# Can YOU Tell Asians Apart? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 25, 2003, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-asians-apart/184299 "2003-06-25T14:44:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Surreal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@Surreal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surreal)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-asians-apart/184299/1 "2003-06-25T14:44:38Z")
Are you able to determine Asian people’s nationalities just by looking at them? There is a test you can take for this at Alllooksame.com- > **[AllLookSame](http://alllooksame.com/)** > > China, Japan, Korea: What's the difference? I got a 10/18, which I think is pretty good considering that I’m a white guy who’s never been to Asia- yet. But it’s also possible that it was just a matter of luck. So how did you score on the test? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Antiquarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Antiquarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antiquarian)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-asians-apart/184299/2 "2003-06-25T14:54:57Z")
Hmmm. I got a 16 out of 18. Then again I’ve traveled extensively in the three regions in question…🙂 ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-asians-apart/184299/3 "2003-06-25T14:58:25Z")
My report was “very bad”. Obviously, according to the site, I can’t tell the difference. I’m very ashamed. What can I do to fix this? I received a 7, by the way. ---
**Author:** ![manwithaplan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@manwithaplan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manwithaplan)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-asians-apart/184299/4 "2003-06-25T14:58:49Z")
4/18 Absolutely hopeless. I would have been better off just picking the same answer for all eighteen. I knew I’d struggle on the Chinese/Korean thing but I thought I’d be able to distinguish Japanese people from the others. I was wrong. I promise not to complain next time I’m mis-identified as an Englishman (well, maybe just a little bit). ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-asians-apart/184299/5 "2003-06-25T15:03:43Z")
12/18 I guessed a good few and just jammed them. ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-asians-apart/184299/6 "2003-06-25T15:03:56Z")
I got 11 (“pretty good”), but I think I had quite a few lucky guesses. I am the worst judge of this you will ever find; much of the time I can’t even tell someone’s race, let alone their ancestral country. I definitely don’t think I would have known that #10 and #11 were even Asian if you hadn’t told me. Probably true with a few of the others as well. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/45deac/32.png) [@Evil\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_One)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-asians-apart/184299/7 "2003-06-25T15:08:00Z")
A five. Ouch. ---
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-asians-apart/184299/8 "2003-06-25T15:08:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Surreal \* > \*\*Are you able to determine Asian people’s nationalities just by looking at them? \*\* No. At least not Japanese, Koreans, and (Han) Chinese. Not that certain phenotypes aren’t more common in each population, but there is far, far too much variation inside each group to be able to make any significantly accurate judgement about a given individual. I got 7/18, and I guessed for all but two or three (I got them right). ---
**Author:** ![Surreal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@Surreal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surreal)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-asians-apart/184299/9 "2003-06-25T15:09:58Z")
The ones I had the most difficulty with involved distinguishing Japanese vs. Korean. How can anyone tell them apart? ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-asians-apart/184299/10 "2003-06-25T15:12:19Z")
Juanita Tech said, "My report was “very bad”. Obviously, according to the site, I can’t tell the difference. I’m very ashamed. What can I do to fix this?" I don’t think this is something to be ashamed of. It’s a matter of exposure. If you haven’t been to Asia, you won’t know the differences like someone who travels there extensively. Don’t beat yourself up! ---
**Author:** ![green\_bladder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@green\_bladder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/green_bladder)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-asians-apart/184299/11 "2003-06-25T15:17:52Z")
10/18… :smack: and I live in Hong Kong… ---
**Author:** ![criminalcatalog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e68b1a/32.png) [@criminalcatalog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/criminalcatalog)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-asians-apart/184299/12 "2003-06-25T15:21:35Z")
They are all Asian. There. I win. Actually, I got a 4. And I work closely with two Vietnamese people and one Phillipino. Go figure. ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-asians-apart/184299/13 "2003-06-25T15:30:15Z")
It’s so not fair. Some of them are BLONDE! It’s all so confusing. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-asians-apart/184299/14 "2003-06-25T15:31:21Z")
I didn’t do well either. I don’t know, it’s kind of a silly test. Individual Asian people don’t look identical to me at all, which is, IMHO, more important than being able to tell where they or their ancestors are from. Besides, I can usually tell that by their last names anyway. ---
**Author:** ![jellen92](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@jellen92](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jellen92)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-asians-apart/184299/15 "2003-06-25T15:34:28Z")
I got 3/18… yikes… ---
**Author:** ![Judith\_Prietht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b19c9b/32.png) [@Judith\_Prietht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Judith_Prietht)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-asians-apart/184299/16 "2003-06-25T15:36:32Z")
9/18. And I’m half-Japanese and grew up among folks of not only Chinese, Japanese, and Korean descent but also Asians from Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Okinawa, India, the Philippines and a few other countries I know I’m forgetting. Then again, a lot of people think my Japanese mother is Chinese and I’ve been thought of as Korean, Filipina, and Hawai’ian. ---
**Author:** ![Sinungaling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Sinungaling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sinungaling)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-asians-apart/184299/17 "2003-06-25T15:41:41Z")
Like **jovan** said, Han Chinese, Japanese, and Korean look rather similar, and identification can be pretty much guesswork. I got a 7 like him, and I’m Filipino and grew up in Southeast Asia. ---
**Author:** ![Urban\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Urban\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urban_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-asians-apart/184299/18 "2003-06-25T16:10:17Z")
No, they are not that similar, but it takes a bit more than a mug shot to tell them apart. ---
**Author:** ![Antiquarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Antiquarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antiquarian)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-asians-apart/184299/19 "2003-06-25T16:14:01Z")
Look’s like I have the high score…There’s a first. **Surreal** said: How can you tell them apart? Lest not forget the Mongul impact on two of the three regions in the test. High cheek Bones, defined brow’s, sunken/raised eye lids. There was a culture in the heart of Asia called the [Tarim Basin People](http://sln.fi.edu/inquirer/mummy.html) . They were in fact Caucasian. Fascinating stuff really. But with culture clashing and inter-tribal breeding. Blond hair is not exactly unheard of in parts of Asia… ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-asians-apart/184299/20 "2003-06-25T16:15:41Z")
6 I kept looking for “None of the Above” Shows how much I know… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-asians-apart/184299.md?page=2)