Facial Structure Recognition
Here’s a somewhat controversial question (depending on who you ask it to): Can you tell someone’s “race” by looking at their facial structure? That is to say could you tell the difference between, for example, a native Japanese / Korean / Chinese person just by looking at their face?
- A local geographic or global human population distinguished as a distinct group by genetically transmitted physical characteristics.
- A group of people united or classified together on the basis of common history, nationality, or geographic distribution.
This is a question which I’ve found occasionally comes up in conversation with both Asian and non-Asian friends and I’ve never heard a definitive answer. To the latter group Asians generally tend to “look the same” (which will undoubtedly get you in trouble) while for the former it’s less clear cut ~ some people claim they can while others say it’s impossible. A quick Google search confirms that there are a variety opinions in both directions and there are even whole sites dedicated to the subject.
I scratched my head about this for a long while thinking that logically if a group of people come from the same hereditary genetic pool, based in a semi-enclosed geographical location with a shared heritage of thousands of years, then surely wouldn’t they end up with some similar physical characteristics which would be reliably identifiable, at least for a high percentage of the population?
As per the example here’s my rather un-scientific theory based on morphological observation:
Photo by Ernesto JT
Japanese people tend to have a longer / oval facial structure with wider / larger eyes and more pronounced noses. Japanese women often put on thick makeup giving them a pale white complexion.
Photo by Kam
Chinese people tend to have rounder faces than both Korean and Japanese people. China is a huge multi-ethnic country unlike Korea and Japan (which are more ethnically homogeneous) making it much harder to differentiate or generalize.
Photo by Dax Melmer
Korean people tend to have flatter faces with higher / squarer cheek bones and smaller eyes with single eyelids (opposed to double). A high proportion of Korean women have had cosmetic surgery somewhat confusing things.
Although I’ve found the above a fairly reliable definition trying to guess based on facial structure alone seems to be pretty hit-and-miss in reality. The success rate greatly increases when you included other observable indicators such as name, language, behavior, hairstyle and clothing. According to more scientific studies both East Asians and Caucasians are more easily identifiable by facial features than others.
Failing all that you could just ask which is probably a safer bet than trying to guess and risk upsetting anyone!
Can you tell the difference? (Note: any racist comments will be deleted).
Related posts:
i found Korean is not beautiful.the artist had a cosmetic surgery which made them more beautiful.Japaness have a nice figure.
which one do you prefer?
Hi Florance, I think you’ve missed the point here. This was not about who is the most beautiful but whether you can tell apart different races by facial structure.
Really, I always though Japanese have more plastic surgery than Korean to look more like Caucasian type. Real data: http://www.1000looks.com/wordpress/?p=180
TOP 5 Plastic surgery in Asia 2008:
1. Japan (42,842 procedures)
2. Taiwan (10,042 procedures)
3. South Korea (9,540 procedures)
4. Hong Kong (5,056 procedures)
5. India (2,259 procedures)
by per population ratio:
1. Hong Kong (7 million)
2. Taiwan (22 million)
3. Japan (127 million)
4. Korea (48 million)
so r u saying that Japanese are prettier then Koreans???
and the reason is that Japanese do more surgeries then South Koreans?????
In my opinion I think whether your Japanese or South Korean they both look pretty , and beautiful.
Well not sure about Koreans, but you are kind of right about facial structures of Chinese and Japanese. And just for my information, where did you get the pictures from, especially the Japanese and Chinese
?
I found them on Flickr by searching for Creative Commons licensed photos. You can click on them for more
I agree with what you said. Someone here said the Chinese woman looks more like Japanese, but just like you mentioned, Chinese people are hard to tell apart, because they have stretched eyes like the picture, but so does Japanse, making the Chinese looking similar with both Korea and Japan. And remind me if I’m incorrect, but isn’t the asian genetic pool originally generated from Chinese people? Maybe that’s why Chinese looks similar with both countries…
I think there is one other difference, Japanese have thin and long necks.
Now that you point it out, yeah, I can tell the difference! It’s much easier to tell from how their text looks than it is from their faces.
You mean written alphabet?
