By David Nakamura
Sunday, February 27, 2000; Page B05, Washington Post
For 29 years, I've lived, day in, day out, with something that was so
unfashionable I'm surprised someone didn't try to manufacture it and
sell it at Kmart or TJ Maxx. It was something that left me hopelessly lame,
uncool, out of it. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't make it into the
"hip" crowd. My unthinkable and unchangeable flaw? I'm Asian. More
specifically, an Asian man. Thankfully, I'm not alone. About 2 percent of
the American population is similarly afflicted. For years we struggled with
our predicament, hopeful--but by no means certain--that someday our glaring
inadequacy would cease to be a flaw. Someday, we prayed, it would be cool to
be like us.
Well, people, I'm here to tell you that General Tsao's Chicken has at long
last come home to roost. Check out the evidence. Look at the
faces on the billboards. The Wall Street Journal reports in a front-page
story that Asian males are "becoming increasingly popular with advertisers."
The Dallas Morning News says there's been "a surge in Asian male awareness"
in the ultra-macho worlds of sports, cars, fraternities. And, the coup de
grce: a two-page spread in the Feb. 21 issue of Newsweek titled, "Why Asian
Guys Are on a Roll."
Such articles lay bare the disturbing facts, how we had been seen as
inscrutable by nature, bookish in appearance, small in stature, and how that
added up to the painful truth: We weren't the masculine ideal. At the same
time, our Asian sisters enjoyed a free pass on the benefits of a decidedly
different reputation: exotically beautiful and culturally mysterious. But
now, Asian men are all the rage, the articles said. We have Asian actors and
action heroes such as Chow Yun Fat, Rick Yune and Jet Li. We're on the
fashion runways in chic cities. We make more money than other racial groups.
And, the Newsweek story reported, Asian men are intermarrying other races
like never before. (And to think I believed my Asian girlfriend was good
enough!) Newsweek quotes this dialogue between an Asian man and his white
babe:
He: Asian men are the next "trophy boyfriends."
She: "It's almost like Asian boyfriends are the fashion accessory of the
moment."
After reading that, I was so ebullient that I could have kissed
my pocket protector. After all those years of nerdiness, I am finally
riding the crest of America's cultural tsunami! In the interest of full
disclosure, I should say I'm only half-Asian: My father's family is Japanese
and my mother is descended from Eastern European Jews. But most "ethnics"
are only partly so--it's that single-drop-of-blood thing. So let the record
show that I'm as down with my roots as any Hunan homeboy. And I'm ready to
rock. My days of rising at dawn, working 10 hours, hitting the sack early
and being an otherwise decent, law-abiding geek are over. I'm gonna be
hitting the fly clubs, chowing at the phat restaurants and dating the
hotties, kickin' it with my good friends and fellow hipsters, Puff Daddy and
Ricky Martin. Of course, that's assuming those guys can hang with me. Sure,
just last year the national media were going gaga over over the Latin
invasion of the likes of Martin, Enrique Iglesias and Jennifer Lopez. How
they could sing, shake their booties, pout before the cameras. But, hey, a
year is a long time. Get with it. The Latino thing is so 15 minutes ago that
I suspect it'll soon be roped off, declared a national treasure and placed
in the Smithsonian.
Now it's all about Asians, baby, and I, to crib from a certain
overexposed Latin lothario, intend to be livin' la vida Tokyo.
My Asian buddy Phil isn't as convinced that this is a good thing. I mean,
he's spent a good 28 years dutifully keeping his place in the
Asian nerd corner. He attended Harvard, for heaven's sake. At lunch the
other day, he confided, "Doesn't it feel uncomfortable being objectified in
this way?" I was appalled, naturally. From behind my wraparound shades and
pulled-down ball cap--I don't want to be mobbed on the street, after all--I
patiently explained the New World Order to P-Daddy, which is what I call
Phil now. "P-Daddy, my samurai partner in crime," I said. "You gotta learn
to live a little. Stop being so . . . so . . . Asian! Or, rather, be more
Asian! Feel the power in your weaknesses."
For the sake of P-Daddy and my non-Asian friends, I've put together this tip
sheet on how to be cool, Asian-style:
Hair: Preferably black and limp; cut in the shape of your favorite kitchen
bowl
Shirt: Snug; short sleeves preferred
Pants: Polyester; hemmed two inches above the ankle; worn at all times, even
when you're playing basketball
Accessories: Palm V
Car: Any make of Toyota or Honda; for those on a budget,
Hyundai; for the extra-wild party boys, Mitsubishi Mirage
Food: Dim sum (except for those icky chicken feet)
Babes: Pamela Anderson-Lee (explain to friends that she added
"Lee" to her name because she really is married to a Chinese)
Clubs: Anything karaoke (sing only Canto-Pop songs by your favorite Hong
Kong teen idols; fake the lyrics if you haven't mastered your
Cantonese)
Catch phrases: "He's my Buddha!" and "Confucius says you ain't
nuthin' but a grasshopper" (Translation: You're so inconsequential that even
a 5th-century B.C. East Asian philosopher wouldn't bother pondering you.)
I urge everyone to study up. You never know when we Asian men
will be reduced to fleeting has-beens. I can see it now: a Newsweek
cover story in March 2001: "Why Native American Men Are Livin' Large." Guys
with ponytails. Feathered headdresses for the ladies.
Sure, you may think what I'm saying is based on tired, played-out cultural
stereotypes that lump individuals into broad groups in
ways that can be hurtful and dangerous. But who cares, as long as the
stereotype works for you? Whatever seems lame about your group right now
might seem trendy in the blink of a (slanted) eye. After all, I'm Asian, and you know what that means:We're on a roll, the big Buddhas on the block after all these years.
Washington Post Metro reporter David Nakamura is considering changing his
byline to his middle name: Akira.
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