"Pronounce my name wrong, and I'll beat ya up! AHHHHH!"

Kim Jong Il?  Xiao Lin?  Murakami Haruki?  Tsing Tao?  Pho Bai?  Phad Kee Mao?

People here in America have the hardest time with foreign names. I remember watching a Red Sox game, when Daisuke Matsuzaka was a rookie.  The geezer of an announcer called him “Die-soo-kee   Ma-tsoo-za-kee.  WTF?  I don’t see no ‘i’ at the end of his name.  Same thing happens to my wife.  Her name ends in ‘ko’ like many Japanese women, like Yoko, Shoko, Takako, etc… And yet they so often want to end it with ‘ki’.  ????  And, a name like Kyoto, they like to say Kee-yoo-toe.  I don’t see a vowel between the ‘k’ and ‘y’, do you?   Look, Japanese is very easy.  Pronounce every ‘a’ like in ‘ha’.  Pronounce every ‘e’ like in ‘bed’.  Pronounce every ‘o’ like in ‘toe’.  Pronounce every ‘u’ like ‘tune’ or ‘oo”.  Pronounce every ‘i’ like ‘ee’ or ‘key’.  If you see two vowels in a row, like “Mei”, pronounce both vowels. (Sounds like May)  That simple.  They don’t have multiple sounds for each vowel like in English.

I wasn’t given an English first name though I was born in the states.  My Japanese parents decided to give me a name from my homeland since at the time I think they weren’t planning on staying for so long.  It’s not a very hard name to pronounce at all, but it’s been slaughtered in many different ways, especially on the first day of school.  True, when I was younger, I Anglicized the name by pronouncing the vowel like an American,  so my friends from pre-college all pronounce my name wrong.  In college, when I found my roots, I started pronouncing it like a Japanese boy should. It’s not a hard name at all.  Heck, it’s one syllable, damn it!  So why can’t everyone get it right? Read the rest of this entry »

This is just great.

http://failblog.org/2009/08/11/answer-fail

White people will make fun of Asians but not Blacks

I was perusing the ever popular site,  StuffWhitePeopleLike.com, and noticed that the article with the most comments EVER (15,609) was one called “Asian Girls”.  Ironic how the topic of Asians is the top article on the ‘Stuff White People Like”, isn’t it?  Further, the article is actually quite racist, and brings up a lot of stereotypes that I’m thinking would be upsetting to lots of Asian girls.  Here’s a paragraph:

95% of white males have at one point in their lives, experienced yellow fever. Many factors have contributed to this phenomenon such as guilt from head taxes, internment camps, dropping the Nuclear bomb and the Viet Nam War . This exchange works both ways as asian girls have a tendency to go for white guys. (White girls never go for asian guys. Bruce Lee and Paul Kariya’s dad are the only recorded instances in modern history). Asian girls often to do this to get back at their strict traditional fathers. There is also the option of dating black guys, but they know deep down that this would give their non-english speaking grandmother(s) a heart attack.

Thanks a lot!  “White girls never go for asian guys. Bruce Lee and Paul Kariya’s dad are the only recorded instances in modern history”  Lame biatch.  I know she’s trying to be funny here, but I can sense the racism in the tone quite clearly.  Why would she have inserted that phrase when the article didn’t even need it?  It’s quite off topic.  And, if you peruse the comments, they are just a bunch of racist comments by a bunch of white people. I heard a lot of people raving about this site, but I see it’s just silly writing for just a laugh.  Most of the topics are just random thoughts that she labels ‘what white people like’ and it creates a sense of irony.  But, when she  says something racist, that’s when the comments pour in.

If you look at the site, there is no making fun of black people.  White people are terrified to do that.  White people will playfully say ‘ching chong, arigato, gook, chink, jap’ in the workplace, but they won’t touch the ‘N’ word!  Don’t go there!  But, they feel it’s ok to make fun of Asian people since Asians aren’t as intimidating.  But,  sometimes they go too far, and things like Virginia Tech happen.  Just psayin’.

Reflective SAM

Angry Asian Women respond!

Have you seen this article?  It’s called The New Trophy Wives: Asian Women, published in Marie Claire magazine by none other than an Asian writer, Ying Chu.  It has outraged lots of defensive Asian women because the author proclaims that many white men have a fetish for Asian women, and that Asian women are trying to marry up.  Wow.  I’m stunned she said that, but I do find it quite entertaining just because it is generating so much readership.  It probably has more comments than any article on their website…ever.

A friend of mine, who happens to be Asian American, posted this on Facebook and it spawned even more comments!  She loathed being the object of a fetish, and thought it was creepy. I know that this is a form of racism, but I find it a bit petty because some Asian women benefit from it, and even play along with it.  Sure this fetish probably attracts some really clueless morons, but I’m sure there are a few nice white guys who have always had a bit of curiosity towards Asian women and culture.   Maybe he got it from watching Karate Kid II. Anyways, boy meets girl due to fetish, boy and girl actually fall in love, and they happily live every after.  Even if the guy’s original intentions were a bit shady, maybe in the end he matures and sees princess from the East for who she is, no?  I know TONS of white guys who have married Japanese wives.  Why? Why go through all the trouble of going to Japan, learning a very difficult language, and hooking up with an Asian girl?  Why not just marry Mary Anne from the back hills?  Because some people just like something different.  Most people may love their iPods, but there are a few renegades who love their Zunes. Read the rest of this entry »