Yeah, just that. The Koreans use more circles and the Chinese alphabet is more cramped.
i’m sorry about that.when talking Korean’s appearance ,girls will discuss about that.
the differences you have pointed out
I have never met a Japanese or a korean in my daily life,i just learn about them from the media.I agree with ur point and the pictures you choose about them are representative images.
In my opinion,both Japanese and korean women won’t meet anyone before they make up their face.Japanse would like to wear heavliy makeup(geisha),and korean would like to wear natural makeup.
As to chinese,i totally agree with ur viewpoint.
But i don’t think the picture of chinese you choose is a typical chinese girl.
Yes, some other people commented that perhaps she is not a good example of typical Chinese face. Do you have a better example?
As a Chinese, I don’t agree with this.
The first pic is not a typical Japanese women look, she is a model with at least a nose job and lips injection, most likely eyelid cut open job too, look harder you can see the color contact lens which they often wear to make eyes look bigger.
The second pic, even I thought she is Japanese, that is just not a typical Chinese look, so Chinese wouldn’t be my first guess.
The third pic, however, looks like a Chinese women, but the nose job made me believe that she is more likely a Korean. Nose job is very popular in Korea, I can easily tell a fake nose from a real one (asian only though).
Hi Jing, thanks for your comment. I think this just proves that it’s very hard to find suitable “representative” pictures as everyone has different perceptions of what is typical. I would however say that the everyone who has commented on the pictures correctly identified the third as Korean and not Chinese. Can’t say I know how to tell a fake nose from a real one (how??)
Sometime it’s easy to tell by face,include Thailand and the Philippines.Singapore,not easy to tell.Most of times need to see how they behave,the way they talk etc.
Hey,why you are interested in Asian girls,hehe?
Next time write about Asian guys facial structure or westerns.
Lively discussion.
I never knew there were such descriptions attached to “race”. I just “know” who is who, after living here for four years.
Someone can walk into a restaurant and I know he/she is Japanese. Hearing Japanese confirms my guess. Walking through the Luo Hu Border I can name the Asian nationalities with a glance: Japanese, Korean, Fillipino, Thai, etc.
My explanation for this incredible ability is this: Shenzhen is a melting pot, not the American definition, but a Chinese melting pot. People from all over the Middle Kingdom call Shenzhen home. Seeing all the different types of Chinese faces, day in and out, has made it easier to pick out a face that is different.
Good point but can you distinguish people from different parts of China? I think that’s probably a lot harder harder.
Yes, more difficult. It is easier to place people based on their accented Mandarin than by their appearance. That said, Guangdong people have similar features, as do Northerners. Many men from Xinjiang look like middle-easterners.
Hard, yes, but not impossible.
David,
very interesting article. I will definitely refer my friends to your opinions next time this topic comes up again. However, I disagree with your comments of Japanese having “wider / larger eyes”. It might be true in Animes or in movies, but in real life I haven’t come to the same conclusion as yours. Below are some links I found on photos.com. These models look Japanese to me and they have minimal make-ups on.
–> http://www.photos.com/en/search/close-up?eqvc=349944&oid=11673332
–> http://www.photos.com/en/search/close-up?eqvc=1013531&oid=11585116
–> http://www.photos.com/en/search/close-up?eqvc=1876189&oid=12914358
–> http://www.photos.com/en/search/close-up?eqvc=1773822&oid=13017485
Personally I think Japanese have relatively shorter distance b/t 2 eyes. Of coz it is a different story when they put make-ups on…
Thanks for the links Hu.
I agree that those photos are probably better representations but I still tend to think that the eyes are wider when compared with Korea / China. I could be completely wrong though, it’s just a general impression and there will always be exceptions.
To at least this “Caucasian”, Japanese seem more likely to have nose bridges; the men more likely to have facial hair. Chinese generally appear more sallow than Koreans, and often seem to have bushier hair. The Korean eye is generally though by no means always more almond-shaped; Korean men’s faces seem somewhat squarer than those of Chinese men. Korean women here in the US tend to perm their hair, whereas Chinese women generally do not, though this may reflect class differences more than anything else.
