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Asian-GAF: We're all the same, like Stormtroopers |OT| |AT|

^ I don't watch kdramas :(. A lot of my friends and coworkers do... so left out.





But, I do eat Korean pork belly.

Someone else mentioned pork belly. Guys, I'm hungry. halp



Also I came up with a brilliant idea for a minority-washing character. Japanese Captain America. If we're going to do that kind of PC stuff, that is.

:p

Im on board if he's going to be bishi <3
 
ab51505ec614fac03526b50f9b421ef01330122109_full.jpg
 
Guys: How do you handle your hair? I've noticed that Asian hair is super coarse and really only sticks out/up unless you do something about it. I've always kept mine short but have recently discovered Gatsby hair products, and I'm looking to branch out of the super-short fauxhawk.

I use ICE Hair glue to force my hair into a semi-managable position. It's the only product strong enough to keep my hair in the position I like. Then I use some sort of wax (I used to use Gatsby, now I use some random styling wax that I can't seem to remember the name of right now) to give it a sleeker, less coarse look. I've had every type of Asian hair style imaginable (except a true mohawk) and right now I keep it short-ish, semi-spiked and swept a bit to the side.

Asian man-hair can be a struggle.

I have a rounder face so I have to wear my hair up or messy so I don't look like a bowling ball. :(

Also, I went to an Asian hairdresser this past weekend (didn't want to wait for my regular one) and it was the worst mistake I've made in the past few months. Ended up taking a chunk of my hair out, and fixed my hair in the worst possible way. At least they didn't charge me, but I still look pretty gross with a really bad fauxhawk.

Hairdressers, even the Asian ones, never believe me when I say my hair will be a challenge. They all learned. It took me years to find someone I liked. Even after she left the salon I went to I stayed her. I now go to her house every few weeks to have her cut my hair. Completely worth it.
 
Yo Asian-GAF, need your opinions on this.

TOKYO —

Japan’s crown prince has warned of the need to remember World War II “correctly”, in a rare foray into an ideological debate as nationalist politicians seek to downplay the country’s historic crimes.

In an unusual intervention in the discussion, Naruhito’s mild-mannered broadside was being interpreted in some circles as a rebuke to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a key figure in the right-wing drive to minimise the institutionalised system of wartime sex slavery.

“Today when memories of war are set to fade, I believe it is important to look back at our past with modesty and pass down correctly the miserable experience and the historic path Japan took from the generation who knew the war to the generation who don’t,” Naruhito said.

http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/crown-prince-warns-of-need-to-remember-world-war-ii-correctly

There's more in that link, but has this caused anyone in Asian-GAF to have friction amongst other Asian groups?

I know of some Chinese families that are extremely vocal against Japanese people, but I was wondering if any of your families voice concern regarding these wartime atrocities.
 

jasonng

Member
Asian man-hair can be a struggle.

Oh? On the contrary I keep getting compliments about my hair and I barely maintain it. I'm only putting in more effort now because I'm growing out my hair. Back when I kept my hair short I just get by with shampoo + air dry + wax or pomade combo. A lot of my friends always hate me because they wish they had my hair.

The most effort I put was when I had a mohawk. Hairdryer + wax was a pain and when my mohawk was at my longest the products I was using couldn't hold it up. Sometimes I miss it.
 

cdyhybrid

Member
Not my family (the Chinese side had been in Hawaii for generations before WW2 began) but one of my good friend's family (Korean) are not big fans of the Japanese. He's alright with them, outside of busting some balls among friends, but he could never bring a Japanese girl home to meet the parents.

Also I have a Lebron-esque hairline so I just buzz my hair off.
 

Esch

Banned
Guys: How do you handle your hair? I've noticed that Asian hair is super coarse and really only sticks out/up unless you do something about it. I've always kept mine short but have recently discovered Gatsby hair products, and I'm looking to branch out of the super-short fauxhawk.

