I am only Asian to non-Asians.

Karina
Irvine, CA

I live in an area that has many distinct Asian groups who are first generation Americans: Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, etc. My grandmother was first generation Filipino and my Grandfather and father are both Caucasian. That makes me part-Asian. But to my Asian friends who are first generation, they see me as White – or mixed at best. My Filipino friends acknowledge that I am Filipino. And my White friends see the Asian traits and consider me Asian. But the box for Filipinos is usually “Pacific Islander” – yet Japan (very close to the Philippines- much closer than Hawaii… ) chooses Asian. Very confusing. So, it is only to non-Asians am I seen as Asian.