The supposed “craze” among some Eastasians for plastic surgery to widen the eyes and fill out nose bridges is a source of mystification for many Caucasians, this one included, who find the almond-shaped eye and tiny nose infinitely more attractive than the Caucasoid inheritances in those departments; intermarriage rates bear this out.
Hi, im 17 and go to an all girl school in Australia in which many asian girls attend, boarding here until school holidays when they sometimes return to their families in their home countries. Anyway I’ve become really close friends with alot of them, and I am particularly knowledgeable on the Korean (South Korea) facial features. The image you have posted of the Korean girl really does match the typical description of all the Korean girls I know, it is true that the face is more flat, higher cheek bones etc. If you look at the Korean celebrity Lee Hyori (singer), you can see that she may have had some cosmetic surgery on her nose, as my korean friends all have wider, slightly flatter noses. Also, my closest Korean friend hates to be in public without makeup, though she does come to school without it. She wears the contact lenses that the Japanese girl is wearing in the photo, which are brown (who knows why!!) and she also wears black ones! And it is true that the Koreans perm their hair, even here in Australia. Asians seem to prefer a fair skintone rather than the highly sought after tanned skin that many caucasians desire, as my Chinese friend asked me if I had an umbrella on a sunny day, which I didn’t. Korean girls are very fashionable and even seem to be a step ahead of the fashion in Australia sometimes, and they all tell me they buy their clothes in Korea. They are big on beauty and fashion, and are quite beautiful girls! My Dad has also been to Japan, and says the women there are very beautiful and glamorous, probably more like what Australia and the US sees as more attractive, as opposed to the Chinese women in their countries (not intended to sound offensive there, i love Chinese girls!) But of course this is probably jut due to the western idea of beautiful. So yeah sorry to write a novel here!!
http://www.shenyuepop.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/lee_hyori_preview.jpg
aslo there is the link of Lee Hyori (pronounced ee-hyoree)
Bulgogi Bob & Lauren – thanks for your comments! I’m fascinated to hear what other people think. It does appear that there are some common threads to the discussions but it becomes more clear that you cannot rely purely on facial structure alone.
yeah i could totally tell the difference!! specially the korean and japanese.. the chinese is harder to tell.
you are all wrong. how can you have an average face of any nationality? what is the ‘average american face’? britney spears? do all white women look like damn britney spears? and what is the deal with everyone exaggerating about plastic surgery in korea? how many of you have you actually been to korea? 90% of every day korean women have not had any type of plastic surgery. the numbers are all hyped up..its like saying all american girls have had boob jobs. get real..
America was built on immigration so has a far high diversity that Korea / Japan.
“By conservative estimates, 50% of South Korean women in their 20s have had some form of cosmetic surgery” –
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/4229995.stm
Hi David,
one thing I would like to clarify is the racial diversity amongst the Chinese is very great, which you have stated before, so generalizing the facial structure of the Chinese would be near impossible. However your description on Korean and Japanese facial features were spot on, thank you for sharing this.
平和
Thanks for your comment Fujita
Honestly, I somewhat disagree with your conclusions with the Japanese and Chinese. The Japanese woman posted here hardly looks like the average Japanese woman. I believe Japanese women tend to have flatter noses as opposed to pronounced ones. A lot of Japanese women look like the second picture posted, in my opinion. But then again,I’m no anthropologist. I strongly disagree with the Chinese facial features because China is more ethnically diverse than racially. I think the reason why people tend to think Chinese tend to have more rounder faces is because the south Chinese came overseas first. The people from the north(like myself) tend to be paler and taller with more angular and square faces, projecting noses along with smaller eyes. Somewhat like Koreans almost. Southern Chinese may have these features too, but from experience traveling abroad, they sometimes look like Southern Japanese or Vietnamese people. They have rounder faces, larger eyes, broader noses, darker skin and more like the average Chinese in the US.
Sorry if none of this makes no sense. I get really annoyed when people think that all Chinese have a standard look for such a diverse country.(The “are you Korean?” gets really annoying, even from Koreans). Eh, what can i say I’m only in 10th grade.