I've got thick, wavy indian hair but j crew fiber is dope imo

you can mold with it, doesn't have a lot of residue or unnatural sheen, and you can remold your hair with it a little later if you have to. perfect for a busy day when you might want to have a certain hairstyle at work and another one later in the night.

review
 
Oh? On the contrary I keep getting compliments about my hair and I barely maintain it. I'm only putting in more effort now because I'm growing out my hair. Back when I kept my hair short I just get by with shampoo + air dry + wax or pomade combo. A lot of my friends always hate me because they wish they had my hair.

The most effort I put was when I had a mohawk. Hairdryer + wax was a pain and when my mohawk was at my longest the products I was using couldn't hold it up. Sometimes I miss it.

That's why I said "can be a struggle" because there are some blessed Asians with fabulous hair.

Asian man hair is so hot when done right, though.

My partner has these long, luscious locks. Hell yes.

Damn him. I've had long hair in the past. Wasn't pretty.

My family definitely don't like "the Japanese."

Grandparents were around during Japan occupied China and Japan occupied Taiwan. My grandma on my mom's side speaks Japanese due to them occupying Taiwan (though IMHO the Japanese did a lot of good in Taiwan, not in China though.) My dad said that the Japanese were brutal in Taiwan, but that it worked-- no one stole, everyone felt safe keeping their doors unlocked at night, etc.

I watched a few movies that had the Japanese occupy China and most of it was really violent and made me feel unwell.

Our families seem very similar. My mother's parents both speak and even look 100% Japanese. They don't bear any grudge and apparently life wasn't so bad for them. My father's parents didn't grow up in Japanese-occupied Taiwan, but they didn't seem to mind when I brought home a Japanese girlfriend.
 
Guys: How do you handle your hair? I've noticed that Asian hair is super coarse and really only sticks out/up unless you do something about it. I've always kept mine short but have recently discovered Gatsby hair products, and I'm looking to branch out of the super-short fauxhawk.

weekdays i just wash it and let it flow. i went through the stages where it's untameable but it only last a week. the days i do use hair product it's to wax down the side and give the top a faux pompadour look. but now that i'm growing my hair out i may need to invest in a brush so i can brush it like a million time a day.
 
Yo Asian-GAF, need your opinions on this.

http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/crown-prince-warns-of-need-to-remember-world-war-ii-correctly

There's more in that link, but has this caused anyone in Asian-GAF to have friction amongst other Asian groups?

I know of some Chinese families that are extremely vocal against Japanese people, but I was wondering if any of your families voice concern regarding these wartime atrocities.


My grandparents don't like Japanese either. They were children during occupation. My grandmother to this day says "how can you trust them? Their eyes are shaped liked knives."

It's awful that Asian countries don't get along with each other compared to the other continents. And as Asian-Americans, we tend to socialize only with our country's race and not with other Asians.
 

Erheller

Member
Yo Asian-GAF, need your opinions on this.



http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/crown-prince-warns-of-need-to-remember-world-war-ii-correctly

There's more in that link, but has this caused anyone in Asian-GAF to have friction amongst other Asian groups?

I know of some Chinese families that are extremely vocal against Japanese people, but I was wondering if any of your families voice concern regarding these wartime atrocities.

My parents are kind of mixed about it. On one hand, they're well-aware of the atrocities that happened, but on the other, they also know that the actions of the Imperial Army don't necessarily reflect the thoughts of all Japanese.

I think they're mostly okay with Japanese people in general. They'd probably rather that I date a Japanese person than a white person, funnily enough.

It's awful that Asian countries don't get along with each other compared to the other continents. And as Asian-Americans, we tend to socialize only with our country's race and not with other Asians.

Yeah, my mom has this irrational hatred of Indians. In high school she stopped me from seeing some of my friends just because they happened to be Indian. After that I kinda gave up and started hanging out with mostly other Chinese.


