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January 19, 2003

Doesn't Come With a Web Button, But...

I'm in an Asian-American Film class this term, which is pretty clearly going to spend most of its time dealing with identity politics and issues of how American (read: white-dominated) institutions represent Asian-Americans. One issue (touched on briefly in my pocket review of Flower Drum Song) is the interchangeability of "Asians" to filmmakers, who have no qualms, even when not using "yellowface," to cast Japanese and Chinese actors in each others' ethnicities, because no one will probably know the difference.

So on Flutterby, I found a link to AllLookSame.com, which offers a quiz to measure how well you can tell Japanese, Chinese, and Koreans apart.

I thought I'd do better, having lived in Korea for a year (and having gotten out now and then while I was there). Even the site author, though, admits to having a hard time with his own quiz sometimes.

The rest of the site is a pretty good blog about Asian-American issues, too, including a recent entry on blepharoplasty, the procedure used to remove the epicanthic fold.