"All Westerners are American"

[fireball9261]

Well, it was very depressing to me when Japanese tourists in Los Angeles' little Tokyo started speaking Japanese to me asking for directions! Appearently, many of my friends told me I look like a Japanese, not a Chinese! I totally disagree. Actually, I look more like a classic Tang dynasty beauty right now, especially when I pulled up my long hair. I should have been born in Tang dynasty. I would have been more renowned than Yang Gui Fei!

[Pravit]

In Korea, though, everyone knew I was "Japanese" even before I tried to speak any Korean (I'm Southern Chinese). Workers in the airport would automatically start speaking to me in Japanese.

Chinese tend to think I'm Korean, even before I say anything - I've asked about this several times, and received differing answers, but in general it's because my eyes are "细长" and my hairstyle is "Korean-looking."

[shibole]

my hairstyle is "Korean-looking."

Did you dye your hair blond and cut it short and spikey-looking? That seems like the best way to look like a Japanese person these days.

[Madot]

In Australia they have a wonderful system regarding people with a North American accent. They automatically assume you are Canadian. There is method in this (statistical) madness because Americans who are assumed to be Canadian tend to laugh, while Canadians who are automatically assumed to be Americans, get annoyed. :-)

Mado (An American living 30+ years in Australia.)

[Pravit]

my hairstyle is "Korean-looking."

Did you dye your hair blond and cut it short and spikey-looking? That seems like the best way to look like a Japanese person these days.

To be specific, Japanese haircuts look like this:

whereas Korean haircuts look like this:

I think my hair is pretty normal by Asian standards, and I get my hair cut at Chinese hair salons, so I don't know why it ends up Korean looking. In my blood, I guess.

[imron]

Maybe your Chinese hairdresser watches too many Korean soap operas

[rezaf]

i am iranian and look nothing like an american, but outside shanghai everyone thinks that i am american and inside shanghai most people think that i am french. when i asked one of them, she told me that i look like zidane. it's more reasonable but still awkward. on the other hand i myself also have problems recognizing east asians. mostly i recognize my friends and teachers from their hair style or clothes.

[fireball9261]

Pravit, you do look a little bit like a Korean or Japanese TV star!

[shibole]

Seems like all the Korean kids around here have these flat top buzz type haircuts.

[dalaowai]

I just came back to Canada, I live out in a rural area and my very Chinese-looking wife has been mistaken for Puerto Rican, Mexican, Spanish and Portuguese. The first time I was quite shocked, seeing that my wife looks quite Asian. Now we both laugh it off. She actually gets excited if she's mistaken for Korean, Japanese, Filipino, etc.

So yeah, it can happen anywhere around the world.

My favourite incident was when a Xinjiang guy in Shanghai insisted that I was an overseas Uyghur.

I have American friends who say that they're Canadian and Canadian friends who say that they're American. I met an Iranian guy who used to say he was Italian. So local people get thrown off.

[muyongshi]

I have once been asked if I was a minority (which is absolutely preposterous) and I have a Chinese friend who most Chinese people think she is Thai. Which she looks nothing like a Thai in my mind but I guess that just has to do with the fact that I've been to Thailand and those Chinese people haven't...

[Pravit]

I honestly can't tell the difference between Asians (or any ethnic group, really) based on facial features alone. I think most of us are just going off of clothing, hair, accent, and height. I think lots of Thais look like Chinese, and many Thais are Chinese, given the large Chinese population there. Ditto Vietnamese. I think you could say that Northern Chinese are more similar looking to Koreans/Japanese and Southern Chinese are more similar looking to Thais/Vietnamese than they are to each other, though.

Also, fireball, how did you know what I look like?!

[shibole]

Pravit:

To be specific, Japanese haircuts look like this:

BTW, this got replaced with an image saying something like "you've been caught direct linking!" but you probably didn't see that because the correct image was already in your browser cache.

[gougou]

BTW, this got replaced with an image saying something like "you've been caught direct linking!"

Even though on that image, that might have been Japanese haircuts as well.

[shibole]

I think lots of Thais look like Chinese, and many Thais are Chinese

And to make things more confusing, I'm told that most of the more "native" looking Thai people look just like a lot of people from Laos (same ethnic group), but don't tell them that or they'll get rather offended from what I hear.

I guess after a while nobody is going to be able to tell where anyone is from.

[fireball9261]

Also, fireball, how did you know what I look like?!

Pravit, so the 2nd photo was not you? If not, I am greatly disappointed! You need to get a picture here for us to see whether you look like a Japanese or Korean or not. For myself, just look at any of those Tang dynasty court ladies in the Tang dynasty wall paintings, and I look just like them -- with the thick eyebrows.

I think you could say that Northern Chinese are more similar looking to Koreans/Japanese and Southern Chinese are more similar looking to Thais/Vietnamese than they are to each other, though.

I happened to be a Southern Chinese who look like a Japanese (or even a Mongolian according to my Mongolian friend)! I have generations of Zhejiang Han Chinese ancestors from both father and mother sides. I just don't know what happened to me? Also, my mother's side of family all look like westerners. My brother looks like them and looked like a white boy when he was young and had natural blonde hair, and now he looks like a Afghanistanian when his hair turned darker. My nephew at my mother's side looks more like a Spanish person than a Han Chinese. I just don't know what's going on with my family!

[Pravit]

Pravit, so the 2nd photo was not you?

HAHA, I wish. No, that's BaeYongJoon, the archetypal Korean soap opera hero. I'm in some of the photos on my blog.

Also, my mother's side of family all look like westerners. My brother looks like them and looked like a white boy when he was young and had natural blonde hair, and now he looks like a Afghanistanian when his hair turned darker.

A Chinese kid with natural blonde hair??!?! NEED PICS!

I'm told that most of the more "native" looking Thai people look just like a lot of people from Laos (same ethnic group),

Yep, and up in the NE they are one and the same. There's a huge number of Chinese and mixed Thai-Chinese in Bangkok, so much that nobody can really tell the difference these days.

[fireball9261]

A Chinese kid with natural blonde hair??!?! NEED PICS!

Unfortunately, he hates his western looks and pretty much destroyed or kept all earlier evidences. I don't have those pictures. However, my mom told me the neighborhood kids all pointed at him yelling, "American kid! American kid!" when he went outside as a kid. All his life, he tries very hard to get his curly hair straight so that he wouldn't look like a westerner. (I also hate my curly hair and hope for the nice silky straight hair of a normal Asian girl. I feel I look better in straight hair.)

I think his problem is that my mom's family might have western blood some generations ago and my mom had that particular gene -- she also looks extremely western -- she actually looks very much like Katharine Hepburn when she was younger. Then, my (half) brother's father was a Chinese Muslim (Hui ethnic group) and might have western blood also -- However, his father's family had lived in Hangzhou area for generations and married with a lot of Han Chinese. The two western genes might have all gone into my brother and caused him to have blonde hair when he was younger. The hair eventually grew darker, and I suspect he used other methods to make it looks black. He really, really hates the fact that he looks like a westerner.

[Lu]

(I also hate my curly hair and hope for the nice silky straight hair of a normal Asian girl. I feel I look better in straight hair.)

This, at least, seems to be universal: people with straight hair want it curled and people with curled hair, straight.

I guess the moral of it all is: ask 'where are you from' instead of 'are you from country X'.

[rezaf]

there are some kazaks who have light brown hair with chinese looks.