Famous Asians: Chinese, Japanese or Korean?

By Dyske    February 2nd, 2013

When I first created AllLookSame.com, I thought about using famous people in the quiz but I figured it would be too easy. This video proves me wrong. I’m shocked that some people think Kim Jong-il is Japanese. That could be a serious PR/diplomatic problem if some people think all those threats of nuclear testing are coming from Japan!

9 Responses

  1. yeah hmm says:

    people just don’t know or care about a lot. actually kind of says how people aren’t so raciest these days. I mean ask some people about famous Irish, French and Germans and I bet the average person would do just as bad. Hitler is from ah… ah… Russia????

  2. Frank Luo says:

    This video is not very indicative of the confusion. The vast majority of Americans simply have no clue who half of these people are. The way he asked the question (play a guessing game) set them up for this kind of failure. If he simply asked them “Do you know if *** is C/J/K?” they would just say they don’t know for a lot of them. But telling them it’s a guessing game and they’ll just throw random options out.

  3. Eric says:

    I like how the two black guys pretty much got all the answers correct. Well done!

  4. anonoman says:

    god help the youth of today.

  5. max hodges says:

    >We want to believe that race is just a superficial difference but there are certain characteristics that are clearly different by race.

    Says some random guy idiot on the internets. His own example is clearly false, as “asian” is not a race and the problem he speaks of–aldehydedehydrogenase polymorphisms (alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) and aldehyde de-hydrogenase (ALDH), which are responsible for the oxidative metabolism of ethanol) is not unique to people of Japanese, Korean or Chinese heritage, but affects people of North and South American Indian descent and other populations too!

    There is no genetic basis for the notion of race. This isn’t just wishful thinking. There really is no biological basis for race. To use the word “race” is like talking about “luminiferous ether”–an outdated and erroneous concept that contemporary science has discarded. As there can be more genetic difference between two people of the same ethnicity than between people of two different ethnicity—say between two individuals of Japanese and Chinese descent, respectively.

  6. Laura says:

    Omg so stupid I can’t believe it.

  7. gu says:

    “There is no genetic basis for the notion of race. This isn’t just wishful thinking. There really is no biological basis for race. To use the word “race” is like talking about “luminiferous ether”–an outdated and erroneous concept that contemporary science has discarded. As there can be more genetic difference between two people of the same ethnicity than between people of two different ethnicity—say between two individuals of Japanese and Chinese descent, respectively.”

    Yeah right. Never mind the fact that negroes look absolutely nothing like whites, are far less intelligent and more explosive from a physical stand point. Let’s ignore the fact that asians have slanted eyes, are shorter, have straight hair, dark eyes and hair, and lactose intolerance. Race doesn exist. my Jewish sociology and anthropology teachers have told me so.

    You know that there are studies that have conclusively buried your retarded opinion, right? I mean, not that it’s anywhere necessary. (even an illiterate peasant would notice that race is a very real thing)

    In all sincerity, people like you deserve to be tortured to death.

  8. Muni says:

    Well, I think anyone who is interested in learning about different cultures can distinguish between people after a while. I myself am not asian, I’m ethiopian, but I was born and raised in Sweden. The funny thing is that I noticed that when I went to the US for the first time in my life, there seemed to be more segregation between people of different backgrounds there than there is here in Sweden. I’m not sure though, because I only visited parts of the south by then. But my point is that if I didn’t have any asian friends here I would probably not know a lot about the cultures that I absolutely love right now. Yeah, I might have gotten into the cultures from watching lots of documentaries and series and stuff, but it’s originally thanks to the people that I’ve gotten to know. Maybe people have to be a little more open-minded and get to know people from different cultures and backgrounds? If you asked me questions like these I would probably be to nail every single one, even if they weren’t famous people that I know of, but I guess it’s because I’m interested in these cultures! 🙂

  9. Togu says:

    Gu, I am Asian. And I am neither lactose intolerant nor do I have “slanted” eyes. Stereotypes do not apply all the time. If they do, tall Asians wouldn’t exist and we do. So think about it. It’s not possible to grow a brain, so just try to grow up.

    To Ms Wu, in your exam room food quiz, you marked the first one wrong. That’s obviously sushi (Japanese) and you marked it as Korean.