The truth about East Asians....

[MMM]

Originally Posted by Ronin4hire

Wrong. It is presumptuous if the only clue you have is physical appearance.

Of course if there are other clues then depending on the clues it might be possible to make an educated guess at best.

Ronin4Hire, I think you are a cool dude, but let's not make a mountain out of a molehill.

All we are talking about is physical appearance. (at least all I am).

I'll repeat: You said it is impossible to distinguish a difference between Japanese, Koreans, and Chinese. Having had many years of experience with many people of all three "catagories", I suggested that it isn't impossible.

On the "allthesame.com" test I got 13 out of 18. Noodle, who had the same conclusions as me, did even better. By your conclusions, no one should get over 6 (out of 18).

That test is strictly on facial looks from the shoulders up. Fashion is not a factor. Strictly physical apprearence. That's all we've been talking about.

I never ever implied that it was 100%, and I am not going to explain research why it is (although I know each country had extended periods where there didn't mix gene pools) because I really don't know. You asked a question and I think I gave an informed answer. It's like you said it's impossible for someone to bowl a 250, and then I bowl a 270 to show you that it is, and then you say that's just luck.

[Excessum]

Originally Posted by MMM

AllLookSame

Meh... scored only 5/18... must be because there aren't too many asians around where i live X)
I can tell the local nationalities apart with much bigger precision though... Every nationality in general has some distinct set of features in their physical appearance, that makes them look unique, even if it is hard to notice at first glance

[MMM]

Originally Posted by hypekstatic

Let me break it down for you people, plain and simple.

You cannot tell asians apart. It is impossible. You can try, but your accuracy is only based off GENETICAL or physical stereotypical attributes. (You will think a girl with small, single eyelid eyes, side sweeped bangs, and flat small nose is Korean. as an example.)

Korea was ruled by japan and china at one point in history.
Alot of women were enslaved by men from Japan and China....
Many unwanted, some consentual even, mixed births were apparent in that era. If you look at Japan now, alot of Koreans live there. In fact alot of Korean blooded people are not even aknowledged as Koreans, they are citizens, born and living in Japan, therefore they are legally and rightfully, JAPANESE. Those people are called Zainichi Korean. My friend is half Zainichi Korean, half Chinese. So technically... she is Korean, Japanese, AND Chinese. lol.
Because history of these countries show mixture in blood, you cannot look at a Japanese person and assume they are PURE Japanese blood. Technically it may not exist in their blood. I'm not saying ALL Japanese people are either Korean or Chinese mixed but a big percentage is likely (i'm talking about older generations, not 2nd generation....)
I work in japan town in california and I see Asians all the time and I cant tell them apart. One of the regulars is Zainichi Korean, but you would never second guess that she's Japanese, becacuse she looks like the typical Japanese person.

Crystal Kay a popular Japanese pop artist is half african american, half ZAINICHI Korean. Her mom is Zainichi Korean, but technically she is half Japanese.

VERBAL the MC of M-FLO is Zainichi Korean. He is fluent in both languages but still.... he isnt classified as a "Korean" artist, he is "JAPANESE."

MIYAVI , okay who the hell doesnt know Miyavi... lol alot of people don't know this, and I didnt even know this until recently, but he's half Japanese, half Zainichi Korean. That means technically he is just JAPANESE, but being zainichi korean just means you are Japanese but you have the Korean blood.
Can you tell all these people are KOREAN, half KOREAN just by looking at them? I didn't think so....

No one said they could do it 100%, and of course with younger generations and more mixing of the gene pools this may lost. Of course with interracial individuals like Crystal Kay it isn't as clear from "looks" that she is just Japanese...but it is pretty easy to tell that she is an interracial individual, wouldn't you say?

Your use of small incidents in history is a little naive, and to be frank, your tone is condescending. I suppose it is impossible to tell Africans, Native Americans, South Americans apart, too. Yup...all the same.

No one ever said anything about PURE BLOOD.

TENDENCIES! That's all that was said.

Black people have a tendency to have darker skin than white people.

"But Michael Jackson doesn't have dark skin, and he is black, so that can't be an identifying factor".

That's your logic, and it is ludicrous.

[kireikoori]

Chinese, Japanese and Koreans all look different from Southeast Asians. VERY different.

Although there are all sorts of looking people from everywhere, there is a sort of generic look for everyplace. Even if it's not true, people will the Celtic look as being ginger.

China having over 1 billion people it's hard to describe a specific look for Chinese. Even when separating the tribes of China, many Han Chinese look different. Northern Han are even a little bit different from Southern Han.

Korean people have a bit more North Asian features than the Chinese do. Well except for the Northern Chinese of course. And Japanese people have a bit of North African DNA that gives some of them Caucasian facial features(like Ken Hirai). They get from the Ainu who did intermingle with the Yayoi Japanese quite a lot. It may only be small, but I've never seen anyone as Caucasian looking as Ken Hirai in Korea or China except for maybe a few Western Chinese Turkish people.

[Ronin4hire]

Thanks MMM... I think you're pretty cool too. You say some pretty smart things on this website

Sorry if I come across as anal or making a mountain out of a molehill. It's not personal. I just like to have discussions like these and sometimes I get into it too much and I forget my manners I suppose.

I suppose it is rude of me to disregard your personal experience in the way I'm doing, so in saying that I think I'll drop it.

