Sunday, 11 January 2009
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I'm Japanese When I Travel
by Anne Although I'm American (Asian American more specifically), it doesn't matter where I travel to... Mexico, Germany, China, France, England, Peru, even a trip to Seattle! You name it, I'm Japanese. The only problem is... I'm not Japanese, not even ethnically. And to my knowledge, neither is anyone in my family.
-Even my best friend gets tired of being called Japanese. "Why does everyone think we're Japanese?!" she'd yell in frustration.
-"That's because you are!" I'd tell her. I'm not, but she is.
-"Oh, that's right, but still!" she'd laugh.I don't really get offended because it's understandable and sometimes it's an honest mistake. I notice a lot of Japanese travelers as well. I mean, they do travel out of their country quite a bit, but other Asians travel too.
Have you been mistaken for a different ethnic background before?
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About the Author
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- From: anne
- Name: anne
- About Me: Age: 27, Location: New York, NY Favorite places I've visited: Trick question! I've been to so many amazing places, but if I absolutely had to pick, I'd settle on a couple places to shorten the list. Madrid, Spain because that's where I did my study abroad program when I was 18 and it was there that the travel bug bit me so hard it left a scar. I haven't been the same since. And Vietnam. That's where my family is from. Although, I'm Vietnamese American, I never actually visited Vietnam until I was 26. It was an awesome experience to learn about my family's history and I was quite pleased to show off my vietnamese language skills to the locals. It's quite a big deal for an american-born.
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Comments (62)
HA! I was just talking about this to a friend today! I was in Spain, and I had lots of Spanish people greeting me in Japanese or Korean - when I'm neither. :P I'm Chinese (and non-American)!. LOL. Hilarious.
Hahahas, i do quite often. Japanese, korean, chinese<-- those are my main
I think it must happen to us all. I'm blonde haired and blue eyed and English. Everywhere I go in Europe, I'm suspected of being from another random European country. Here in the US, no one suspects I'm anything but American, even though I'm a British citizen.
Japanese!
Haha..oh yes! For the most part, most people think that I am Greek, Italian, Spanish, or Jewish.
My ethnic background is mostly Irish though. I think that I may have Spanish ancestors, but they would have been so far back that I don't think I would look like them
. Who knows? :)
No
Yes. A lot of people think I'm Puerto-Rican, Colombian, or something like that since I speak Spanish.
People have mistaken me for being Hawaiian. xP
But most people can guess I'm Filipino.Haha...I get Chinese all the time but then again, I do kinda look like I am.
Always! I'm 100% Korean, but people think I'm Chinese or sometimes mistake me for being Japanese. Now that I run for my school's cross country team over the summer in the 110 degree Las Vegas heat, I've gotten so tan that people have had mistaked me for a Filipina a few times!
weird, i'm not often mistaken for japanese, people are usually right when they peg my race (chinese)... the usa is such a melting pot that people don't notice your ethnicities as much as they will in other places. although i'm a bit surprised at seattle - my friend is from there and she says there's a pretty significant chinese population up there. makes sense to me - there's a huge chinatown in vancouver which is practically right across the border
I'm Arabian, but I've gotten mistaken for Mexican, Indian, Hawaiian, Spanish, Greek, "Jewish" - which I will admit is all due to my wonderfully inherited Lebanese nose -.- (even though Lebanese and Israeli/Jews can definitely tell the difference haha. It's cute), and also every-other-nationality-that-is-typically-dark-haired-and-slightly-tan.
I worked at a restaurant and there was a Mexican guy that started speaking Spanish to me. Then he saw the look on my face and asked, "Where are you from? You look Mexican."
hahahaha...
Except in the airport... where every nationality that I have been mistaken for, has the misfortune of being mistaken for being an Arab. Then searched. Yay?
Haha, yes I've been thought to be a Filipino.
My roommate thought I was of Latin descent, though I am just tan. :P
Yes! Oh gosh. I've gotten part Hispanic and Filipino.
That's just a tad bit off of Chinese/Viet! Lol
i often get asked if i'm from india.
i don't go on trips or anything, but when i meet new people, they look at me with a "question" look on their face... which usually leads to "no offense, but what are you?"
i'm half white/half puerto rican. my mom jokes that obviously, they took the wrong kid home. so there's an indian family with a half puerto rican girl, aha
on my way to China, everyone in HK assumed i was ethnically Chinese (good assumption; though i'm Canadian) and spoke Chinese to me. but after spending 5 weeks in China, on my way home, everyone in HK assumed i was Filipino. i guess i tanned a lot.
however, that being said, everywhere in North America, everyone assumes i'm Korean. go figure.
i'm filipino.
i often get mistaken as korean, the most. often i've found myself being spoken to in korean.
i've gotten mistaken as japanese and chinese before too.
some people get offended by the ignorance of people and their lack of knowledge for culture. but hey, it can be hard for some. and i take it as a compliment actually, getting mistaken for such nationalities x]. but i love my pinoys #1 of course.
everyone calls me polish, and get confused by my italian last name. I mean, I am a little polish, but I'm more italian and irish than anything!
I'm spanish, but one time, I got mistaken for Thai :S
When I lived in the states, I was constantly mistaken for being of mediterranean ancestry (mostly Italian or Greek). True, my mother is partially Italian, but I am the only one of my family to have such dark features and olive skin. (I even have a twin who does not have such European features!)
Now I am living in France, and everyone thinks I am native French. I guess it's understandable, as I don't have the typical "American" look, but it's still odd, especially when I was mistaken for something completely different back home.
Funny how we are perceived by other people, according to where we go and how we look.
I'm Italian and Russian, and I certainly look it. Yet one summer while I was at a beach in my hometown, this girl who must have been 8 or 9 comes running up to me and yells, "Oh my gosh, are you Chinese?!" I'll never understand.
my husband gets mistaken for native american all the time even though he black/mexican with chavez as a last name
I live in the South and a lot of people think I am a Yankee. Just because I dropped my southern accent in favor of the most general (and more intelligent sounding) mid-western.
People think I'm Korean, even though I'm actually Filipino. I think it's 'cause of how I'm light-skinned and whatnot.