The title is shit and confusing, so let me explain.

I’m a white latin american who lives in a latin american country, so in my environment there is very few asian people, in fact, in my region there is so few asians that if there is one in a friend group, they will automatically be “El chino” or “La china”.

Anyway, I understand there is a phenomenon that when ur not used to hang out with people from other races, you might see people from other specific race as “they look the same”. This is part of the reason why so many people in this part of the world thinks that “asians look the same” when that is absolutely not true. It might also happen that some asians also think all white people look the same. And yeah, in a limited genetic pool, many people will look similar.

Anyway, I like asian media and I consume Jpop, Kpop, and I’m starting to try and get into watching more dramas. The thing is when I face the “they look similar” barrier so I have a hard time differentiating people.

I can identify well for example the Black Pink girls, GIDLE girls, Mamamoo, half of the BTS members, etc, just to give you an idea, but sometimes I’m stuck playing a game of “Oh, this is X? No, I think that’s actually Y, nah, I’m wrong, really is Z”.

Is kinda stressful sometimes, not being able to differentiate people in dramas or groups and trying to hang on certain identifiable features to do not get me lost.

Is there a way to kinda “train” myself into identifying Asian people and differentiating them better?

I hope this post doesn’t sound racist, is not my intention at all. I’m just looking for some advice. Thanks.

  • Skull giver@popplesburger.hilciferous.nl
    2·
    1 year ago

    I’m whits and I saw a meme video about someone not recognising a group of famous people. They were all hot, white men with a bit of facial hair, and I honestly had a hard time telling them apart.

    I’m about as white as you can get but many groups of white people all look like each other as much as groups of Asian people do. There are many ethnic groups within China that can be visually distinguished with ease, but when you get to the level of “nordic white dude/slavic white dude/mediterranean white dude” things just become a blur to me.

    Unless I know you personally or you have some kind of special hair style, you’re just “generic person of x origin” to me.