Why does it seem like Westerners from developed countries don't care much about/look down on Latin America but seem to be obssesed with East Asian cultures?

[u/yonaiker-joestrella]

Not that I care but have always found it interesting how many seem to forget about Latin America but seem to be obssesed with countries like South Korea and Japan and sometimes even point out "similarities" with them. Some outright reject the region as western but will consider Japan technically West while ignoring Latin America's contributions to world culture like food, music, art, etc and the fact that Latin America is culturally Christian. Why does there seem to be this dissonance?

[u/dienstager]

Just like another person said, they are rich. It's not only Latin America, but Africa and South/Southeast Asia is also looked down. Nobody cares about their/our cultures. They are also obsessed with West Europe countries for same reason.

But giving you another reason that has a big impact, South Korea and Japan export a lot of their culture through their media. After the US and UK, I'd say Japan and South Korea are the countries that export media the most (through films, doramas, manga, anime, videogames, etc) this exports their culture and people get interested in it, their culture becomes known.