A merican popular culture: We hear that phrase and immediately think of a juggernaut, a one-way tide rolling round the globe bearing its fatally attractive, tradition-squelching icons. It used to be John Wayne and jazz and Audrey Hepburn and Mickey Mouse. Then came McDonald's and Snoopy. More recently we've seen CNN, Michael Jordan, "Titanic," Starbucks, Britney Spears and Wal-Mart. The Americanization of the world proceeds apace.

That's the perception, anyway. The truth is, the tide reverses more often than the protesting placard-bearers care to admit. Americans eat spaghetti and Peking duck and spanakopita as happily as they eat fries and hamburgers. Some of their hottest movie stars are Australian. And in the past few years, the United States has taken almost as much popular culture from Britain as it has sent over there: reality-based television shows such as "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?"; "Harry Potter"; and the ubiquitous, Oscar-winning Dame Judi Dench.

The deepest inroads, though, have been made by Japan. Americans may not have heard of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi (at least until he showed up for the New England Patriots' season opener in Boston on Monday night), but they drive Japanese cars in the tens of millions, they adore sushi and their kids went crazy over Pokemon in all its manifestations -- the TV show, cards, movie, toys -- a few years back.