History Main / InscrutableOriental

This can be shown tropewise as being {{The Stoic}} in more serious and/or positive portrayals. And as TheComicallySerious or {{Only Sane Man}} in more comedic and negative portrayals. The {{Old Master}} may also be this trope.

All in all, this trope can be described as the Eastern counterpart to {{Germanic Depressives}}. Any [[TruthInTelevision kernel of truth in the stereotype]] can be attributed to the one universal social mannerism throughout East and Southeast Asia, and which [[StiffUpperLip British people would understand:]] ''Don't make a fuss.''

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[[folder: Film ]]

* Spoofed in ''{{Around The World In Eighty Days}}'', where Fogg asks for help from a stereotypical looking old Chinese man in loud pidgin English. The man turns out to speak English perfectly.

[[folder: Literature ]]

* ''{{A Tree Grows in Brooklyn}}'' features a {{Chinese launderer}} character who's stereotypical in other ways, but it actually calls out this trope. The young heroine sees the Chinese man as a wise mystic and assumes he's listening thoughtfully when she talks to him, when in reality he doesn't speak English and is just waiting for her to leave.

* [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in the description of Lacquered Tablet, an Agatean ambassador described in ''{{GURPS}} {{Discworld}} Also'':

* Lampshaded on an episode of ''StarTrekTheAnimatedSeries'', during an exchange between Kirk and Sulu. Incidentally, this episode was written by WalterKoenig, who played Chekov on [[StarTrekTheOriginalSeries TOS]] and was friends with GeorgeTakei in real life:

* YourMileageMayVary on the ethnicity of [[NoNameGiven {...}]] from HannaIsNotABoysName: he has almond-shaped eyes (more noticeable when they're not [[LooksLikeCesare surrounded with black stuff]]) and black hair, and apparently has a sentimental attachment to paper cranes. And he's ''decidedly'' TheStoic, commenting that he's been told he's "hard to read", and basically fits the entire personality component of this trope. So he might be this, or he might not. Or maybe being dead leaves you a little detached from emotional ups and downs. It's hard to say.

* Señor Chang, the StereotypeFlip Spanish teacher in ''{{Community}}'', rants about this.

* The Asian Knight of the Cross from ''TheDresdenFiles''.

* YourMileageMayVary on the ethnicity of [[NoNameGiven {...}]] from HannaIsNotABoysName: he has almond-shaped eyes (more noticeable when they're not [[LooksLikeCesare surrounded with black stuff]]) and black hair, and apparently has a sentimental attachment to paper cranes. And he's ''decidedly'' TheStoic, commenting that he's been told he's "hard to read", and basically fits the entire personality component of this trope. So he might be this, or he might not.

If treated positively, a character who follows this trope can come across as being a calm, cool, and fairly collected (if a bit eccentric) person who may also serve as a source of wisdom and encouragement. If treated negatively, characters come across as being overly dour, uptight, dull, and all around boring fellows who seem to have trouble comprehending concepts like leisure or fun.

This can be shown tropewise as being {{The Stoic}} in more serious and/or positive portrayals. And as TheComicallySerious or {{Only Sane Man}} in more comedic and negative portrayals. The {{Old Master}} may also be this trope.

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* The new Judomaster's first appearance in ''JusticeSocietyOfAmerica'' is characterized by her being silent, cold and reserved out of combat. Mind you, before then, she'd been portrayed as witty and perfectly capable of speaking English, but [[SarcasmMode these things happen]]. Mind you, she did warm up a bit when she fell for Damage.

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* Mr. Miyagi from ''TheKarateKid''.

* Subverted in the ''HaroldAndKumar'' movies: Harold's coworkers ''think'' he is this, but for the viewers, he's TheEveryman with a weed habit. Culminates in a spectacular WorldOfCardboardSpeech in which Harold spells out to his coworkers how very goddamned much he is ''not'' this, thank you.

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* The Asian Knight of the Cross from ''TheDresdenFiles''.

[[AC: LiveActionTV]]
* Señor Chang, the StereotypeFlip Spanish teacher in ''{{Community}}'', rants about this.
* Kaito Nakamura from ''Series/{{Heroes}}''.

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[[AC:WesternAnimation]]

[[AC: VideoGames]]

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This can be shown tropewise as being {{The Stoic}} in more serious and/or positive portrayals. And as the TheComicallySerious or {{Only Sane Man}} in more comedic and negative portrayals. The {{Old Master}} may also be this trope.

This can be shown tropewise as being {{The Stoic}} in more serious and/or positive portrayals. And as the {{The Unfunny}} or {{Only Sane Man}} in more comedic and negative portrayals. The {{Old Master}} may also be this trope.