Guys: How do you handle your hair? I've noticed that Asian hair is super coarse and really only sticks out/up unless you do something about it. I've always kept mine short but have recently discovered Gatsby hair products, and I'm looking to branch out of the super-short fauxhawk.

I.... don't. I probably should, but I really don't. I have that awful Asian haircut look, but I've never found the initiative to really change it :/
 

jasonng

Member
You post a hot avatar pic yet you use a spoon for rice.

My boner has never been so confused.




I don't really have a boner.
Because that spoon is a massive turn off.

Yo Asian-GAF, need your opinions on this.



http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/crown-prince-warns-of-need-to-remember-world-war-ii-correctly

There's more in that link, but has this caused anyone in Asian-GAF to have friction amongst other Asian groups?

I know of some Chinese families that are extremely vocal against Japanese people, but I was wondering if any of your families voice concern regarding these wartime atrocities.

My family has no prejudice against Japanese as far as I'm aware of.
 

Cybit

FGC Waterboy
Guess we all share different opinions about the same topic.

Who would have thunk :p?

Damnit, gonna have to go change the title of this thread now, aren't I? Dang it BSB! :p

NO.
Okay I will :<


That Spiderman thread made me think about Asian American representation in comics.

Do y'all think we'll see any kind of Asian representation on the big screen?

To be honest, there's a reason why Harold & Kumar were so dear to my heart-- aside from being funny (I thought they were), it was really refreshing seeing Asians on screen not being stereotypes or having their entire life story revolve around BEING Asian, but not entirely just being a "any ethnicity" character [thinking about Kumar's parents and Harold's coworkers].

Lastly, it's also kinda funny how the "nerdy" culture (of comic books and video games) have so little Asian representation, when that's one of our biggest stereotypes. Like.. damn.

I think we will. I think people forget that this stuff takes time. A lot of it. We are a tiny minority right now in this country (single digits percentage IIRC). It's hard for something to be aimed at us and be successful - especially when you add in that our generation (35 and younger) are the first generation of american born asians in many cases. How many of us ended up being the first asian person that their non asian friends got to know?

^ Yeah, I follow LoL casually, not as seriously as others. Fun fact-- I'm friends with HotshotGG (George) on facebook! [This was wayyy back in the day when LoL was still relatively smallish].

I still don't feel like the general public in America gives a ****** about "Asians on the screen," and I do honestly still feel like there's the perpetual foreigner syndrome. Though, if it's better in LoL, that's a great thing because back when I followed e-sports, the joke was always about how being Asian was like a +5 to gaming (Asian here including Asian American).

Asians are the "safe" minority to make fun of because we over-achieve for the most part. Want to see something funny? All of the "women earn less than white men" graphs always leave off Asian men. Why? Because Asian men make more money per capita then white men. Which would defeat the entire lazy narrative of "white men are on top in the earnings world". That said, the charts themselves are complete and total bullshit because they don't hold for location, age, percentage of that gender in the workforce, etc, but those are different issues.

Also, my parents are sweet people, but they really, really dislike the Chinese (I'm Indian).
 

SRG01

Member
Asians are the "safe" minority to make fun of because we over-achieve for the most part. Want to see something funny? All of the "women earn less than white men" graphs always leave off Asian men. Why? Because Asian men make more money per capita then white men. Which would defeat the entire lazy narrative of "white men are on top in the earnings world". That said, the charts themselves are complete and total bullshit because they don't hold for location, age, percentage of that gender in the workforce, etc, but those are different issues.

I dunno about others, but I'd easily trade part of my earnings for a better quality of life.
 

Cybit

FGC Waterboy

Russell Peters is so, so on point with it. So true, so bad, but so true. :D

I dunno about others, but I'd easily trade part of my earnings for a better quality of life.

I live in Seattle; so I'm not really a minority. I'll keep those earning kthx. :D

Well, I only hung out with other Asians, unfortunately (but also fortunately because I avoided almost all the racism).

