Alright, I gotta ask. I was a teacher in Japan in the late 00s and most of the 10s, and could easily get through my time referencing Iron Man, Johnny Depp, Ayumi Hamasaki, and the like.
Now I'm back in the game, and yesterday with a class of 5th/6th-graders, they got out their pitchforks at a joke referencing AKB-48. Even telling them that I like TWICE was a big miss with today's 11 year-olds.
I need help. Who are the "popular" pop culture references these days? I can only get so far feigning an interest in Minecraft and Shohei Ohtani. Frieren references have been my only hit this year, but even that has a very limited reach.
by xeno0153