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she was born in mainland China. To them, Zhang Ziyi was nothing more than a "country bumpkin." So racism is definitely present in Hong Kong.

One of the countries in Asia that racism is most present is in Japan. The Japanese has a strict "honor" code. Meaning if you date someone let alone marry someone who isn't Japanese, it's automatic "dishonor." This has been in play for quite a number of centuries. Such as a samurai is dishonored for marrying a Western barbarian for example. Homosexuality in Japan seems to be a complete no-no at this day and age. Ironically before Christianity came to Japan, homosexuality was widely accepted especially amongst the samurai castes.

Homosexuality was deemed to be more pure and noble than heterosexuality.

If you're not full-blooded Japanese, you're prone to being persecuted too. Like if you're part-Chinese or part-Korean, you're subject to persecution. Though I find it pretty stupid. Nothing I can do about it. Doesn't change the fact that they'll be persecuted.

However, the racism in Japan happens to be more subtle and lowkey. It's mainly in the form of videogames and anime/manga. I myself happen to be a fan of fighting/battle-action fighting games and Japanese anime/manga. But over the years, I've been seeing a pattern. It's how Blacks and Latinos are portrayed. One of my favorite fighting game series happens to be the Street Fighter series. Don't get me wrong, it's one of the best series that I had ever played in my life and I have a bunch of Street Fighter titles.

The pattern that I had noticed where how Blacks were portrayed and it carried onto other fighting games. Blacks were usually portrayed as brainless boxers and wrestlers. To add a bit of diversity there were Blacks portrayed as kickboxers and capioerists. But that got pretty old after awhile, yet the Japanese still continued to portray Blacks in that fashion. That was how they stereotyped Blacks. Keep in mind, stereotyping will always be a negative anywhere in the world. The same also applied to Latinos. If not the former, they would be portrayed as brainless thugs and henchmen.

That harsh stereotype had even carried onto Japanese anime titles.

Racism in Asia are driven by these possible factors: territory/location, religious faith, stereotypes, and politics.

Religious racism is pretty rampant in parts of Southeast Asia like in Thailand between Buddhists and radical Muslims. There was a report of a group of radical Muslims storming a Buddhist temple in Thailand where they had murdered all of the monks. In the Philippines, there's persecution between Muslims and Catholics. Just examples on how racism in Southeast Asia is driven by differences in religious faiths.

Politically driven racism is present in tensions between China and Japan. Around 2005, there was a conflict between China and Japan over one big issue on the Japanese history books. In the Japanese history books, it was said that the Japanese invasion of China was justified. That did not bode well with the Chinese. In retaliation, student protestors threw rocks and bottles at the Japanese embassy. Though that incident is over, the tension is still there.

These are major examples to show that racism is indeed present in Asia. After seeing the news, Asia can definitely use a lot of "bridge" building.

Learn more about this author, Can Tran.
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