This paper examines the ways the global and local cultural contents are introduced and promoted in English textbooks used at Korean and Japanese middle schools. For both Korean and Japanese contexts, two sets of middle school English textbooks for each of first, second, and third grade were selected for comparison. The textbooks of each country were organized in a similar format, and the main reading passage for each unit was analyzed. For each textbook, nouns and pronouns that either represent global or local ideas were listed and classified into the following seven categories: place, occasion, things, entertainment, people, language, and others. The number of items representing either global or local cultural ideas for each category were counted and compared. For textbooks in both countries, a greater emphasis was placed on introducing and promoting global cultural contents of various countries, including those with marginalized cultures, as an attempt to embrace cultural diversity and enhance EFL learners’ intercultural awareness and understanding. The textbooks of both countries included representation of their own local culture of various categories to certain extent. By incorporating local culture contents in addition to global contents, both countries seem to be emphasizing the importance of developing their middle school students’ cultural identity and sensitivity in today’s global world.