Also, yeah, it's incredible that Asian men and Asian households make so much money, despite the fact that we have to deal with the bamboo ceiling. The racism factor is also probably because we're so quiet.

(You know, oddly enough, my dad works with a lot of Indians, and despite the fact that his two closest coworkers consists of one Indian-American and Asian-American, he insists that I should avoid working with Indians whenever I can ?_?. I guess he means H1B coworkers.)

So much racism D:

I am always amused when Americans complain about white Americans being racist. I feel like minorities (asians especially) get away with being, far, FAR more overtly racist than the white folks in this country.

There's a bamboo ceiling? I had never heard that term.

Heh, the funny thing is, I suspect if we had an Asian-GAF meetup, regardless of our ethnicity, we'd all bond pretty quickly. If I ever come to California I'm finding an excuse to drag as many people in this thread out to dinner or whatnot.
 
Yo Asian-GAF, need your opinions on this.



http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/crown-prince-warns-of-need-to-remember-world-war-ii-correctly

There's more in that link, but has this caused anyone in Asian-GAF to have friction amongst other Asian groups?

I know of some Chinese families that are extremely vocal against Japanese people, but I was wondering if any of your families voice concern regarding these wartime atrocities.

My family was affected directly by the Japanese invasion; my grandparents lost their homes in Kaesong and had to migrate to Seoul to live with relatives. I guess when I put it like that, the Japanese saved my ass from being trapped in NK.

My parents have a mild implicit racism towards Japanese kinda like in the States how people here will make off-hand comments about Canada or Mexico or something. They love going to Mitsuwa though when they visit me, and don't really hold anything against them. Some of my friends though.... hoo boy. I don't know where it comes from. My one friend who grew up in Beijing refused to come out even to a Japanese restaurant, and some of the shit that comes out of his mouth is crazy.

That being said I do think the minimization of the occupation, war atrocities and the comfort women issue is still a huge problem. But then again, so do my Japanese friends.
 

Rainy

Banned
Heh, the funny thing is, I suspect if we had an Asian-GAF meetup, regardless of our ethnicity, we'd all bond pretty quickly. If I ever come to California I'm finding an excuse to drag as many people in this thread out to dinner or whatnot.
This sounds very fun, a meet up someday would be awesome.
 

SRG01

Member

I live in Seattle; so I'm not really a minority. I'll keep those earning kthx. :D

Oh, what I'm getting at is that despite Asians having relatively higher per capita incomes, I'd rather have a lower income and better quality of life. I'm an instructor/professor/researcher and I at one point worked more hours than some of my friends who worked up at industrial camp sites. Granted I still work nearly 50-60 hours a week, but it's to the point where I don't have a real social life.

As an example, I used to be an active ballroom dancer. Tried to balance dancing and work, but ended up giving up dancing.
 
Oh, what I'm getting at is that despite Asians having relatively higher per capita incomes, I'd rather have a lower income and better quality of life. I'm an instructor/professor/researcher and I at one point worked more hours than some of my friends who worked up at industrial camp sites. Granted I still work nearly 50-60 hours a week, but it's to the point where I don't have a real social life.

As an example, I used to be an active ballroom dancer. Tried to balance dancing and work, but ended up giving up dancing.
I think this article might be relevant: http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-adv-asian-race-tutoring-20150222-story.html#page=1

Lee's next slide shows three columns of numbers from a Princeton University study that tried to measure how race and ethnicity affect admissions by using SAT scores as a benchmark. It uses the term “bonus” to describe how many extra SAT points an applicant's race is worth. She points to the first column.

African Americans received a “bonus” of 230 points, Lee says.

Asian Americans would lose out under affirmative action
Asian Americans would lose out under affirmative action
She points to the second column.

“Hispanics received a bonus of 185 points.”

The last column draws gasps.

Asian Americans, Lee says, are penalized by 50 points — in other words, they had to do that much better to win admission.