Omg, i totally agree with you. I’m in 10th grade also!..but i live in Canada. I’m not a mandarin asian ( i don’t know where that’s from) but my parents are the Hong Kong kind. We tend to be shorter, more round-faced, bigger eyes, wider/flatter noses i guess. mandarin people are taller, smaller eyes, higher noses and a more defined face.
i disagree with you, david, on the japanese and chinese face. the korean one is quite too though, with the cheekbones and all. but japanese people actually have single eyelids, and their eyes are definitely not big. i understand where you get that from though–90 percent of japanese celebs have had plastic surgery, mostly on the eyes (to make them huge) and nose. if you’re talking about naturally bigger eyes, i’d go with chinese/korean celebs.
please also include vietnamese one too. The only way I could tell is the tan. I don’t know vietnamese’s structure and would like to know!
i think the 3rd pic looks like a Mongolian lady….btw there all lovely examples of the beautiful Asian lady.
I would say you can sometimes tell the difference if you know the general characteristics of people with origins in certain locations. This is no different then being able to tell if someone has english/german/irish/russian/etc ancestry. However this only works if the person fits the stereotypical characteristics.
I must say those three woman are incredibly beautiful.
I’m Chinese and I think it is generally agreed, where I came from anyway, that Japanese have narrower and longer eyes than most Chinese.
Also, I agree with Jin, that the 2nd lady looks more Japanese than Chinese.
Not trying to be racist in ANY way, but I do think that it is rude to say that Koreans are ugly because they have plastic surgery, but I’ve noticed it is generally only the stars who tend to have suregery, just lke ANY OTHER country, so I’m not sure why korea is accused of doing so, it is only the famous people who easily get greedy and affect their faces, but isn’t that the same with Japan, China, or any other nation? Why is korea targeted in this point of view? (And I personally think that Japanese and Korean people somehow look similar)
i agree with you too, i’m not trying to be mean, but actually Japan has the most plastic surgery…
I agree with you that there are lot of rude people on the web (and everywhere). Not only rude but also ignorant, they love to stereotype and are not embarrassed to show their stupidity. I disagree with the comments in this thread about Korean people. I wonder if the people who left the ignorant comment about the Koreans, have ever seen Korean children. The majority are beautiful and talented. Are they going to say these kids had plastic surgery too? There many beautiful Koreans and they were beautiful growing up too. There is a very small number of people who had gone through plastic surgery, compared with other nations. But, they looked a lot better before the surgery, in my opinion.
The women shown in this thread are not equally compared. It should have been compared with model to model and ordinary people to ordinary people. Even if this, still you can’t tell what kind of look may fall into which country. Trying to figure out a norm for an ethnic by looking at these three people is ridiculous. In order to make that kind of conclusion, it needs lots of peopling.
That makes sense because I had trouble telling apart the koreans and japanese people at my school. They were foreign exchange students. This page helped a lot. Thanks.
I’m currently researching this topic as part of my Asian Goddess painting series. Hundreds of years ago this topic might have been easier to define, but with the various Asian cultures merging through the advancement of transporation, it becomes more difficult since their heritage might span a couple different ethnic backgrounds. Either way, the discussion points are definitely interesting to read through.
Good point Natalie. I suppose in another 100 years things will be even less clear. Good luck with your research.
Bonjour!
Hello people, this is a real kool subject, I was just randomly searching through the internet as I was bored and wide awake. Well the descriptions are pretty interesting, the first picture posted I think, she looked very Japanese. As my old Japanese friend looked alot like her! However, you can get Chinese girls looking similar to her with the long face, long neck and pronounced nose, very stunning, such as my old brothers ex, she was very very pretty.
Second pic, hmmm I thought she was very Japanese instead of Chinese because even though some Japanese girls are stereotyped to have round faces, there are Japanese girls with very round heads, such as my friends old ex. And she had very small eyes, so the double or single eyelid thing, it really depends if your lucky and blessed with big eyes or not. And do bare in mind, there is “Eyetalk,” originated from Japan which gives u a double eyelid and makes your eyes seem bigger.
Korean people, I’m not so sure I haven’t met many but they have a similar look to Japanese, very pretty people. Umm….sometimes they can have very round faces or even long or oval. So not so sure. But do remember, we are all neighbors and I think what a previous person said was right. Originally we did come from the same gene pool so we are alike but because of environment we slightly adjust.
