It used to be that Japanese manga comics were most Thais' primary window on the Land of the Rising Sun. Recent TV series and pocketbooks have widened the view - though these always seem driven by the J-pop craze.

Now free magazines - in Thai but about Japan - are being distributed at Bangkok's Skytrain and subway stations and other places around town. They're pretty good guides on where to find Japanese food and other products in Thailand, and offer lessons in Japanese customs.

The cultural gulf, along with the difficult kanji writing system, has always kept Japan in the twilight for Thais, far more so than Western nations.

But six-year-old publishing house Daco saw that interest in Japan was rising here and launched a Thai edition of Daco magazine in October 2003.

Editor Benjamas Phuprasert, who studied the Japanese language in college, says Thais are becoming interested in the Pacific nation at a younger age, many high-schoolers being drawn in by J-pop.

Premia Life soon debuted as the only locally available magazine on Japanese culture that's in English, complete with discount coupons, and Move stepped in with articles on Thai and Japanese destinations.

They're both free, but local teens are happy to spend money on Cawaii because it covers things like fashion to shopping.

Benjamas says Daco is the best place to go for the general Japanese perspective, which can at times certainly be unique. One article was about a trip to Khao Yai National Park with a thermometer and a cello for company. The writer wanted to know if music would be more beautiful in cooler weather.

"It's their way of discovering," Benjamas says.

Less startling fare includes articles on instant noodles, green tea, the Japanese talent for wrapping gifts and the country's colourful festivals.

Daco's Japanese edition, meanwhile, often covers Thai people and culture.

Sureeporn Mangkornkan, a 30-year-old office worker, is interested in Japanese culture, and plans to take courses there later this year.

She needs more in-depth information than is offered by the free magazines, so she surfs the Internet.

"Daco would be more interesting for me if it were a bilingual magazine so I could practise my Japanese," Sureeporn says, adding that it's "too lifestyle" and dwells too much on Japanese music.

Most of the new magazines are about urban life, either Thai or Japanese - where to eat, shop and mingle. In one case, Daco's Thai reporters wrote up their New Year's trip to Fukuoka, and then the Japanese edition translated it for home consumption, so the story did double duty.

Surasawdee Sasiwan, who recently graduated from Srinakarinviroj University, says most of what appears in the free magazines could never be found in school textbooks.

"It's everyday-life stuff, and very up-to-date," she says, noting that the information genuinely comes in handy when actually dealing with the Japanese.

Korn Kanjanapanyakom, a 29-year-old designer who exports merchandise to Japan, agrees. He finds the lifestyle magazines a useful "directory" to the Japanese mindset.

"They generally portray how the Japanese are and think," he says, then chuckles over a Daco story about a Japanese tourist on his first visit to Thailand who spent a whole week eating somtam.

"It seems very funny to Thai readers, but it's a very Japanese way of doing things - to go for something so wholeheartedly."

Teaching the Japanese language since 1994, Srinakarinviroj University department chief Napasin Plaengsorn knows that fewer and fewer Thai high-school students are studying Japanese.

But being familiar with the language has palpable benefits, the lecturer says, along with other aspects of the culture.

He's concerned, however, about the popularity of J-pop because most teens lap it up without any proper way of adapting it to their way of life. There should be a filter, but there isn't.

Foreign culture has both positive and negative effects, he says, "but we need to learn about it with a critical mind".

Sirinya Wattanasukchai

The Nation