Japanese woman who lived in LA

[dksoulstice]

This is pretty embarrassing when you realize there's this place in LA called *KOREATOWN*

[Dflowen]

American friend asking a Japanese abroad person, read this Chinese for me on this Soju Korean product. 😂.

[gigif]

It's not only Asians. I'm from Trinidad & Tobago, which apparently is part of Jamaica or located near Hawaii for many Americans. 😕🇹🇹

[chan.username]

I wrote something in French on a white board and a friend walked in and said ‘…german, ’ I agree that we can be better educated on the difference between Asian cultures but I think that can be said for most cultures

[VibronicCow]

When I was living in Florida 2 people asked me what language we speak in Australia 😂😂 why is my English so good 🤔

[moolikethecow]

it’s a big country. depends on where in the states you are. I’m disappointed by LA though it’s literally the closest to Asia and has loads of Asian immigrants 🤦🏾‍♂️

[maddiek]

From my experience working in Korea and Japan, they had no clue about anything outside their own countries. If you’re white, you’re American. Full stop.
As a white Zimbabwean, I could not get them to understand my identity at all. When I talked about Africa, people would only say that it must be dirty and backward.
I grew up in a racist culture and have been shocked at the open racism and ignorance in many parts of Asia.
It is a universal problem.

[missb]

Unfortunately we in the US are taught mostly about the US. We really are not taught too much about other cultures or languages in detail. We just scratch the surface here. Even world history teaches about history that really mostly impacted the US. Thats the way it is.

[lakmalvidu]

Japanese culture is so pure and full of dignity. I'm Sri Lankan. I respect my ancient history but not many people stick to our ways . I wish my people loved our history as Japanese love their culture.

[mariianar]

Lol people from the usa sometimes are also like this with latin America. Sometimes it feels like some only see México, Brazil and Argentina lol

[victoralmanza]

Very positive outlook !!!! Thank you. 🫶🏼🇺🇸

[LeftThumbBreak]

I guarantee the same thing happens between all sorts of cultures from all sorts of different countries. I seriously doubt most japanese would know the difference between Spanish and Italian writing. Besides that comparing Katakana to Korean characters I can totally understand someone getting mixed up, from anywhere.

[dksoulstice]

From my experience, the average American knows next to nothing about Asian people or telling them or their languages apart.



There's the old joke on how Asian people all look the same, but anyone who actually knows Chinese, Korean, or Japanese people will know that this is far from the case (There are some rare exceptions where a person might be able to blend into one group or other, but the vast majority of Japanese don't look remotely Korean, Chinese, and vice-versa).

[sulliandwhatnot]

True but unpopular opinion maybe:

As an American I can easily say ALOT of us don’t really gaf about speaking or learning about Asia as much as we care to talk about anything else. Unless you’re Asian it’s just not really on our radar, being any other race unless your BIG on their culture and entertainment

[arep]

The thing is japanese isn't any better. Majority of them only know one language which is japanese, and the only culture they know is japanese culture

[Utriedit]

A lot of Asian ppl think that Africa is a country So I guess the same can be said about them

[alisonmillard]

I recall my first interaction with a US Fed-Ex driver delivering a package to me from London (when I had literally just moved to the US from London, England). He asked me, “what language do they speak in London?” 😂😂😂😂 I almost died laughing. The ignorance is just on another level in the US

[JoeJacobsonJr]

I miss Japan, it was so beautiful, the people were friendly and we did a lot of partying. Roppongi was the place to be at night.

[leodouskyron]

Depends on who too. Long story incoming but I promise it is on point with this topic.

I am a “black” guy and when training a person in a garage job the guy (white if it matters to you) saw a East Asian person and said “I am not trying to be racist but they all look alike so what do you tell cops if a guy like that to a you.”

I told him “remember clothing and the man you are talking about is Korean”

The guy told me I can’t know that and bet me a soda that I was stupid because how could I know.

When the man drive out I apologized and told him that I was trying to prove a point to the guy that East Asian don’t look alike and asked him politely if he was Korean.

He was.

I explained to both that growing up I had a Chinese and Korean friend so I very much could tell most of the time (I did not explain that there are a lot of groups of Chinese). And told my trainee everyone is different and it is always better to ask then assume.

[lz.leigh]

Wait, she's from Love Transit!!! ♥