R U JAPANESE?

ohayo gozimus, kawaii desu. Sorry that's all I learned from anime.

" @onimonkii: Haha good to see another Community fan.It doesn't particularily bother me, but I do agree that it is a problem. But the reason is probably because there just aren't very many asian actors outside of asia that is, so theyre kinda forced into this interchangable situation. You also don't see that many asian actors in movies and tv. The last I saw would be Inception, and that movie pissed me off because the asian dies like 5 times on 5 different levels, haha.I also think that a major problem is that alot of non asian people can't tell where an asian last name comes from, not to mention all the overlapping Changs and other asian last names.    "

Whenever we get new people at work they always introduce themselves to me in Spanish like they're trying to get on my good side by speaking my "native language". Then before I can say anything, they go on to tell me that they studied Spanish back in high school/college and always wanted someone to practice with. It always bothers me that just because of my name or how I look people always assume I know Spanish.    
 
Growing up, we were the only Mexican family in our neighborhood and I was the only Mexican kid in my class until I was about 12.  At the time I didn't really feel like there was any reason to become fluent. Most of the time I can understand what someone is saying to me in Spanish but I'm not really good at putting words together to have a conversation.

" something i didn't think about until ElTigreChino posted, does it also bother you when in movies asians are all interchangeable?  like senor chang, el tigre chino, from community is played by ken jeong. and last night i watched speed racer, where taejo togokan was played by rain, and his sister horuko was played by nan yu, that's all kinds of mixin goin on.  do you think that adds to your problem? "

I think the worst part for me is that I'm American as hell.  Even though I'm considered Chinese, I don't speak the language, nor have never been to China.  Born in Arizona and spoke english with all my english speaking friends.  Its kind of insulting to get the, BUT WHERE ARE YOU REALLY FROM question.
 
Then again, if I placed a whole mess of importance on race I wouldn't have picked a nickname that shortens to ABC!
 
Should it be a compliment that I've been mistaken for Canadian over the phone twice?  Probably doesn't mean anything though.

" @onimonkii said:

" something i didn't think about until ElTigreChino posted, does it also bother you when in movies asians are all interchangeable?  like senor chang, el tigre chino, from community is played by ken jeong. and last night i watched speed racer, where taejo togokan was played by rain, and his sister horuko was played by nan yu, that's all kinds of mixin goin on.  do you think that adds to your problem? "

Would you rather them be played by this asshole?
"

" @Mrnitropb said:

" @onimonkii said:

" something i didn't think about until ElTigreChino posted, does it also bother you when in movies asians are all interchangeable?  like senor chang, el tigre chino, from community is played by ken jeong. and last night i watched speed racer, where taejo togokan was played by rain, and his sister horuko was played by nan yu, that's all kinds of mixin goin on.  do you think that adds to your problem? "

Would you rather them be played by this asshole?
"

i want everyone played by al leong. like an eddie murphy movie, but with al leong "

" @Mrnitropb said:

" My fiances grandmother refers to Asians as Orientals still. Loudly. In Public. "

oh snap!  if she is elderly, it is understandable.  next time remind her that they are people, not rugs.

No, but I have a lot of asian friends. Does that count? 

" No, but I have a lot of asian friends. Does that count?  "

for those of you who are distinctly not caucasian, do you find your race and nationality to be a conversation starter?  do you have a daily quota of people trying to guess where you're "originally from?"  share stories please so i no longer feel alone and conspicuously ethnic.  "

I think i look spanish, but people have mistaken me for italian and israli. So... sometimes there is something to talk about. 
  
@inhaleandvomit: People generally mistake you for a japanese because out of the asian countries, Japan and China are the most popular. Don't take it badly. At least you should meet and have met some pretty cool people down the road. ^^  
 
Also  KONNICHIWA! ^^ 

" @inhaleandvomit said:

" @Mrnitropb said:

" My fiances grandmother refers to Asians as Orientals still. Loudly. In Public. "

oh snap!  if she is elderly, it is understandable.  next time remind her that they are people, not rugs.

