History Main / InterchangeableAsianCultures

* At one point in ''VideoGame/{{Earthbound}}'', a museum curator refers to Poo as a samurai. While Poo ''does'' come from the typical Asian-FantasyCounterpartCulture-in-an-otherwise-Western-world, it subverts the {{Wutai}} trope by making it have more in common with India and Sri Lanka than Japan or anywhere else. This being ''VideoGame/{{Earthbound}}'', it's likely that [[RuleOfFunny the curator just didn't know any better]]. But then again, despite being from a takeoff South Asia, Poo is a martial artist with slanted eyes and wears a gi...

* In a strange case of accentuating an example from the original work, Creator/BoomStudios' ''Power Rangers'' comics did this to Trini Kwan, the original Yellow Ranger. The character's actress was of Vietnamese descent but Kwan is a Chinese surname, while the original show had her reference Japanese culture as well. Boom!'s comics keep the Chinese surname, but have her go to Korea to get a family heirloom for her mother. While it's possible she's of mixed ethnicity, later on her surname is misspelled as "Kwon", which ''is'' a Korean surname -- except this wasn't a retcon, since it's not spelled that way in anything else. She is said to have a father in the military and moved around a lot because of it, so possibly she lived in all these places.

* East Asian societies like Japan, China, Korea and Mongolia undoubtedly share many similarities between them despite their differences. All of them are quite collectivist and don't always value individualism or rebellion. The Japanese language partially uses the Chinese script with its kanji writing system. The four share some similar fashion with articles of clothing like long, draping robes with intricate designs and straw hats being very common. They also have a strong presence of martial arts, with the Japanese samurai and the Chinese monks also having an entire lifestyle and code of honor tied into it. In Japan and China religion is a complicated mix of Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, and local religion and animistic deities. Art styles also tend to be similar with muted colors and nature scenes. Architecture can also share some similarities, with pagodas having very similar styles in all the countries.

* East Asian societies like Japan, China, and Korea undoubtedly share many similarities between them despite their differences. All of them are quite collectivist and don't always value individualism or rebellion. The Japanese language partially uses the Chinese script with its kanji writing system. The three share some similar fashion with articles of clothing like long, draping robes with intricate designs and straw hats being very common. They also have a strong presence of martial arts, with the Japanese samurai and the Chinese monks also having an entire lifestyle and code of honor tied into it. In Japan and China religion is a complicated mix of Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, and local religion and animistic deities. Art styles also tend to be similar with muted colors and nature scenes. Architecture can also share some similarities, with pagodas having very similar styles in all the countries.

* In terms of casting this can happen a lot. It isnt uncommon for East Asians, South East Asians and Oceanic (usually Polynesians) to play each others ethnicities. Same way it very common for South Asian, West Asian and North African actors to pass off as each other ethnicities.

* In ''LightNovel/{{Gosick}}'', most of the Sauville residents guess wrongly on Kazuya's country of origin, the common answer among them being that he's Chinese. One kid even calls him "Mr. Chinese" despite Kazuya's vehemence and, when they introduce themselves properly, comments that his name is weird. This is hardly surprising, given the relative lack of international travel during TheRoaringTwenties.

* In ''Fanfic/GhostOfYou'' Cho Chang has a Tokyo apartment. Yes, this was written by [[Fanfic/MyImmortal Tara and Raven]], in case you're asking.

That said, there is some TruthInTelevision in this trope dating back to 4th century BCE, when migrants brought their culture from continental China and Korea to Japan in addition to subsequent contact and trade ties between the three nations. Needless to say that Asian countries didn't live in bubbles in the past millenia. There are many common trends in fashion, cuisine, architecture, linguistics, literature and the like. This sometimes results in people pointing out "inaccuracies" and thinking the trope's being played straight, when it's actually not the case.

* Creator/JKRowling used fairly stereotypical names for most of the characters in ''Literature/HarryPotter'', but [[RomanticFalseLead Cho Chang]] ended up being accused of this trope (since she was described as Chinese, but while "Chang" is a common Chinese surname, "Cho" is a Chinese/Korean ''surname'', or a ''Japanese'' given name[[note]]Despite the mistake, it keeps the novels' pattern of {{Meaningful Name}}s; "Chou Chang" means "melancholy" in Chinese...though it's more likely that Rowling ''did'' just follow AsLongAsItSoundsForeign, because she doesn't become melancholy until a few books after she's introduced. Before that, she's just a generic love interest for Harry.[[/note]]). The closest you can get with a realistic name, which is actually her name in the Chinese translations, is 張秋 (Zhāng Qiū). (Note that "qiū" is also pronounced similarly to "Cho") One possibility is that "Cho Chang" is a form of Cantonese romanisation of 張秋 (an uncommon style of name, but not unheard of in UsefulNotes/HongKong, e.g. singer [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacken_Lee Hacken Lee]]). In the films she is played by Katie Leung, who is of Hong Kong descent.