Also I've reread what you've said. Although I still have my doubts... (about the accuracy of these tendencies you speak and whether they're real or imagined) what you're saying doesn't really run completely counter to the fundamental basis of my argument. Which is that these nations aren't seperate and distinct "races" and it is impossible to tell them apart. The way I understand your position is it is possible to make an "educated guess" based on common tendencies you've noticed.

[MMM]

Thank you, Ronin4hire...I think that is a fair and agreeable compromise.

[hypekstatic]

Originally Posted by MMM

No one said they could do it 100%, and of course with younger generations and more mixing of the gene pools this may lost. Of course with interracial individuals like Crystal Kay it isn't as clear from "looks" that she is just Japanese...but it is pretty easy to tell that she is an interracial individual, wouldn't you say?

Your use of small incidents in history is a little naive, and to be frank, your tone is condescending. I suppose it is impossible to tell Africans, Native Americans, South Americans apart, too. Yup...all the same.

No one ever said anything about PURE BLOOD.

TENDENCIES! That's all that was said.

Black people have a tendency to have darker skin than white people.

"But Michael Jackson doesn't have dark skin, and he is black, so that can't be an identifying factor".

That's your logic, and it is ludicrous.

LOL. It's not MY logic... it's VIEWS.
It's to my understanding that throughout history, East Asia has alot of mixture in blood. That is why people tend to think Korean, Japanese, and Chinese people look similar whereas WHITE ethnicities tend to have more distinct physical features. You look at Irish people and they have a genetical stereotyping of being red headed, green eyed, and pale. Asians don't have that sort of distinctness, we go by what BELIEVE to be facial structure.
And I am replying to the VERY first post by the way... I don't know what you guys have been discussing throughout the thread because I haven't read it.... I'm just stating my opinion on the first person's post.

And as for Michael Jackson... well, i'm not sure what your trying to imply, because Michael Jackson did not always LOOK that way.


Please, don't confuse what I'm trying to imply. What I'm just saying is that you can't look at the features in an asian person, and assume they classify to their countries, because East Asians ALL have similar physical traits (hair, face, eyes).
I am Korean-American and people think I'm chinese or Japanese all the time. I ask them why they think I'm Japanese and they say, "it's your eyes." What about my eyes look KOREAN or JAPANESe or CHINESE? What about the physical features can people base off of to identify an ethnicity besides features that we have SEEN with our very eyes and have aknowledged.
Basically, I am AGREEING with the first poster. You cannot tell asians apart based off what we "know" from what we "see". A Japanese person could look "100% Korean" in one's eyes. That is stereotyping based off how that person "looks" and that may be ignorant, but hey. It's really not that important anyway. If you're asian, you're asian. If you're white, you're white, etc.

In any case, I don't give a crap whether people can't tell what I am, and I'm pretty white washed so I have a hard time telling Asians apart.... but why should it matter? Is it insulting if someone calls me Chinese? Why would it be? Is it insulting if someone calls me,"NORTH KOREAN" compared to South Korean? Are you kidding me? That's what we call, ignorance.

(I just wanted to debate. hahaha... not like I'm trying to create tension with anyone. I'm not saying I'm RIGHT, nor do I think I'm wrong... I'm just stating what I believe.)

[nyong]

I agree with what some of the posters have said. It depends on your level of exposure to the people.

We are used to recognize differences based on skin tone, eye color, hair color, mostly because White people have these characteristics on which we can easily recognize differences. Now East Asia (or South Asia or SE Asia or Eastern Africa, etc.) has pretty much the same level of diversity, but we are not trained to recognize those differences. A person who grew up in China could probably tell where another Chinese person comes from based on their appearance. We can't because we're used to observe other features like mentioned above.

[Sitron]

Originally Posted by Ronin4hire

I was debating with my Chinese friend who thinks that he can tell which country an Asian comes from (from physical appearance alone) because apparently he's Asian and notices the subtle differences that us White folk can't pick up on.

I completely disagreed with him and went as far as to call bullsh-t so we got into this (friendly) argument over it.

There is NO WAY that they can tell each other apart purely on physical appearance (of course I'm not talking individually). What I mean is that there is no way to distinguish a Korean from a Chinese from a Japanese. The best anyone can do (even amongst East Asians themselves) is narrow it down to a group of countries or region within Asia, but that's about it. (For example I could guess from complexion that someone is from Thailand/Phillipines/Cambodia etc rather than Japan/Korea/China etc... but I suppose even that isn't foolproof).

I mean think about it... White people (I'm white) can't distinguish visually as to whether someone is Swedish, French, German, Scottish, English etc. How is it possible for Japanese to be able to tell Koreans, Chinese apart from looks alone?

I pretty much told my friend that he was profiling according to stereotypes rather than actually noticing anything different.

What do you think? Am I right?

I can tell the difference between a Korean female and a Japanese female - EASILY.

Look.



Don't tell me you can't see who's Korean and who's Japanese.

[hadron]

Originally Posted by Sitron

Don't tell me you can't see who's Korean and who's Japanese.

Although I believe it is easy for you to distinguish the two, still I would have no clue who is who.

Anyway, these situations can be a lot of fun, like one day on the job I met a korean guy who just started on the site and when he saw me, he started to talk to me in korean language. And I said "Sorry, what did you say?" cause I didn't get a picture that time
And he said, "oh, you are not korean? I though you are korean."
Then I had to explain him, that I am slovakian, coming from the heart of Europe.
So I wonder where did he come up with the korean idea .