>>5893674
they've been doing "ASMR" for decades already. Not as video, but having places where you can go and pay to have a girl speak soothing words to you, act like a caring gf or mother, stroke your hair, clean your ears while your head is in her lap(its seen as an intimate act of caring in Japan, mothers do it to their children and its common for married couple to do it to each other) just lie down next to you and share an intimate moment. The language is soft, clearly pronounced syllables and favors gentle ways of speaking(especially true for women). It just fit their culture of appreciating tranquility and different forms of relaxation.

They along with the koreans took to asmr almost instantly when it became popular online, in many ways it was just a recontextualization of what they had already been doing and liking.