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All Asians Are Alike: Difference between revisions
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The similarity in appearance between Asian cultures is sometimes taken further, to say that all Asian individuals look the same. This could be partially explained by the commonality of brown eyes and straight black hair in Asia. However, it's a psychological fact that humans have a harder time distinguishing details in faces from races that are unfamiliar to them. This trope is often turned on its head [[Played for Laughs|for comedy]] when Asian people will claim, "All [[Acceptable Ethnic Targets|white people]] look the same!"
Related to [[Did Not Do the Research]] and [[They Just Didn't Care]]. A [[Sub
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* ''[[Eastenders]]'': The Fereiras. (Granted they were South Asian but still). One member of the family had a Hindu name, another had a Muslim one. This would be the equivalent of Ross and Monica from Friends having a brother named Jamal.
* In the American version of ''[[The Office]]'' episode ''A Benihana Christmas'', Michael Scott (after several drinks) was confused as to which of the two Asian waitresses brought back from the episode's eponymous restaurant was with him. They even switch actresses when the waitresses come to the office. Michael goes as far as to mark the arm of the correct waitress with a sharpie.
{{quote| '''Michael''': "You know how all... [[Last
* ''[[The Pacific]]'': episode nine features angry confrontations over the rights of the Okinawan civilians versus the Imperial Japanese soldiers ("A Jap's a Jap!" one Marine protests).
* ''[[Lost (TV)|Lost]]'': Happens in-story several times to Sun and Jin, who are Korean. Hurley refers to them as "the Chinese people" before he learns their true nationality. A flashback to the airport reveals a white couple making a reference to ''[[Memoirs of a Geisha]]'' (Japanese) in relation to them. Also, in "This Place is Death," when Jin asks Charlotte to translate, knowing that she speaks Korean, Sawyer assumes he means Miles (Chinese) and encourages him to help, to which [[Deadpan Snarker|Miles]] replies "Dude, he's Korean, I'm from Encino."
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** Similarly, ''TIME'' magazine published "How to Tell Your Friends from the Japs" after the Pearl Harbor attack.
* When political pundit Michelle Malkin made an argument in defense of Japanese-American internment during World War II, her critics noted that, given her Malayo-Polynesian ethnicity, she might have been lumped in with Japanese-Americans herself due to this trope. Malkin is frequently the victim of racial slurs from trolls on her site, many of which involve China or Vietnam.
* The tragic murder of [
* Thienh Minh Ly, a Vietnamese American, was stabbed and killed by two white youths, one of whom wrote in his journal that he "killed a jap ..."
* Since the 9/11 attacks the number of [http://www.civilrights.org/publications/hatecrimes/arab-americans.html hate crimes against Sikhs in the US] skyrocketed in number as many Sikh immigrants from the Indian subcontinent and their families were mistaken for Arab-American Muslims and horrifically beaten. This most likely relates to clothing customs: Sikhs are required to wear a turban by the customs of their religion. Many Westerns don't know the difference between Sikhs and Arabs, and typically associate turbans with Arabs.
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* For the 2011 ''[[Green Hornet]]'' movie, The Internet Movie Database [http://www.movieline.com/2011/01/imdb-thinks-asians-are-pretty-much-interchangable.php at one point listed] Korean-American [[John Cho]] as Kato, when in fact the role was played by Taiwanese pop star Jay Chou. About 500 subsequent movie reviews have also committed the same error. Cho himself joked on [[Twitter]]: "I am beginning to suspect that I am not in the Green Hornet movie."
* Actor Daniel Dae Kim, who plays the Korean Jin on ''[[Lost]]'' reportedly said that having played characters of every Asian ethnicity except his own, it was nice to be able to play Jin.
* [
* During the bombing of Pearl Harbor, a downed Japanese pilot landed on the island of Niihau and was approached by a native Hawaiian. The pilot's first English words to the man were, "Are you Japanese?"
* During World War II, Navajo soldiers (Code Talkers and otherwise) were often deliberately assigned to units with whites. Code Talkers had bodyguards (who had orders to shoot them to prevent their capture), but ordinary Navajos were told to stick close to white people so other Americans wouldn't mistake them for Japanese (Navajos are very Asian-looking, though darker-skinned than most East Asians).
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[[Category:Did Not Do the Research]]
[[Category:Race Tropes]]
[[Category:All Asians Are Alike]][[Category:Pages with comment tags]]
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