- Feb 22, 2012
- 10,340
- 12,209
Racism in Asia might not be as deadly as it is in the US, but it can still affect you in a frustrating way. Asian solidarity is a US thing and doesn’t exist much in Asia
My fiancé is from Indonesia but is Japanese/Chinese. East Asians live OK day to day but are heavily discriminated against when it comes to government positions, job opportunities, promotions/raises, higher up roles at companies, etc. which is why many of them just focus on opening their own businesses to get ahead. This is still better than when they were being burned to death in the 90s
My friend’s former Japanese girlfriend blew up on me because I said I thought she was Vietnamese. Apparently that was a huge insult to her because racist Japanese people consider Southeast Asians to be low class. I’ve found this to be true among racist Koreans and Chinese too. My female Vietnamese friend is engaged to a Korean dude whose family basically disowned him for getting with her
I’m half Indian and have had people do a complete 180 on me when they found out my ethnicity, going from extremely friendly to going behind my back and even telling my girl “Don’t date him, Indians are scammers and thieves” “what if you have dark kids” etc.
I’d still prefer living in many Asian cities over US cities because to me, dealing with some comments and backwards attitudes is still better than being on constant alert for people trying to murder me or my girl just for our appearance. It’s sad that’s how low the bar has gotten, and if it wasn’t for some urgent family obligations, we would’ve already packed our bags by now
Im not saying there aren’t opportunities to have a better life in Asia. I’m just saying to not simply assume that “I’m Asian so life will automatically be amazing for me anywhere in Asia”, otherwise you’ll end up like some of my friends who moved to Japan to fulfill their fantasies but ended up hating their lives there when they found out how closed off many Japanese people are to foreigners, even if they’re Asian, or how hard it is to get a well-paying job as a non native unless you are EXCEPTIONAL.
My fiancé is from Indonesia but is Japanese/Chinese. East Asians live OK day to day but are heavily discriminated against when it comes to government positions, job opportunities, promotions/raises, higher up roles at companies, etc. which is why many of them just focus on opening their own businesses to get ahead. This is still better than when they were being burned to death in the 90s
My friend’s former Japanese girlfriend blew up on me because I said I thought she was Vietnamese. Apparently that was a huge insult to her because racist Japanese people consider Southeast Asians to be low class. I’ve found this to be true among racist Koreans and Chinese too. My female Vietnamese friend is engaged to a Korean dude whose family basically disowned him for getting with her
I’m half Indian and have had people do a complete 180 on me when they found out my ethnicity, going from extremely friendly to going behind my back and even telling my girl “Don’t date him, Indians are scammers and thieves” “what if you have dark kids” etc.
I’d still prefer living in many Asian cities over US cities because to me, dealing with some comments and backwards attitudes is still better than being on constant alert for people trying to murder me or my girl just for our appearance. It’s sad that’s how low the bar has gotten, and if it wasn’t for some urgent family obligations, we would’ve already packed our bags by now
Im not saying there aren’t opportunities to have a better life in Asia. I’m just saying to not simply assume that “I’m Asian so life will automatically be amazing for me anywhere in Asia”, otherwise you’ll end up like some of my friends who moved to Japan to fulfill their fantasies but ended up hating their lives there when they found out how closed off many Japanese people are to foreigners, even if they’re Asian, or how hard it is to get a well-paying job as a non native unless you are EXCEPTIONAL.
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