How can we tell Chinese and Japanese?

[Melissa_dwl]

Can we judge a chinese and a japanese from their facial look?

[WaldoMcFroog]

The answer is broadly 'no', and the same would go for any other racial group. There used to be a playground chant which involved pulling the corners of the eyes in different directions as the person chanted 'Chinese, Japanese...' but I would think most people would recognise this as inaccurate at best, and at worst downright racist.

[firefly]

For some reason white people impersonating the Chinese or Japanese, hasn't been seen as racist as impersonating black people (and that includes Indians). I think the skin of someone from Japan tends to be lighter.

[5029]

I would disagree with the above answers.
In my experience, both on TV and in real life, the Chinese have round shaped faces and the Japanese have longer thinner ones with sharper cheekbones.

[rekstout]

As a person of mixed oriental descent, I can speck with a little authority when I say that there is no unified "look" for Chinese people. China has a huge and ethnically diverse population - skin tones range from European white through to skin as dark as people from India, eyes range from narrw to very wide and noses range from completely flat to narrow and pointed. Many Chinese people can easily be mistaken as being from another country rather than being Chinese. Naturally there is a romantic ideal as portrayed in state literature but this bears little resemblance to reality.

With experience, one can tell the difference between Chinese and Japanese by identifying Japanese faces but it is very difficult to nail down how - rather like tasting wine - it is a difficult process to quantify

[PaulYukochan]

Yes you can, but as there are dozens of ethnic minorities in china, you have to know them all and be used to them before you can tell.