I feel your pain, Deediddums.  Multiculturalism is something to be promoted, but teaching everyone to be PC accomplishes nothing.

Mark-N-Jen, it’s actually very easy to tell the difference between people from different Asian countries. I couldn’t help but laugh when you suggested that somebody would be confused between a Cambodian and a Korean.

Anyhow, I believe this is entirely plausible, if not, true. I used to live in China myself and know for a fact that they hold grudges like there’s no tomorrow. Aside from this, the restauranteur’s family may have suffered at the hands of the Japanese during the war, and thus he’d have a personal motive.

So Spag,

Do you mean to tell me that for certain there are no Korean people in the entire world who’ve gone out and gotten a little tan? Or that there are no lighter in skin colored Cambodians? You are making generalizations… which will usually get you the right answer, but not always. To assume you can know someones national heritage based solely on your visual interpretations is silly. I’ve lived in the US for quite some time myself… but I don’t go around stating that I can tell anyone’s heritage just by looking them over. What you are professing is akin to going around here and stating that everyone with red hair must be Irish. Please… I would guarantee you that there are plenty of Japanese people who can, and have been, mistaken for Chinese people and vice versa.

Also, I never said anything about the mans motivation… just that sooner or later a Japanese person will end up eating at that restaurant, without apologizing, and he’ll never know the difference.

Actually, I didn’t mean skin colours. There are quite obvious differences in the bone structures in the face of different Asian peoples, which gives it away far before colour does. Admittedly, colour would play a role, however as you said it can’t be relied on. For example, Cambodian upper-class women traditionally have comparatively pale skin.

Chinese people (especially in their homeland, it might not be the same with ex-patriates) would be even more attuned to these subtle differences, and thus it is fairly unlikely that a Japanese person would be ignored.

Apparently, the Japanese have almost no fat present in their faces, while the Chinese have a good portion (much less than fatty Europeans, however). But what if someone whose Chinese mother was raped by a Japanese soldier stationed in China came into the restaurant?  Would he have to apologize too?  He might look Japanese.
It’s a bit like if a restaurant owned by blacks asked all whites who came in to apologize for slavery; it’s just simple, stupid ignorance.

I just stumbled across this…

Family: How my one child is doing, how my grandchild is doing, how my parents are doing. Food: Chinese are the world’s most forthright restaurant critics. Dining is very important in Chinese culture. Money: How to make a little more, not for lavish spending purposes, but so a family can save more for a rainy day. This is the life of over 90% of Chinese nationals, perhaps 98% of Chinese nationals. They simply want a better life, just like we all do.

Seems like China and I have a lot in common.

Maegan - 14 August 2005 02:19 PM

Family: How my one child is doing, how my grandchild is doing, how my parents are doing. Food: Chinese are the world’s most forthright restaurant critics. Dining is very important in Chinese culture. Money: How to make a little more, not for lavish spending purposes, but so a family can save more for a rainy day. This is the life of over 90% of Chinese nationals, perhaps 98% of Chinese nationals. They simply want a better life, just like we all do.

Seems like China and I have a lot in common.

Yep, who knew the Yellow Peril could be so human!