Introduction: National identity and millennials in Northeast Asia

Abstract

This chapter highlights the role of youth’s cultural and political participation in shaping national identities in Northeast Asia. Looking at the wide range of case studies covered in this book’s chapters, it points to the co-existence of multiple forms of state and popular nationalisms, as well as tensions between indigenous and imported forms on various digital platforms used by youth (from online forums or videogames to online series to TV programmes). It also shows that, although young people’s interest n marginalised subjects is not excluded from co-optation by the state and larger companies, strong interdependence still enmeshes the different actors shaping Northeast Asian youth cultures.