I am Chinese myself, not exactly blessed with beautiful looks but rather average. Some people mistake for my race and sometimes people don’t. I have a very flat face, I swear I look like a pancake side ways because I have no cheeks! I kinda have big eyes but I have a single lid but I use “Eyetalk” myself for a double eyelid look. My nose is big lol. So overall, I think it depends what you look like and there is no typical general look.
Enjoyed the discussion. I’m an American who has not travel to Asia, but have worked with both Chinese, and Japanese people here in the States. ( My best friend in College was a first generation American from China ( Family name Eng) I’ve noticed it not so much physical appearance but the way different people carry themselves and their manners which helps me identify the differences. I have found the Chinese people, once they know and trust you, to be very warm and make faithful friends, while the Japanese have great manners but remain somewhat aloft.
I’m a Redheaded American and when I travel to Europe it seems I have a sign hanging around my neck saying I am an American. I believe we just walk differently than our European cousins.
This may sound racist but.. I agree completely. Chinese –> round faces, big nose, yellower skin. Japanese –> pronounced facial features, pale white foundation, angular (sometimes oblong) faces. Koreans –> big square faces, flat nose, small eyes (relative to Chinese & Japanese).
Of course these are rough generalisations, but they’re very true from what I’ve observed. I’m Chinese, and I have a stereotypical round face & big nose. Btw, I’m very sure your second picture is Japanese. You might wanna change it
Hello I just wanted to put my opinion here too
. First off bobster have you ever been in a history class or even an English class for that matter? “American” is a Nationality but not an Ethnicity! The only race that comes from America are technically the Native Americans before we harshly took their land, they are “the face” of America! If you are not Native American then your ethnicity comes from your ancestors in Europe or wherever they hail from since most Americans are IMMIGRANTS! Henceforth you mainly pick up traits from France, England, Ireland, Scotland, or Germany. The US is a melting pot so you can’t “stereotype” a person like “Britney Spears” and say she’s “stereotype” American. Hopefully I wont get a virus for typing her name into my computer (ha-ha) but most sources say she’s English and Italian personally I’m American but my ETHNICITY is 1/3 of each-Mongolian English and Irish. So I believe you need to invest in a dictionary before recommending someone as a poster child for you when their heritage more then likely isn’t similar to your own. Anyways my Nai Nai is from Taiwan, but I’m Mongolian…. long story. As a baby she could call me her own (very irritating to my mother) but as I grew it became apparent that my facial structure IS different from hers, even though to the common eye we appear similar. Her face is smaller then mine and while mine is more rounded hers is more defined. Also my cheek bones although high on my face rise more towards the edge of my eyes where hers sit more beneath giving her a rounder face and mine more heart shaped. My cheeks are also redder then hers. Also this may seem strange but although my lips themselves are very small circular and full, my mouth itself i.e. jaw bone is a dead give away it is larger and so are my teeth also the shape of my teeth are different, my Nai Nai pointed out that last part to me. It’s very easy to tell the difference between races but only if you study them or have an actual interest. When my fiancé and I first met he found it irritating that I pointed out to him that the majority of the people working at his favorite Japanese restaurant were actually Korean. Since then he has grown accustomed to me being able to differentiate between people’s origins. Although complicated to notice from looking ABOVE the skin if you are really interested in this subject I recommending taking some type of human archeology course or forensic science course at the college you attend. By looking at the skeletal structure you will be able to tell the difference. Just please don’t get mad when your mid terms are on being able to recognize the different ethnicity’s of a few different skulls.
Sorry if I Rambled a Little. I know the whole nationallity ethnicity thing is complicated but sorry ive been up all night and done feel like writing a full paper on the diffrence
For Korean women most have small short noses that are round at the tip
Yeah sure. You know most Korean women right?
See now, this is the joy of being Filipino. I get to be Asian, and it’s quite easy for most people to recognize me correctly as such. Only those who are blatantly ignorant or intentionally cruel ask me if I am related to one of my friends who is Korean. We look nothing alike. I myself have a slight initial difficulty in deciphering race, probably due to having lived in the states and not having spent a large amount of time around many other Asian ethnicites, but I can usually figure it out within a few minutes of talking to the person. If not, I ask. Simple as that.
