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The stereotype about Asians being short actually wasn't about Asians as a whole, but Japanese, mainly. It was noted sometime back around the 70's that after the Japanese diet improved, the Japanese grew taller, and could no longer fit through the doorways of the traditional houses. Also, Japanese living in the US tended to grow taller than the norm in the early part of the 20th century. In any case, it was due to diet. I imagine the war years were especially hard on the people.
I noticed in Taiwan that men from middle class, or upper middle class families were taller and more robust than the majority of Taiwanese men. Better nutrition, whether quantity or quality.
The majority of Taiwanese people are middle class or upper middle class. Taiwan has a very low level of poverty or working poor.
Asians are still shorter than white people in general (ok maybe not Russians or Spaniards). Sure there are also lots of tall people as well and indeed, new generations are on average taller than older ones, but the majority of the population are still short by European or American standard.
Last edited by Greysholic; 07-01-2016 at 12:22 PM..
I'm a 5'6", 125 lb. woman, and I felt like a giant in Japan. A tall, robust giant. Granted I haven't been there since 1989, so maybe the average height has increased during those years, but it definitely was the case that the Japanese at that time were short (and slim) compared to white Americans.
I'm sure it's also true that the average height of Japanese HAS increased since the early 20th century. The old women I saw in Japan at that time, who would have been born in the 1890-1910 range, were teeny tiny, well under 5 feet tall. The young women were more in the 5'1"-5'4" range.
I went to Japan four years ago, but the people there were still pretty short on average. I was still slightly taller than the average Japanese girls and women (I am a 1.63 m tall girl). Koreans are still taller than Japanese, even the Chinese from the northern parts of China are still taller than Japanese. Only people from the southern parts of China and Hong Kong who are just as short as the Japanese on average.
The stereotype about Asians being short actually wasn't about Asians as a whole, but Japanese, mainly. It was noted sometime back around the 70's that after the Japanese diet improved, the Japanese grew taller, and could no longer fit through the doorways of the traditional houses. Also, Japanese living in the US tended to grow taller than the norm in the early part of the 20th century. In any case, it was due to diet. I imagine the war years were especially hard on the people.
I noticed in Taiwan that men from middle class, or upper middle class families were taller and more robust than the majority of Taiwanese men. Better nutrition, whether quantity or quality.
Japanese people are still very short, they just used to be way way shorter. The doorways in thise old houses are about mid-chest height on me (average caucasian height), people are about max of chin height on me.
I'm a 5'6", 125 lb. woman, and I felt like a giant in Japan. A tall, robust giant. Granted I haven't been there since 1989, so maybe the average height has increased during those years, but it definitely was the case that the Japanese at that time were short (and slim) compared to white Americans.
I'm sure it's also true that the average height of Japanese HAS increased since the early 20th century. The old women I saw in Japan at that time, who would have been born in the 1890-1910 range, were teeny tiny, well under 5 feet tall. The young women were more in the 5'1"-5'4" range.
I'm a 6-feet guy and I never felt like a giant in Tokyo during my week-long visit. I'm definitely noticeably taller than the average, but the difference isn't that remarkable. Japanese people are probably as tall as Mexicans.
The real remarkable difference between Japanese and everybody else is weight. Japanese people are way more slender and healthy than the rest of the world.
Japanese people are still very short, they just used to be way way shorter. The doorways in thise old houses are about mid-chest height on me (average caucasian height), people are about max of chin height on me.
I wish I could be a tiny Japanese girl under 5 feet. Only in that way would I sit comfortably on the cramped seat in economy cabin on most U.S carriers.
I wish I could be a tiny Japanese girl under 5 feet. Only in that way would I sit comfortably on the cramped seat in economy cabin on most U.S carriers.
Lol I don't think the economy seats are comfortable for anyone, even small people. Those seats are horrible.
I think there are more tall people in Mexico vs. Japan. Most of my Mexican family and friends are tall people.
I'm a 6-feet guy and I never felt like a giant in Tokyo during my week-long visit. I'm definitely noticeably taller than the average, but the difference isn't that remarkable. Japanese people are probably as tall as Mexicans.
The real remarkable difference between Japanese and everybody else is weight. Japanese people are way more slender and healthy than the rest of the world.
I haven't been to Mexico. My experience is based on Latinos in Texas. Maybe Mexicans in Mexico suffer from malnutrition and therefore are shorter?
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