Wait. Oriental is racist?  To answer your question, it is whenever I'm travelling. Being a Norwegian in Norway doesn't give me any interesting conversation starters. Except if I start talking with some racist chick, about the foreigners. Which, I shit you not, got me laid once. I feel dirty. (To clarify she came to ME saying how many pakis there were in the club. I acknowledged that with a "Totally") "

No.

Saw a few references to Turning Japanese. That song is one hella big sexual reference.

DA FUCK IS DIS SHIT?

I'm white as white can be, so I can't say that I have this problem.

My Grandfather on my Fathers side is German and met my Grandmother while he was stationed in Okinawa. So I guess that counts for something?
I've used this Alias for years and my friends call me Ita. Got this tattoo in AIT Ft. Lee VA.

People constantly come up and ask me what my heritage is. I beat them at their own game by explaining in full detail my Asian, African, Arab, Irish, ect ancestors so they just have to stand there looking uncomfortable for about 10 minutes.

Great topic bro, hopefully I won't derail horribly.

So my parents and i went out to a feast of the gods for my mother's birthday dinner. 
in the waiting area, a slack-jawed girly-man in the vile clutches of teenage years who stared at us with unabashed and creepy enthusiasm finally walked up to my family and yelled "FOR VALLHALLA! !"  her parents just bestowed us with benign grins as if their man-boy son had broken down the racial glass ceiling with one knowledgeable greeting. a veritable heathen dog in a pink tunic. how kind and worldly of her to greet the mighty Norse family in their native tongue! 
 
not to mention anytime i'm in Lokes's Videogames, there's some creepy non-Nordic guy inevitably wearing a shirt screenprinted with some sort of valkyrie who will come up to me and rattle off something in norse.  i'll explain that i don't understand his broke-ass stab at the norse language, and he will explain that he's spent a lot of time in midtgard, so he really understands my culture.  okay, this has only happened twice.  i am exaggerating.
 
i'm totally not viking, but it seems to be a definitive part of my daily life: strangers coming up to me and asking what part of valhalla i'm from.  most of it happens at work, where my patients are elderly, white, and convinced that it is still 1000s and i should be working on my broadswordskills.  this is probably because i live in west-africa, and anyone light skinned is here illegally and out to steal african jobs.
 
for those of you who are distinctly not odin's chosen people, do you find your race and nationality to be a conversation starter?  do you have a daily quota of people trying to guess where you're "originally from?"  share stories please so i no longer feel alone and conspicuously ethnic.     

I've been asked a lot if I'm either a, Irish or b, anemic. Because I'm ridicously pale.
But I'm English so i don't, or haven't really been in a situation where people have asked me about my heritage (par the Irish thing).

That's kinda messed up. Specifically the first girl. Christ, man. Who would think it'd be a good idea to do that?

I don't think race is a good conversation starter. Hell, I don't think that race should matter at all.

I get asked a lot.. especially when my sister and I stand side by side, she's white/mexican/india indian(genman and stuff but this is the short version) just just looks white, and I'm Black/India indian/mexican(short version) and I just look black. We moved to a very Rural white area and when my sister goes to a friends house and I go to get her, they look at me like I'm nuts...
 
One time a woman grabbed her kid like I was some scary boogyman coming to steal her shit or something. Needless to say after that my sister never went back to that house. Not because we made her stop (If I scare you too bad) but because the mother didn't think it was good for her to come over anymore...
 
yeahhh....
 
I'm still rather not used to the looks, the place we lived before was a random melting pot, here there are maybe 4 black people...at all, I'm one of the 4 and I don't even think of myself as 'black' XP

Well, good thing I live in Canada.

I'm Korean, but I live in Toronto, which is pretty damn multicultural. I'm pretty immature so I'm racist pretty much all the time, but I am racist equally. I haven't seen that kind of weird situations though, probably only because I live in Canada.

so where exactly in the south are you guys talking about when you talk about the south being a bunch of racist hicks? i live in the south - as in south louisiana - and i've been in texas, mississippi, tennessee, and kentucky for extended periods of time and the only place where racism was noticeable was kentucky. the rest of the time it seemed to be pretty much on the same level as it is in los angeles, new york, and baltimore - and i know those places pretty well too.
 
or have you just never been to the south (or at least not for any decent period of time) and you're stereotyping it as a bunch of rednecks who stereotype minorities?

