June 24, 2009 by me.

Is it just me or am I seeing the word ‘Asian’ becoming as generic here in the U.S. as the term ‘Oriental’ used to be? Because if it isn’t Asian salad this or Asian stir-fry that, more often than not these days it’s hard not to think that the American mainstream still doesn’t get the difference.

So for the record, let me politely state that the word ‘Oriental’ can still be used in a sentence to refer to things (like food or clothes or furniture), however the word ‘Asian’ is more properly used when referring to people. Because the last time I checked, they don’t eat Asians here (except maybe in the psychological sense).

Of course, given that so many American companies have already sunk so much of their package design and advertising/marketing dollars into the “Asian” label thing, I can’t begrudge them their desire to make a profit — especially given today’s economic troubles. I’m just saying there’s something that strikes me as not quite right about the way “Asian’ has been adopted so ubiquitously (and in place of ‘Oriental’) by businesses and companies alike these last 5 or so years — especially food and restaurant companies.

Because I’ll tell you one thing, if this trend of labeling everything related to us as  ’Asian’ continues (much like the way ‘Oriental’ or  even ‘Mongoloid’ used to be, back in the 20th and 19th centuries), what will happen is that we as a people group will be obliged to find a new term to define ourselves again…. thereby confusing once more the non-Asians who are still trying to figure out what makes us tick (not to mention open our wallets)…

So consider for example, the other foot: when non-Asians, who are commonly and constantly referred to in many parts of Asia as: Westerners, Foreigners, Outside People and yes, I’ll dare mention the epithet, Foreign white devils (regardless of whether or not they’re actually Caucasian) are asked by their friends and/or co-workers (let’s say in Hong Kong) the following lunch- or dinnertime question: ”So what kind of food are you in the mood for today? Shanghainese? Cantonese? Beijing-style? Hunan? Chiu Chow? Taiwanese? Hokkien? Or how about Western food?”).

Because I’ll tell you that’s also something that’s struck me as not quite right about the way all European, North & South American, and New Zealander & Australian cuisines get lumped into that designation, too. I’m just saying, it’s food for thought…

P.S. For any of you who are interested, I’d recommend checking out the following book series: “Chinese Etiquette and Ethics in Business,” “Japanese Etiquette and Ethics in Business,” “Korean Etiquette and Ethics in Business” and “Russian Etiquette and Ethics in Business.” I used to own the first 3 (when I was still living in Asia and before I passed them onto friends) and have only just learned of the latter (remember that half of Russia is in Asia!), but they do provide a lot of insight into the differences and similarities these cultures possess, compared with the U.S. Now if they can only write more books for the rest of the countries on the continent…

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June 16, 2009 by me.

Interest is still up and we are trying to figure out the best place and time to finally have our next focus group. Especially with the incremental changes we see happening in the mass media, we figure it’s more than time to take stock of how the issues important to Asian American men have (and haven’t) changed since our last FG.

Oh yeah… and following up on our blog before last, “Q-Factor” refers to how successful and how well-known a person is in the industry (like for example, James Brooks or Henry Chan is, for a televison director — the former’s been associated with “Cheers” and “Frasier” and the latter with  “The Cosby Show”, “Scrubs” and “The King of Queens”) that will help greenlight the production of a pilot…

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