particularly among women in their 30s through 50s. The trend, known as hualiu, comes on the heels of hanryu, the boom of Korean pop culture.

In both booms, good-looking young men have played important roles.

"I like slit-eyed men like Chinese and Koreans," said Tsurui, who carries with her a scrapbook filled with pictures of her idols, including Van Ness Wu of Taiwan's four-member group F4, and Wang Lee-hom, a Taiwanese-American singer-songwriter and actor.