I watched news about the plastic surgery in China. The China has extremely high numbers of plastic surgeries especially among graduates – both high school and collages who are looking for work. They believe pretty face would help to win over a job competition. Most of them desire to have westerners look. Some of the Chinese employers were openly saying, they would rather hire better looking people. I was shocked to hear even high school graduates having plastic surgeries to just to land a lower level job. Chinese are not only having lots of plastic surgery to compete in their job market, they have higher number of doing limb lengthening (a hight lengthening to become tall) at very cheap price. Many Chinese movie stars and ordinary people have done such surgeries.
Hi guys! The 2nd pic you posted looks like Japanese while the last one for me looks like a typica Chinese girl. By the way, people seem to have a difficult time telling as to whether I’m Chinese, Taiwanese, Korean, Viet, Japanese or even ARAB! That’s why they call me “diverse”. I live in the Philippines so my nationality is Filipino but my mom is a mix of Taiwanese and Mexican and Dad is Spanish-Filipino. I dont get it why they would always mistake me for Korean or other asian races. I have a strong Hispanic blood but why do I look Asian??!! I feel sad and lonely since I don’t look like my siblings or parents. People even tell me that I’m just an adopted child from a Japanese widow!! I know however that mom & dad are my real parents. I wish I could have looked more Filipino so that no one could’ve made fun of me at school. Anyway, these are the strange things I’ve got.
- My Arabic star name “Alkaid (Leader in Arabic)”
- My middle name “Uy (Pronounced Wee & means Yellow in Chinese)”
- My surname “Solano (South wind in Spanish)”
- My nickname “Kaito (Derived from alKAIDO & means Dipper in Japanese)”
- skin color = yellowish & a bit reddish
- eyes = small like Koreans
- nose = typical Chinese/Taiwanese nose
- lips = normal (not too thick/too thin)
trivia: My Arabic name Alkaid and Japanese nickname Kaito correspond to the constellation “Eta Ursae Majoris” where Alkaid is in the Big Dipper formation called “Kaito”. Confusing isnt it?
I speak Filipino (Tagalog, Visayan), English, lil Nihongo and Fukien. I understand and speak basic Spanish too.
All of these factors contribute to my diversity. But I just hate it cuz I feel like I don’t belong in any group of people.. It’s so sad..
Thanks for you comment Kaito – sounds like you have a fascinating background! I wish I could speak so many languages.
As the saying goes “home is where the heart is”
You’re welcome, David. I do believe in that saying too!
Uniqueness in this country is a lil tricky. People outside would think of diff things about you esp when you look diff. My best budd who is Amerasian (American-Asian) said: “They laugh at us because we look different, We laugh at them cuz they all look the same!”
I love Filipinos and ofcourse the Philippines even though some of them can be racist. Oh, and Philippines is one of the most diverse or multi-racial country mybe that’s why we have lotsa racist here.. However, not all of them are like that.. Most Filipinos are really patient & friendly too.. And my Filipino heart belongs to the nicer ones..
Now, Im starting to appreciate myself cuz being unique is what best defines me! ^_^
I’ve also noticed that Chinese people tend to have narrower eyes and flatter noses than the other Asian types. I actually think the ‘ethnic group’ that has the most pronounced facial differences are Australians/New Zealanders. There is a certain face type that is very common there that is not found in other countries, with corse features, large mouth, and squarish jaw. I’ve always found the different facial features that crop up in countries to be fascinating- this is a nice article for reference!
Thanks for your comment Scottie – interesting point about about Australians/New Zealanders, I hadn’t noticed before. What I wrote here is definitely not definitive but clearly people have strong opinions!
hi,David
i am come from Nagoya,Japan
i have ever been to China for one time,i see a lot of Chinese have lighter skin than the Japanese,the Japanese have red mixed yellow skin it is pinkish skin and oval and broader facial their nose are prominent,the Chinese have flatter nose.A lot of Japanese people have slender and long finger.The Japanese eye have eye back and their outer is downward.
if you have question send E-mail to me hikari_sachiko@live.com
Thanks for your comment Fujiwara – I think what you’ve said pretty much matches my impressions also but interesting what you mentioned about skin colour which is something I didn’t consider. In China skin colour varies dramatically from very dark to very pale I guess somewhat depending on the climatic conditions.
