How to distinguish Japanese from Korean and Chinese

[yuiyoshida]

Can you tell if a person comes from a specific country? Before coming to Japan, I had no idea how to distinguish Japanese, Korean and Chinese from one another. I had quite a few experience (when I was in the university as an international student) of trying to speak Japanese to a fellow student who I thought is Japanese, but after all, turned out to be Korean or Chinese (who is new to Japan and cannot speak Japanese).



To avoid future embarrassment of assuming someone is not, let me discuss their similarities and differences. This is according to my personal observations and the opinions of my friends with who I shared and discussed the subject.

1. Skin
Japanese, Korean and Chinese, generally, have the same skin characteristics. It is popular that their skin is more resistant to aging and that they have fair, light porcelain-like skin. It is due to its extreme sensitivity to environmental factors and chemicals effects of some products, which can disrupt the skin’s pH balance. For this reason, advertising about skin beauty care in Asian countries is very economical as Japanese, Korean and Chinese (especially girls) have to be more careful with products and treatments they use on their skin. It is even impressive to see the number of skin care products builds on the myth that Asian skin would look amazing and healthy for a long time. So, it is hard to tell who is who if you only look at their skin.

more: http://jpninfo.com/12559

[malthaussen]

1. And where do Vietnamese fit?

To say nothing of others from SE Asia?

-- Mal

[yuiyoshida]

2. They were not included in this piece

nor were Indonesians, Malaysians, nor Cambodians, nor Indians, nor Burmese people...maybe they will do a follow up piece.

[1939]

5. Southeast Asia and the Phillipines

have large Chinese minorities as a result of the mid-19th century Cantonese diaspora. There has been a lot of intermarriage over the last 170 or so years..

[davidpdx]

3. A lot of Korean women are getting that eyelid surgery to make their eyes look bigger

Plastic surgery is so common here in Korea. My niece is getting it done soon and her parents have decided to support her decision (I mean she is 22, so she's an adult). Personally I wasn't too happy about it. I told her I oppose plastic surgery with two exceptions: one birth deformities, and injuries caused by an accident.

[Shandris]

4. I'm so disappointed. Here I was, all primed to shout out "I know I know!"

"Korean is just lines and circles, and Chinese doesn't have Hiragana!"

...
...
...imagine my disappointment.

[Feeling the Bern]

6. Umm. . .sorry. Lived in both Korea and China

Most of this isn't true, at least in my experiences.

My Korean girlfriend when I lived there (yes, I was a lucky one, but her parents decided a good foreigner was better than a bad Korean) and my Chinese wife (her parents trusted her judgment) pretty much looked the same, even though my wife is Han Chinese from the Wu Dialect part of China and my Korean GF was from Daejeon.

Maybe I've been in Asia too long, but I can tell from the languages spoken and just the general look. East Asian women that don't look Chinese will stick out like sore thumbs.

Case in point, look at the movie the Last Emperor: The actress that played Pu Yi's wife was Chinese, but the actress that played Dong Zhen (Eastern Jewel) was Korean.

Then there is the spoken language where Korean has 24 letters, Japanese has 10,000 character (some multi syllabic) and Chinese has over 50,000 (all mono syllabic).

Korean: 안녕하세요 = Hello
Chinese: 你好 + hello
Japanese: Don't speak, don't know.