mistaken identity?

potatoe · 1 Jun 2004

would anyone of you find it rude if you were mistaken with someone else.
say if you were japanese and someone mistakenly thought you were a chinese, is this rude or do you just ignore them,

do this commonly happen,

How can someone defy the difference a chinese and japanese person, we it comes to physical appearance.

im not trying to affend anyone but i really like to know.

Keiichi · 1 Jun 2004

I get mistakened for being Japanese pretty often (even by native Japanese people visiting here; even my brother's friend [who is local Japanese] who knows my brother pretty well and know I'm his brother thought I was Japanese... wth? *scratches head*). Oh, I'm Chinese, btw. I don't really find it offending. People do judge by looks, that's a fact. I can't really tell the difference between a Scottish, German, or Dutch or whatever nearby countries in Europe and others can't tell from Chinese, Japanese, or Korean. So I'll just tell them, and let them know they're wrong.
It can't really be described how one's physical appearance look like (down to specifics). You just see it enough and kind of get used to it. For me, living in an area with a lot of people of different (primarily Asian) ethnicities, I got used it to.

Buddha Smoker · 1 Jun 2004

I remember one time, my wife and I were visiting the States and she got mistaken for Chinese...she got really upset. But, it was mainly due to the service she got from the guy (who didn't know his job). She was mainly angry because she received the wrong coffee she ordered. I had to throw that out there

I think the longer you live in an Asian country the easier it becomes to see the differences of the Asian people. Also, on the other hand most Asian have problems identifying the other countries...alot of them automatically assume they are American or Australian. How would you feel to be mistaken for a different country?

Me, I don't care.....but it's fun to guess sometimes.

Mana · 2 Jun 2004

being a japanese living in australia, i get that alot. i get mistaken with being chinese or korean hehe and i just correct them and then they usually reply with 'they're all the same anyways'
personally i dont find it rude cos you get used to it so it doesnt really bother me

Buddha Smoker · 2 Jun 2004

Mana said:
being a japanese living in australia, i get that alot. i get mistaken with being chinese or korean hehe and i just correct them and then they usually reply with 'they're all the same anyways'
personally i dont find it rude cos you get used to it so it doesnt really bother me

But, if you call an Australian an American or Englishman then they get upset....I find that funny sometimes because Japanese don't get angry most of the time just like your saying.

But if you reply with the 'they're all the same anyways' then they get mad sometimes and tell you the difference..

Mana · 2 Jun 2004

Buddha Smoker said:
But, if you call an Australian an American or Englishman then they get upset....I find that funny sometimes because Japanese don't get angry most of the time just like your saying.

But if you reply with the 'they're all the same anyways' then they get mad sometimes and tell you the difference..

hehe true they do tell you the difference, during the first coupla times i was mistaken i used to get annoyed and tell them the difference but now...lol as i said it doesnt bother me no more

Buddha Smoker · 2 Jun 2004

Mana said:
hehe true they do tell you the difference, during the first coupla times i was mistaken i used to get annoyed and tell them the difference but now...lol as i said it doesnt bother me no more

I've seen lots of people do it...I like to watch them. It's always good for a laugh.

That's cool that it doesn't bother you...I wish more people were like that and me too.

playaa · 2 Jun 2004

It is hard to tell the difference between people that are very similar, so I think it should not be offending. The person mistaken should just correct them, now I could see if someone may be chinese and someone were to say he was Mexican, because there is no similarities, but still shouldn't get offensive unless they call you in a slang type way.

dreamer · 2 Jun 2004

lol sometimes being mistaken for another country's person can be funny
I remember when I worked part time in an asian supermarket, chinese people thought I was philipino, or the other time when this cute girl talked to me using korean lol imagine her face when she finally understood that I was chinese

Buddha Smoker · 2 Jun 2004

dreamer said:
lol sometimes being mistaken for another country's person can be funny
I remember when I worked part time in an asian supermarket, chinese people thought I was philipino, or the other time when this cute girl talked to me using korean lol imagine her face when she finally understood that I was chinese

That stuff always cracks me up... no matter how much I hear it..I still laugh.

Gaki · 2 Jun 2004

I've been mistaken for :

Korean, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, and one guy wouldnt believe me that i was pure Chinese, he said i looked half... (-_-' )

Odd thing is that i must look rather odd to get confused with all these different Asian groups, because none of them look alike really.

dadako · 2 Jun 2004

I don't think I've ever mistaken anyone... I always let them indenitfy themselves before I make any assumptions. I can usually tell by what people are wearing, hair styles. Noses are a big giveaway. After a while you can spot Japanese from Chinese and korean.