“Do Asians need higher test scores? Is it harder for Asians to get into college? The answer is yes,” Lee says.
Helping Asian American students, many of whom lead similar lives, requires the embrace of some stereotypes, says Crystal Zell, HS2's assistant director of counseling. They are good at math and bad at writing and aspire to be doctors, engineers or bankers, according to the cliches. She works with her students to identify what's unique about them — and most of the time, that's not their career ambitions or their ethnicity.
“The feeling of failure they get from trying to reach such high standards,” she said, “is very concerning to us in the counseling world.”
This article actually came up on my Facebook feed because that's my high school, and all the things the article talks about hit very close to home (at home, even) for me. I was average or low/middle on the upper echelon, I guess, but since I wasn't a stellar standout, I am a failure according to these standards.

But that isn't the takeaway, really.

Having gone through all of this, and as a product of this kind of hyper-competition, I think the article and the people it references are a little short-sighted, to be honest. As I said, the article was on my Facebook feed, posted by an old classmate of mine--a lawyer. In fact, almost all of my friends from high school have higher-end professional jobs: doctors, engineers, pharmacists, lawyers, etc. Almost all of them. It's not just the very top students, but all of us "failures" ended up okay or better--going to good universities--and I absolutely attribute that to how competitive the school was, due to the culture of the city.
 

SRG01

Member
I think this article might be relevant: http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-adv-asian-race-tutoring-20150222-story.html#page=1

This article actually came up on my Facebook feed because that's my high school, and all the things the article talks about hit very close to home (at home, even) for me. I was average or low/middle on the upper echelon, I guess, but since I wasn't a stellar standout, I am a failure according to these standards.

But that isn't the takeaway, really.

Having gone through all of this, and as a product of this kind of hyper-competition, I think the article and the people it references are a little short-sighted, to be honest. As I said, the article was on my Facebook feed, posted by an old classmate of mine--a lawyer. In fact, almost all of my friends from high school have higher-end professional jobs: doctors, engineers, pharmacists, lawyers, etc. Almost all of them. It's not just the very top students, but all of us "failures" ended up okay or better--going to good universities--and I absolutely attribute that to how competitive the school was, due to the culture of the city.

Oh no doubt. There's a reason why the "bamboo ceiling" is a measurable phenomenon for Asian populations.

The weirdest thing, for myself at least, was that I was rather artistic and eloquent while growing up. I had to trade that in for an engineering degree -_-
 
Whats good Asian-GAF. 26/M/Bengali dude from NYC.

I had burmese food for the first time a couple of days ago. It felt like a wonderful fusion of east and south asian food. The curry + paratha was some next level shit man. Felt like I was floating. Also tried sashimi for the first time, and I was surprised that I liked it. Need to expand my culinary tastes.
 

Argyle

Member
Zippy's, Curry House, Roy's, and Goma Tei are all on the schedule already. I'll eat at a bunch of other places randomly too.

Zippy's is my traditional first stop off the plane, personally.

This is kind of a controversial opinion because people love Goma Tei but...I don't think it's very good. I love tan tan men and I believe it starts with tobanjan (Sichuan chili bean paste) as its base, and I don't detect any of that in Goma Tei's tan tan men. In fact it is not spicy at all unless you add chili oil, which is a shame (and definitely not the same flavor). Their chashu is pretty good though, and maybe the shoyu ramen is good (never tried it honestly), but...

IMHO best ramen on the island is Agu, for what it's worth.

Where are you returning from?

Whats good Asian-GAF. 26/M/Bengali dude from NYC.

I had burmese food for the first time a couple of days ago. It felt like a wonderful fusion of east and south asian food. The curry + paratha was some next level shit man. Felt like I was floating. Also tried sashimi for the first time, and I was surprised that I liked it. Need to expand my culinary tastes.

Burmese food is great. I'm no expert on Burmese food but my favorite dish is tea leaf salad (lahpet thoke) which is a mix of fermented tea leaves (which also provide some caffeinated kick), greens, and fried chickpeas and other crunchy things - give that a try next time. Their national dish is a curried fish soup called mohinga, which is also worth trying. Sometimes I make a Burmese pork and pumpkin stew...been a while since I made that actually, maybe it's time for that again...
 