I work in a prominent Asian airline that employs natives of all three of these nationalities.. we operate flights to all 3 countries regularly.. and I can tell you that it’s completely futile to guess where these girls are from just by their facial structures and features. Japanese girls don’t necessarily have the smallest faces or put on the most make-up.. you’d be hard-pressed to find Chinese girls with round faces; you’d probably spot those in equal proportion on both Chinese and Japanese routes.. and the Korean girls, geez it’s hard to figure out what they originally looked like but the ones who sport squarer/stronger jaws usually turn out to be Korean.
As for me.. I’ve had Japanese passengers ask my supervisor if I was Japanese because they didn’t believe I wasn’t, Chinese passengers frequently give me looks of disbelief when I can’t speak their language, and Koreans too – although they usually seem less offended at the thought that I’m not Korean after all.
Heck even back in my home country, no one ever guesses I’m local. I just have to be.. Korean.. or Japanese, or half-Japanese.. or Eurasian. Or something. And you folks on the other side wonder why you’re having such a hard time figuring out where we’re from.
We laugh about it all the time!
Having said that.. the main difference is definitely in grooming, followed by how these girls carry themselves.. the rest is pure perception, man. Def not a subject worth sweating over.
Definitely. I think I agree with pretty much all you said. I think Koreans are the easiest since they tend to not mix. The flat face & pronounced cheek bones is a definite giveaway. Eyes too. FOr the white folk who really like that “asian” look, Koreans have the thin slanted eyes more than Chinese or Japanese.
In my experiences, it’s definitely easier to figure out whether someone is Korean or Japanese as opposed to Chinese or Japanese. I am of the Chinese descent, and it has always been hard for someone to figure out what race I was by looking at me even when that person was Chinese as well. I’ve gotten Japanese when I visited Hong Kong. A Chinese waiter thought I was Vietnamese. When I was in New York City’s Chinatown, a little old Chinese lady thought I was mix. None of these people knew I was Chinese until I spoke to them in Cantonese(one out of over 500 different dialects) Japanese, Korean or any other Asian background I feel, tend to have a more distinctive feature to determine what that person is. Chinese on the other hand, has so many sub-races that there is nothing really to base it on unless you knew a person from each part of China. Therefore, I think it is easier to just ask, because with your luck they might just be half Chinese and half Korean
I disagree with you completely about what you said about chinese.chinese from different places look different.most chinese from my school has angular sharp faces big eyes and small and sharp nose.the second picture actually does not look like a chinese.it looks more of a japanese due to the eyes.
Interesting….well first of all, I’m korean. Both of my parents are korean too. My dad has a monolid but has a very light skin, he even had a light brown hair as a child too. Now, my mom has big doublelid eyes, but has a rather darker skin.
I, myself got my dad’s gene the most, so I have a rather light skin, monolid[but my eyes aren't that small....well at least with makeup lol] which looks like cat’s eye….some people actually asked me if I was Japanese when I had my bang straight cut, straightened my hair, and had a makeup on. It was interesting how people confused me with ethnicity when I had a make up on[even among koreans.....] Hahaha. But without the make up, I look like average korean girl with glasses…lol
I might have to disagree with you on this. I haven’t noticed these characteristics of the different races, and I live in an extremely densely populated area of California. Almost all my friends are Asian – mainly Chinese, but some Korean and Japanese girls as well. I have a round face, a squished down nose, and squinty eyes, and I’m Japanese. One of my best friends, who is Chinese, has large eyes (much larger than most Caucasians) and a thin face. She hasn’t done any cosmetic surgery either – she’s fourteen, and I’ve known for the last few years. Being able to tell the difference between different Asian races through clothing, names, mannerisms, etc., might be applicable in Asian, but not in the “white-washed” community that I live in. I honestly think that, for most people, it is fairly impossible to have even marginal success when trying to guess if a person is Korean, Japanese, or Chinese. When in doubt, I pretty much always assume that an Asian is Chinese, as they do have a fifth of the world’s population.