-->Spy: "Hey, does he know the meaning of "disguise?"
-->Sergeant:" Who knows, [[IronicEcho He's inscrutable...]]

* Seraph and the Keymaker from TheMatrix films were meant to invoke this trope, fulfilling the "Orientalist fantasy".

* In ''{{TheWestingGame}}'', Mrs. Hoo is seen this way at first, but it soon becomes obvious that it's solely a language barrier.

* Agent Kimball Cho on ''{{TheMentalist}}'' is the deadest of the [[DeadpanSnarker deadpan snarkers]] and most definitely TheStoic. However, he's also willing to go CowboyCop and NotSoStoic when the situation calls for it.

* Subverted in the ''HaroldAndKumar'' movies: Harold's coworkers ''think'' he is this, but for the viewers, he's TheEveryman with a weed habit. Culminates in a spectacular WorldOfCardboardSpeech in which Harold spells out to his coworkers how much he is ''not'' this.

All in all, this trope can be described as the Eastern counterpart to {{Germanic Depressives}}. Any [[TruthInTelevision kernel of truth in the stereotype]] can be attributed to the one universal social mannerism throughout east and south east asia, and which [[StiffUpperLip British people would understand:]] ''Don't make a fuss.''

* ''{{A Tree Grows in Brooklyn}}'' is a rather bigoted book (1943) and features a {{Chinese launderer}} character who's stereotypical in other ways, but it actually calls out this trope. The young heroine sees the Chinese man as a wise mystic and assumes he's listening thoughtfully when she talks to him, when in reality he doesn't speak English and is just waiting for her to leave.

All in all, this trope can be described as the Eastern counterpart to {{Germanic Depressives}}.

* Shen Yu in ''EvilGenius'' is described as "inscrutable".

* [[MoeAnthropomorphism Japan]] from ''AxisPowersHetalia'', pictured above, who is extremely popular in his country's fandom due to the self-deprecating stereotypes he embodies. Interestingly, nearly every other Far East nation is depicted as more playful or emotional than Japan is; his memorized rules of conduct consist of gems like agreeing to consider options when he actually means 'no', never giving straight answers in a corner, becoming more polite when he is annoyed by other people, and apologizing when others are causing trouble.
** Hong Kong seems to be this way too.

In fact, many asian cultures have standards that express requests, refusals, and criticism in a less "direct" way than in western cultures, which makes them easy to miss for Westerners. As a result, it's easy to see why Asian people might be seen as not [[CanNotSpitItOut commiting to anything]], keeping to their word, and being deceptive or outright liars. In return, Asian people who try to emulate western directness without understanding its finer aspects, are often seen as [[HotBlooded rude and arrogant]].

[[quoteright:350:[[AxisPowersHetalia http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/inscrutable_oriental_8037.jpg]]]]

[[AxisPowersHetalia [[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/inscrutable_oriental_8037.jpg]]]]

[[quoteright:224:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/prease_787.png]]
[[caption-width-right:224: "I am very [[GratuitousJapanese preased]] to meet you." [[OrIsIt Or is he?]]]]

* [[MoeAnthropomorphism Japan]] from ''AxisPowersHetalia'', who is extremely popular in his country's fandom due to the self-deprecating stereotypes he embodies. Interestingly, nearly every other Far East nation is depicted as more playful or emotional than Japan is; his memorized rules of conduct consist of gems like agreeing to consider options when he actually means 'no', never giving straight answers in a corner, becoming more polite when he is annoyed by other people, and apologizing when others are causing trouble.

* [[MoeAnthropomorphism Japan]] from ''AxisPowersHetalia'', made all the more amusing because of the series' country of origin. Interestingly, nearly every other Far East nation is depicted as more playful or emotional than Japan is, whose memorized rules of conduct consist of gems like agreeing to consider options when he actually means 'no', never giving straight answers, and becoming more polite when he is annoyed by other people.

In fact, many asian cultures have standards that express requests, refusals, and criticism in a less "direct" way than in western cultures, which makes them easy to miss for Westerners. As a result, it's easy to see why Asian people might be seen as not commiting to anything, keeping to their word, and being deceptive or outright liars. In return, Asian people who try to emulate western directness without understanding its finer aspects, are often seen as rude and arrogant.

* [[MoeAnthropomorphism Japan]] from ''AxisPowersHetalia''. Interestingly, none of the other Far East nation-tans fit this trope (with the possible exception of Hong Kong) - even China is depicted as being much more playful and emotional than Japan is.

* [[MoeAnthropomorphism Japan]] from ''AxisPowersHetalia''. Interestingly, none of the other Far East nation-tans fit this trope - even China is depicted as being much more playful and emotional than Japan is.