I was always asked if I was american and australian in japan. They seemed somewhat pleased that I was british, not sure why. I was ofended somewhat to be thought of as american, because most of the americans I met in Tokyo had awful fashion sense

I have been mistaken for german many many times, and skandinavian ~ because of my name and height.

When I first left Japan to live in the UK again, I'd been speaking pidgeon english for so long that when I bought some sunglasses on Oxford St in London, the guy asked me what the weather was like in Germany!

I now work in an office with about 100 european staff, not made any mistakes yet.

RockLee · 2 Jun 2004

That reminds me of a situation

when there was this woman who tried to speak Spanish to a boy....but the boy wasn't born in Spain and didn't speak spanish at all.....she got all red hahaha !! emberrasing???nooooooooooo....

moral is: sometimes don't try to be a smartass !!

Buddha Smoker · 2 Jun 2004

dadako said:
I was ofended somewhat to be thought of as american, because most of the americans I met in Tokyo had awful fashion sense

Well, if it wasn't for my wife then I probably would be one of those fashion senseless Americans... After all, most women know better

nata_no · 3 Jun 2004

I think most Japanese cant differentiate asian ppl from japanese. Whenever they see asian ppl on the street, they will assume that they are japanese.
There's one time I and my frends were shopping in a shop, and in fact we were speaking mandarin, but the shop owner asked us if we were from Osaka! :?

budd · 3 Jun 2004

kansai-ben is kinda diifferent than standard (tokyo) japanese?
then again, a japanese gentleman asked me if i was korean...

dadako · 3 Jun 2004

my last day working in london before I moved to Japan I was wished "Have a great time in hong kong!" by the boss. so its not just races people get confused with, its places too!

kirei_na_me · 3 Jun 2004

My husband gets asked, by other Asian people(usually never white people), if he's Chinese. We walk into a Chinese restaurant, they ask him if he's Chinese. We go into the Asian grocery store, they ask him if he's Chinese. I don't think he's ever been asked if he was Japanese. I don't know if it's because he looks Chinese or whether they're just assuming he's Chinese, since there's a much larger Chinese population here. Either way, he doesn't mind. He usually just laughs and explains that he's Japanese. He doesn't care at all.

Duo · 3 Jun 2004

I like to think that I can tell the difference between Chinese and Japanese. Usually when I see Asian tourists here, I think that I most of the time right in identefying wethear they are Chinese or Japanese. If i hear them talk is even much easier to tell who's who. Myself i have been mistaken to be American many times, I don't really mind, I don't think one should get upset just because someoney may innocently mistake our identity.

Buddha Smoker · 3 Jun 2004

dadako said:
my last day working in london before I moved to Japan I was wished "Have a great time in hong kong!" by the boss. so its not just races people get confused with, its places too!

That is hilarious...I love this comment. That's a new one for me..

Mana · 3 Jun 2004

i was telling my friend about this topic and she told me that there was a time when she was even asked if she was asian even though she had all the features of an asian
oh and by the way she's chinese too

Ewok85 · 3 Jun 2004

Personally I find it amusing when people try to guess my nationality, my accent is a big throwoff (londoner english or australian depending on what im stressing). But its great to meet people (especially in Japan) and be able to go "Oh, your an Aussie!!" just by hearing them speak.

Picking Aussie, American, British is as hard as Japanese, Korean, Chinese. Until you speak its a real chance thing.

aaltunn · 3 Jun 2004

hi every body....
story referring to oktay sinanoğlu...
as a new attendant at an us college... new pupils from other counties introduce themselves to the us families there....then a girl comes with an weird accent to those us families... a man cant stop himself asking if which country she was from...(well so bad english.. may be.. hmmm) well believe or not she was from new zealand (or australia??) ....

sorry a bit rude maybe...referring to Milliyet(daily) 3-6-2004 (m.asik@milliyet.com.tr)
us guy and japan gentleman:

the us guy asks: -which ese are you from?
-what??
-i mean japanese,chinese or vietnamese ??
-japanese...
-and what kind of kee ..you are??
-what??
-yankee...donkee....monkee which one??

well ... so many nations and cultures and people(s) and ONE blue globe......

mistaken identity?

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