My Japanese friend, her mother and I walk into a Coach store in New York City. Everyone is always very friendly in these stores because they want you to spend hundreds of dollars on their product – and I very much want to!
As a nice lady introduced herself, she asked where we were from and decided to guess. I laughed, thinking “good luck” and continued browsing. Her first guess for my friend and her mother was Malaysia. Unusual, but interesting. My friend politely said No and then said they were Japanese.
The nice lady was surprised and said, “I would have guessed she (pointing at me) was Japanese, but not you guys.”
My friend and I exchanged looks and laughter. The nice lady noticed and said, “So, where are you from?”
I politely replied, “From Oregon.”
“Interesting. I would have totally thought you were Japanese because you have such nice skin.”
My friend laughed and said, “That’s it! That’s why you are always confused, it’s the skin!”
Hm… is my thought. In fact, I feel a little disgrutled by my Korean heritage because aren’t Koreans generally better known for their beauty and skin? If they aren’t, why not? Most Korean women I see have much better features than Japanese women. No offense, but …
Anyway, this is the first reason that is starting to make sense for my mistaken identification.