* The Asian gangsters in the first level of ''VideoGame/EatLeadTheReturnOfMattHazard'' are implied to be the Yakuza, but the mini-boss, a [[JiveTurkey jive talkin']] black [[IKnowKungFu kung-fu master]] who looks like he walked out of a 70's {{Blaxploitation}} film, claims to be working for a "Mr. Chang". On the other hand, said mini-boss also threatens to turn you into sushi and makes a couple [[Film/TheKarateKid Karate Kid]] references. Fortunately, none of this is meant to be taken at all seriously and the game's MetaPlot kicks in soon after.

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoshiko_Otaka Yoshiko Otaka]] (AKA Yoshiko Yamaguchi, Shirley Yamaguchi), is a Japanese actress-turned-politician who was born in Japanese-occupied Manchuria. Speaking fluent Chinese and Japanese, she became an actress and singer under the name Li Xianglan, and played Chinese women in propaganda films supporting the Japanese position. Her Japanese nationality was not reported in China, and most Chinese people at the time really did believe she was Chinese. She became one of the "Seven Great Singing Stars" of 1940's Chinese ''shidaiqu'' popular music, and several of the songs she recorded under this identity (夜來香, "Tuberose"/"Fragrance of the Night" for example) became enduring classics. After the war, she was arrested for treason and collaboration with the occupying Japanese, but cleared of all charges and simply deported. As a Japanese citizen, she was legally an enemy (subject to deportation), not a traitor (punishable by death).

UsefulNotes/{{Asia}} is a large and culturally diverse place, but [[FarEast East Asian]] cultures often get lumped together into one general mishmash. People who are generally unfamiliar with the intricacies of Asian cultures will often confuse the country of origin of various phenomena, such as ''karate'' being a shortcut term for any Asian martial art, when karate is specifically Ryukyuan in origin.[[note]]This confusion is particularly widespread among American moviegoers given the outsize popularity and success of the Hong Kong movie industry--source of two of the biggest international martial-arts stars, [[Creator/BruceLee Bruce Lee]] and [[Creator/JackieChan Jackie Chan]]--where the prime martial art is kung fu, not karate. In fact, to American audiences just about the only really major films to focus on karate are those in the ''[[Franchise/TheKarateKid Karate Kid]]'' franchise, one of which even [[Film/TheKarateKid2010 retains the word "karate" in the title]] despite starring Jackie Chan, moving the setting to China, and concentrating exclusively on kung fu.[[/note]] In places where the AsianAndNerdy trope exists, Asians from a variety of different cultures will be lumped together in the same stereotype.

It's something of an ongoing controversy over whether people should be able to identify the ethnicity of Asian people based on their physical characteristics. Audiences sometimes react negatively when an Asian actor plays a character with a [[FakeNationality different ethnic ancestry]], such as an actor of Japanese descent playing a [[UsefulNotes/SouthKorea Kor]][[UsefulNotes/NorthKorea ean]], because they think it carries the implication that Asian ethnicities are not physically distinguishable, or at the very least that it doesn't matter. However, other people (such as Creator/MargaretCho) insist that ethnicity is not always so obvious to the naked eye and that telling a UsefulNotes/{{Thai|land}} from a UsefulNotes/{{Tibet}}an can be as difficult as telling a Dane from a German. Although this is somewhat debatable as ethnic Thais are ''far'' more culturally, linguistically, and genetically distant from Tibetans than Danes are from Germans.

* Britidh Soap Opera Emmerdale feature the Anglo-Indian Sharma siblings who have an Indian father and English mother. All are portrayed by half Asian actors but not exactly half Indian, with Nik Sharma being portrayed by half Lebanese Rik Makarem, Jai Sharma portrayed by half Asian Trinidadian [[note]] South Asian Trini so likely has Indian ancestry [[/note]] Chriss Bisson and Priya Sharma portayed by half Filipina Fiona Wade.

* In a strange case of accentuating an example from the original work, Creator/BoomStudios' ''Power Rangers'' comics did this to Trini Kwan, the original Yellow Ranger. The character's actress was of Vietnamese descent but Kwan is a Chinese surname, while the original show had her reference Japanese culture as well. Boom!'s comics keep the Chinese surname, but have her go to Korea to get a family heirloom for her mother. While it's possible she's of mixed ethnicity, later on her surname is misspelled as "Kwon", which ''is'' a Korean surname -- except this wasn't a retcon, since it's not spelled that way in anything else.

