"Musashi" <Miyamoto@Hosokawa.co.jp> wrote in message
news:_Wn1d.1487$Qv5.235@newssvr33.news.prodigy.com...
>
> "necoandjeff" <spam@schrepfer.com> wrote in message
> news:dJn1d.19116$0j7.2718@newssvr27.news.prodigy.com...
> > "Musashi" <Miyamoto@Hosokawa.co.jp> wrote in message
> > news:Ewi1d.15968$ZC7.3364@newssvr19.news.prodigy.com...
> >
> > > Jeff, would you mind asking your wife what the difference is between
> > > a 東洋人　and an アジア人？
> > >
> > > ムサシ
> >
> > I asked her and she said she considers them to be the same. And I don't
> > think she's terribly far from the mark here either. I note the following
> > from 大辞林:
> >
> > とうよう　―やう 1 【東洋】ユーラシア大陸の東部の地域。アジアの地方。特
に
> ア
> > ジアの東部および南部、すなわち中国・朝鮮・日本・インド・ミャンマー[sic]
・
> タ
> > イ・インドネシアなどの地域をいう。
> >
> > Jeff
>
> Thanks very much Jeff. It's interesting that your wife and I define 東洋人
　
> differently.
> The definition above supports your wife's definition to the extent that it
> has a wider range for
> 東洋 than I would have guessed. On the other hand, clearly the "eastern"
> part of
> the Eurasian continent is mentioned, which certainly would exclude places
> such
> as Afghanistan, Pakistan, etc. These areas in English would be considered
> "Asia" and
> people from there, "Asians".

In American English, I don't think people from Afghanistan would be
considered ethnically Asian by that many people. Part of the problem with
the classification "Asian" is that it is such a diverse group, historically,
religiously, linguistically, etc. To that extent I agree with your tendency
to throw China, the Koreas, Japan and Taiwan into one group. Those countries
and the constant interaction among their peoples over the past few thousand
years are more akin to the historic, religious and cultural similarities
that give us the classification of "European." I was slightly amused at the
Asian American law student group when I was at Berkeley and wondered how
much the Chinese Americans in that group really felt they had in common with
Muslims of Malaysian decent, for example. But in the simplistic racial
classification system of the U.S., people have come up with the
classification "Asian" and have thrown quite a diverse group of countries
into it. BTW, I was just looking at my grandfather's military papers the
other day (from WWII) and the racial classification back then was simply
"White, Negro, Other." Short, sweet and to the point, eh? Anyway, this is
how the U.S. census bureau, in its infinite wisdom, has decided to classify
race today:

http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/meta/long_68180.htm

Note that people from the Middle East, Near East and North Africa (which
would presumably include Afghanistan) are considered white. I'll bet there
are a few people down in Georgia, South Carolina and Alabama who would take
issue with that...

Jeff