A friend of mine is working on setting up a Burmese restaurant. He had a Burmese food stand at the 626 Night Market last year and I guess it did pretty well. He's an excellent cook but I have yet to try his Burmese food. When I get the chance I'll post let you all know how I like it and post some pics.
 
Oh no doubt. There's a reason why the "bamboo ceiling" is a measurable phenomenon for Asian populations.

The weirdest thing, for myself at least, was that I was rather artistic and eloquent while growing up. I had to trade that in for an engineering degree -_-

I hope you still retain that artistic integrity for your free time.
 
Burmese food is great. I'm no expert on Burmese food but my favorite dish is tea leaf salad (lahpet thoke) which is a mix of fermented tea leaves (which also provide some caffeinated kick), greens, and fried chickpeas and other crunchy things - give that a try next time. Their national dish is a curried fish soup called mohinga, which is also worth trying. Sometimes I make a Burmese pork and pumpkin stew...been a while since I made that actually, maybe it's time for that again...

Oh man I had that salad too. I liked it a lot and it was different from the typical salads I eat during the week. I believe there were some seeds or something in it as well. I think.

Mohinga looks yummy too :U
 

SRG01

Member
I hope you still retain that artistic integrity for your free time.

I do alright, I suppose.

However, it's a little disheartening when I look at some of my previous works -- even comments on forums, message boards, and the like -- and see how eloquent I was compared to now.
 
I think this article might be relevant: http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-adv-asian-race-tutoring-20150222-story.html#page=1




This article actually came up on my Facebook feed because that's my high school, and all the things the article talks about hit very close to home (at home, even) for me. I was average or low/middle on the upper echelon, I guess, but since I wasn't a stellar standout, I am a failure according to these standards.

But that isn't the takeaway, really.

Having gone through all of this, and as a product of this kind of hyper-competition, I think the article and the people it references are a little short-sighted, to be honest. As I said, the article was on my Facebook feed, posted by an old classmate of mine--a lawyer. In fact, almost all of my friends from high school have higher-end professional jobs: doctors, engineers, pharmacists, lawyers, etc. Almost all of them. It's not just the very top students, but all of us "failures" ended up okay or better--going to good universities--and I absolutely attribute that to how competitive the school was, due to the culture of the city.

I laughed when the article states some families considered changing their name to sound more Western.. I jokingly suggested to my girl that we give our future child a Native America name. She however was not amused at the prospect of having our child potentially named Ta'tanka
 
I laughed when the article states some families considered changing their name to sound more Western.. I jokingly suggested to my girl that we give our future child a Native America name. She however was not amused at the prospect of having our child potentially named Ta'tanka
I don't think it's nearly as bad as that article is making it sound. I think I'm from one of the earlier graduating classes of that high school, where the student body transitioned from being mostly white to mostly Asian, and honestly, of those of us who didn't really stand out and may not have gone to top schools, we pretty much all ended up just fine.

I can see how it would appear to the students and parents, since they can't see past where they are currently, but it'll be fine for them.

lol

So if someone is half black and half Asian named Ayawamat, what happens?




On another somewhat amusing note, I have discovered, by far, my favorite line of slang to date.

"I am slain by _x_ game's fleekness."

Example:

"I am slain by her marriage game's fleekness." <- my friend know all about weddings.
"I was slain by his SAT game's fleekness." <- my coworker's kid did really well on his SATs.

etc, etc
Funny you should mention it. I actually saw a little girl (maybe 3 years old or so) with a black father and Japanese mother yesterday. She didn't seem to have any Asian features, but she could instantly switch from speaking Japanese with her mom to speaking English with her dad without missing a beat. It was really cute and really impressive.

That said, that hell does "fleekness" mean?
 
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