or Half-Japanese People in Manga: a Semi-Rant.

Okay, so by now we all know about Japan's so-called ethnic homogeneousness. To put it less sensitively, everyone pretty much looks the same. So much that when someone looks different, it kind of freaks everyone out.

That's not to say that there aren't non-Japanese people living in Japan. Therefore there are non-Japanese people in manga.

But not too non-Japanese!

Whenever there is a "foreign-looking" character in manga, you can make a pretty safe bet that that person will actually have a Japanese mother and an German/French/English/"American" (in other words, blond) father. This half-Japanese person will invariably have blue eyes and blond hair, despite the real-life near genetic impossibility thereof. Everyone will think that they are 100% foreign at first and get flustered when they start speaking Japanese. There are no exceptions. (Or there are, and someone will inevitably inform me of them, but I won't care.)

For reference:
Real-life half-Japanese people:
1 2 3 4

Manga half-Japanese people:
Lynn from Lady!!
Tamaki from Ouran High School Host Club
Maria from Sakura Taisen
Momiji from Fruits Basket
Kaeda Kimura from Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei
Urara from Pretty Cure
Sophie Kirisaki from Yakitate!! Japan

As a half-Asian myself, it kind of bothers me how unrealistically my "minority" is represented. But as Sean Lennon, son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, once said,

"If, like me, you are Japanese and English, you will in Japan be considered white, and in America be considered Asian. This can be lonely at times..."

What are your thoughts?

its a shame
but i stopped paying attention
i can pass for full asian
only those who know me a bit and dont like me ridicule

Aye, tis sad indeed.
Manga wise, I do wish there were more foreigners in some mangas and if they were to be portrayed differently.

As to the Japanese people mentality, well cant say I care all that much.

And the issue about people not finding a place to belong (Those are Hybrids BTW), its a problem we all share.

Erm, I think you can't really use those pics as reference, yes, there are halfs that don't look like that different from the normal japanese, but there are cases where the japanese heritage is weaker.

About the "real-life near genetic impossibility", I don't think it's like that. My brother married a blonde, and his two sons got the mother's hair color.

I get your point, but you just went to the other extreme.

And manga is just manga 🤣

This week's favorites:

• Golden Kamui

ççççççç[Ô.Ô] tsutopodus© will eat your manga and steal your cats!

Okay, okay, I just pulled four random pics off of a Google images search of "half-Japanese", and lots of other half-Japanese people look more like the other half. Here are some (from the same source, of course):
1 (pretty sure her hair is dyed)
2
3

But it's true that blond hair and blue eyes are relatively rare in people that are half Caucasian and half something darker because most Caucasian genes are recessive, including blond hair and blue eyes. Something like half-Spanish half-Caucasian would be more likely to have blond hair or blue eyes than half-Japanese half-Caucasian because someone who is Spanish is more likely to carry those recessive genes than someone who is Japanese. (I'm prone to hyperbole, though, and my knowledge of genetics naturally doesn't go past high school level. Sorry about that. 😳 )

It's just how it is in manga.
I guess it's easier for them to label foreigners or mixed people as people with blonde hair and blue eyes.
Even though IRL, they don't usually look that much different. (Of course, there are exceptions.)

♪MONSTARR~ will eat all your cookies and steal your bishies~♪ Φ_Φ

I see were your coming from, mixed people generaly don't have a real origan if you think about it.

Mixed race is a minority as there so many different mix's we just label them "mix"(so your particular mix is minor..if that makes sense), this is how minorities are treated....No one really notices or cares 🤣
It is what it is.

[img]http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/k528/fr33noob/on3winged9.jpg[/img]
I believe in letting people do as they wish, as do I myself. Sometimes, of course, what I wish to do is kill them and they do not wish to die. This gives life interest.
[img]http://www.nodiatis.com/pub/26.jpg[/img]

Isn't this one Leah Dizon: [img]http://img2.ak.crunchyroll.com/i/spire4/05112008/3/0/e/0/30e09637265690_full.jpg[/img]?

She's not Japanese, though part Asian, I remember.

Quote from akari_mizunashi

But it's true that blond hair and blue eyes are relatively rare in people that are half Caucasian and half something darker because most Caucasian genes are recessive, including blond hair and blue eyes. Something like half-Spanish half-Caucasian would be more likely to have blond hair or blue eyes than half-Japanese half-Caucasian because someone who is Spanish is more likely to carry those recessive genes than someone who is Japanese. (I'm prone to hyperbole, though, and my knowledge of genetics naturally doesn't go past high school level. Sorry about that. 😳 )

Actually, unless you get the blue eye genes and blond hair genes (or whatever they're called) from both of the parents, you can't have blue eyes or blond hair. So in theory it's possible to have both even if your both parents are 99/100 Japanese and 1/100 of Caucasian. But if either of them is fully Japanese, it's impossible.

Far-off places with sweet sounding names.

Quote from 狂気

Quote from akari_mizunashi

But it's true that blond hair and blue eyes are relatively rare in people that are half Caucasian and half something darker because most Caucasian genes are recessive, including blond hair and blue eyes. Something like half-Spanish half-Caucasian would be more likely to have blond hair or blue eyes than half-Japanese half-Caucasian because someone who is Spanish is more likely to carry those recessive genes than someone who is Japanese. (I'm prone to hyperbole, though, and my knowledge of genetics naturally doesn't go past high school level. Sorry about that. 😳 )

Actually, unless you get the blue eye genes and blond hair genes (or whatever they're called) from both of the parents, you can't have blue eyes or blond hair. So in theory it's possible to have both even if your both parents are 99/100 Japanese and 1/100 of Caucasian. But if either of them is fully Japanese, it's impossible.

See? I know what I'm talking about! As much as this other forumist! 😛
Still, when it comes to genetics, I always think it's safer to say near-impossible than impossible. That middle school Punnett square stuff isn't 100% accurate, and we still have a lot to learn about heredity and how it works.

But Tsuto's a full blown Japanese male. 🤣

♪MONSTARR~ will eat all your cookies and steal your bishies~♪ Φ_Φ

😐
Mrmrmmm...
Whoa! See that? The unpredictability of genetics!
I'm just going to edit a bit now.

But anyway, back on topic, it's clear that almost all half-Japanese people don't have blond hair and blue eyes, rather than the reverse, right?
But then again, almost all Japanese people in manga have creases above their eyes.
I guess it's just another example of the mukokuseki phenomenon.

It's not such a big problem, but it does get annoying when most of them are always blonde haired and blue eyed. Makes it a bit frustrating that few mangaka think outside the box when it comes to those characters...

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The cool part is that I never get tired of being deceived

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Just because someone's head was chopped off doesn't mean they're dead. That's just silly.

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Quote from akari_mizunashi

Still, when it comes to genetics, I always think it's safer to say near-impossible than impossible. That middle school Punnett square stuff isn't 100% accurate, and we still have a lot to learn about heredity and how it works.

It's impossible to form blue eye genes if you only inherit them from one parent, but it's possible if it's a mutation. And it's good to take into consideration that mutation isn't as uncommon as one might expect. Also, any baby can be born with perfectly blue eyes, but usually turns brown (unless you inherited blue eye genes) in the first year. Sometimes though it might never change color, or just the other eye might.

Far-off places with sweet sounding names.

My younger brother had blond hair when he was 3 or 5 year old and he is half japanese but it changed to brown. Too much sun??

P.S.
Have pictures to prove it if you are curious.