A Poor Stereotype

I am very white. I never thought much of this fact until I moved to Japan about 5 years ago. Now I’m aware almost every day (sometimes I forget, but ppl remind me when they feel it necessary).

I’m also blond. Swedish roots blond.

However, I think that’s where my Americaness stops. I perceive myself as a very poor representative of American culture, but since I’m blond and white, people in Asia are very glad to label everything I do as being pure American.

I personally think I make a very poor representative of America as demonstrated by the chart below:

On the other hand, I am the perfect stereotypical Texan:

Which happens to make me a poor representative of Texas because I don't know any other Texan girls like me. 

But regardless of whether I think I’m a good representative or not, people in Asia think I’m perfect.

For example, over the weekend my Korean boyfriend and I visited his 이모, (aunt) who lives near us in Tokyo. She offered me some coffee, but I declined, so she offered me some orange juice instead. When I accepted she said

“Ah, Americans LOVE orange juice!”.

Having lived in Japan for almost 5 years, I’m not surprised by culturalism much any more, but I can’t even pretend to understand how she formed this idea. Maybe if she had come to my house and I had several cartons of OJ in the fridge, or if every time she met me I drank OJ… but no. We only drink soju together. 


I think this is comparable to giving someone a present and telling them "You love your present!". 
I'm not sure if that supposed to make you feel inclined to agree, or if someone is just asserting their belief out loud. loudly. about you. 

However this assumption is saner than others I’ve been on the receiving end of.
I was eating with a friend of a friend for the first time, and in the middle of dinner she gasped and said「うわ！サラさんって右利きですかっ！？」(Whoa! You're right-handed?!).

Studies show that up to 90% of the world's population is right-handed.
With a statement like that, it would statistically be more likely for someone to say "Whoa! You're a girl?! I've never seen one before!" in relation to roughly half the population being of one sex or the other.

Anyways, this lady was surprised because 「外人はみんなサウスポーやっと思ってた～」(I thought all foreigners were southpaws (aka lefties)).

Of course, you CANNOT live in Japan and expect people to assume you speak their language. White people speak English. Only. Period. However, if you do say something like 「こんにちは」(konnichiwa), then  people will immediately comment on how awesome your Japanese is. While they feel that they're complimenting you on your hard work and discipline to learn their language, you feel you're being belittled by being overly praised for something mundane.


In Japanese eyes: "Congratulations! You are the first to decipher the most complex language in the world without studying it for 18 years!"


Non-Japanese perspective: "Wow! You can tie your own shoes and feed yourself! You're a big girl now!"


There's no point in even mentioning that you know well over 2,000 kanji. This does not compute. I once had a long talk with a lady about the JLPT 1 that I had passed back in the day, when it wasn't the N1 (2007), and she later sent me a LONG txt msg. All in hiragana. Including her address. In Hiragana. 
She also spelled 「こんばんは」as「こんばんわ」 which is comparable to using the wrong "their / there / they're" in English.


The whole reason why kanji exist in Japanese is because the language is incomprehensible without them. Maybe if they had a few more vowels and final consonants to throw in the mix you could work hiragana out, but you might as well just speak another language instead then. 


In conclusion, regardless of whether I'm cut out to represent America and or Texas, everything I do here is "because I'm American/ White" so I long ago decided to try and change people's perceptions by being "culturally inclusive". As in, I believe you should adapt to the country you live in and not expect people to bend over backwards to fit your cultural needs.

Tourists can be forgiven because they spend their money and leave, but if you're going to live in a country, you better speak the language.