* ''Series/TheBoys2019'': While the first season didn't really give Kimiko a clear origin, suggesting she comes from a fictitious country in Southeast Asia that is a hodgepodge of Japanese and Chinese cultures, it's ultimately averted in season 2 with her being explicitly stated as being Japanese. The Shining Light murdered her parents and kidnapped her brother and her to the Philippines to indoctrinate them as solders. However, Kimiko didn't submit.

* In a review of the animated ''WesternAnimation/TheKingAndI'', the reviewer mentions that Crown Prince Chululongkorn practices kung fu, when as a Siamese prince he'd be much more likely to be a student of Muay Thai. And indeed, if you watch that particular scene, you'll notice that Chululongkorn has taped-up fists, which are more commonly associated with Muay Thai than kung fu. That said, that's pretty much [[CriticalResearchFailure the ''only'' thing]] about Thailand that the movie got right.

* A common joke in Russian and American {{anime}} fandom is to call anime "Chinese [[AllAnimeIsNaughtyTentacles pornographic]] cartoons" or "Chinese devil porn" (or simply "Chinese cartoons") after one [[CriticalResearchFailure utterly clueless]] and [[NewMediaAreEvil sensationalist]] [[CowboyBebopAtHisComputer newspaper]] report.

** The costume and make-up Mulan wears for the Matchmaker is often thought to be this but [[AluminumChristmasTrees actually isn't]]. The dress resembles a kimono but is actually a hanfu (a traditional Chinese dress). The geisha-like make-up is also traditionally Chinese. The kimono and make-up are Japanese things that were influenced by Chinese culture.

* The ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'' very, ''very'' pointedly averts this with [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-953 SCP 953]], an AsianFoxSpirit that is a Korean kumiho and '''definitely not''' a Japanese kitsune. Kitsune may or may not be friendly with people, but in most tales they are fairly benign. Kumiho are AlwaysChaoticEvil AxCrazy killers with MindControl powers who eat human hearts and livers. Mistaking the two is likely to prove fatal. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Also, being mistaken for a kitsune annoys her]].

->'''Hank''': So, are you Chinese or Japanese?\\
'''Kahn''': I live in California last twenty years, but first come from Laos.\\
'''Hank''': Huh?\\
'''Kahn''': Laos. We Laotian.\\
'''Bill''': The ocean? What ocean?\\
'''Kahn''': We are Laotian. From Laos, stupid! It's a landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It's between Vietnam and Thailand, okay? Population 4.7 million.\\
'''Hank''': ...So, are you Chinese or Japanese?

In recent years writers have been careful to avert the trope as much as possible. It helps that Western audiences are exposed to Asian cultures much more than in the past, are learning how to distinguish Asian countries, and playing straight the idea that Asian cultures are easily interchangeable is increasingly seen as sheer ignorance.

** Subverted with Hank's father, Cotton Hill, who is able to identify Kahn as Laotian without ever being told. His experiences in World War II likely helped. He is very racist (which, by the way, isn't even his most reprehensible character trait) and goes so far as to identify Kahn as Laotian by ''smell'', and then immediately assumes he's Hank's servant.

* ''Series/ReservationDogs'': Bear ignorantly assumes that the home Dr. Kang wishes to return to is China. It's actually San Diego, and Dr. Kang is Korean. To illustrate the ignorance of the question, Dr. Kang asks Bear if he is Navajo or Inuit, of which he is neither (as he's Creek).

-->'''Ellis Carver:''' That was my "Korean counterman".

->'''Hank''': So, are you Chinese or Japanese?
->'''Kahn''': I live in California last twenty years, but first come from Laos.
->'''Hank''': Huh?
->'''Kahn''': Laos. We Laotian.
->'''Bill''': The ocean? What ocean?
->'''Kahn''': We are Laotian. From Laos, stupid! It's a landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It's between Vietnam and Thailand, okay? Population 4.7 million.
->'''Hank''': ... [[TheyJustDontGetIt So, are you Chinese or Japanese?]]

->'''Hank''': ... So, are you Chinese or Japanese?

That said, there is some TruthInTelevision in this trope dating back to 4th century BCE, when migrants brought their culture from continental China and Korea to Japan in addition to subsequent contact and trade ties between the three nations. Needless to say that Asian countries didn't live in bubbles in the past millenia. There are some common trends in fashion, cuisine, literature and the like. This sometimes results in people pointing out "inaccuracies" and thinking the trope's being played straight, when it's actually not the case.