https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_far_east_9.png

Whenever somebody talks about Asia, this is usually the region they are referring to. Consisting of the Russian Far East region of North Asia, Southeast Asia and East Asia, the Far East is a rising power in the world, with many of the world's biggest economic and cultural centers including China, South Korea and Japan flourishing in it, and being one of the most highly populated regions in the world, with China, the country with the largest population in the world, being part of it. Some definitions of the region also include South Asia for cultural and economic reasons.

The term "Far East" originates from European geopolitical discourse in the 12th Century, which split Asia into three defined "easts": the Near East, which encompassed Western Asia and has generally been replaced by the modern definition of The Middle East, the Middle East, which encompassed Central Asia and northwestern South Asia, and the Far East, which encompassed countries along the western Pacific and eastern Indian Oceans. The term is also used in a cultural sense in addition to geographic, and thus Oceania (who are culturally Western) are never included despite neighboring Southeast Asia and being even further east than it. The term has seen some controversy, though, due to sometimes being seen as archaic and Eurocentric, and thus "East Asia" has become a more common term for the region since the 60's for international mass media outlets, and so some care should be taken when talking about it with others.

Do not make the mistake of thinking all Asians from the Far East look the same or are all Chinese or Japanese. Seriously. Don't. While the inhabitants of the different countries may look similar to outsiders and have some similar aspects in their cultures, there are many cultural, physical and political differences between each country, and many of the countries in the region do not get along well with each other, to say the least.

For the trope, see Far East.