I'm a cracker-ass cracker, so it doesn't happen to me.  However, my wife is Japanese and she gets it all the time.  Like... all the time.  She even gets it at work (she's a graphic designer) when members of the IT staff come to work on her Mac.  She generally just laughs it off.    More humorous is the amount of people who tell me how lucky I am to have a Japanese wife.  I usually just tell them I'm lucky to have her, and that it wouldn't matter if she was Spanish, Scottish, Indian or a Latina.

Well, im the opposite. I'm swedish but i live in Japan. I love it when some random guy/chick comes up to me, says "hi" and then just continue to walk.
I'm kinda lucky because i live in a place where not many tourists come, so almost everyone at the McDonalds/ nearby stores, knows who i am :)
 
I even started at a senmon gakkou(college?) a couple of months ago, during the first week a girl came up to me and asked if i live in Kyoto.... I had no idea who she was and i couldnt remember seeing her before, then she told me that i used to come to a store where she worked and everyone at the store knew about me because i was a gaijin and had been to the store a couple of times

My ethnicity is rarely brought up. My mom is from Indonesia; Javanese and German. My dad is from France. :)
 
The only really awesome story I have is about the time a homeless dude outside a Pizza Hut stopped me to thank me and my people for saving his life by teaching him kung fu. He then proceeded to show me his drawings of rockets and urge me to not do LSD.

" NO BUT I THINK IM TURNING "

"  
so my parents and i went out to a restaurant for my mother's birthday dinner.
in the waiting area, a slack-jawed girl in the vile clutches of teenage years who stared at us with unabashed and creepy enthusiasm finally walked up to my family and yelled " KONNICHIWA !"  her parents just bestowed us with benign grins as if their daughter had broken down the racial glass ceiling with one knowledgeable greeting. a veritable u.s. diplomat in a pink tinkerbell t-shirt. how kind and worldly of her to greet the little japanese family in their native tongue!
 
not to mention anytime i'm in gamestop, there's some creepy white guy inevitably wearing a shirt screenprinted with some sort of dragon who will come up to me and rattle off something in japanese.  i'll explain that i don't understand his broke-ass stab at an asian language, and he will explain that he's spent a lot of time in tokyo, so he really understands my culture.  okay, this has only happened twice.  i am exaggerating.
 
i'm totally not japanese, but it seems to be a definitive part of my daily life: strangers coming up to me and asking what part of asia i'm from.  most of it happens at work, where my patients are elderly, white, and convinced that it is still 1920 and i should be working on a railroad.  this is probably because i live in texas, and anyone dark skinned is here illegally and out to steal american jobs.
 
for those of you who are distinctly not caucasian, do you find your race and nationality to be a conversation starter?  do you have a daily quota of people trying to guess where you're "originally from?"  share stories please so i no longer feel alone and conspicuously ethnic.  "

No. I am distinctly white.

Generally, on my own - my race is never a factor. I am just another American, regardless of my skin tone. When I'm with my wife though, it does occasionally come up.  My wife is a white, blue-eyed, blonde haired American. I am your default Indian - brown eyes, brown skin and black hair - though I lack a whimsical accent since I have lived in the US since I was 11 months old. 
  
One of the more hilarious times it came up was on St. Patrick's Day. Partying up with some college friends at their local bar, one older couple (40s-55s) was genuinely shocked that we were "allowed to be married in this country". Obviously, being St Patrick's Day I have no doubt alcohol allowed her to make the comment.
 
Another more recent time, at the local Walmart - I seperated off from my wife to chop through the shopping list pronto. When I returned to her, she informed me she was approached by one of the staff who asked "if she knew me and needed assistance". Apparently, I was thought to be some sort of stalker maybe? I dunno. I might have been looking especially creepy that day I suppose.
  
Anyhow, left to my own I hardly get questioned or looked at differently. It is only when I am with my wife that the stark contrast I think piques people curiosity. 

At Gamestop is understandable, it's because being Japanese to some gamers and anime fans is like a dream coming true, if you're Japanese at a game store you're high on the social pyramid, people wanna talk to you. I feel like the Japanese culture has become stronger and stronger, it's cool these days. As for me I'm an average white guy, maybe too white for my own good.