just to play devil’s advocate and I don’t agree with that anon but I’m an Asian mun and I can see the reason for it being of less ‘importance’ is if you are an Asian born and raised in Asia (I’m from Singapore). we face less racism against us because we’re the majority where we are, and we don’t see as much racebending as in the West – we get to see actors/actresses like us on screen. because we don’t have that history and it doesn’t happen often, maybe they felt once in a while isn’t bad…?

No, I  do agree there. I was born Asian born too. I understand that we are used to seeing people on television, movies, adverts etc. But you need to understand that there is discrimination between Asian countries throughout media and throughout society. It’s not like the history just disappeared, there are still wounds that need to be healed and there is still lingering prejudices against other ethnic groups. We also need to understand China, Japan and Korea’s history together and why casting between those groups especially is an issue. I said before that I understand it does happen in Asian television (actors playing different ethnic groups), and if you see an Asian actor in Hollywood it’s still better than nothing. But we can’t accept that, especially not in RP where it is our choice and duty to be able to represent people correctly. While we don’t experience racism in our own countries, it will happen between Asian countries if you do not live in your home country. A Korean person, like the anon suggested, is likely to face discrimination in China and Japan.

After replying to the ask, I was thinking about a lot especially regarding nationality and ethnicity – should I be okay with someone born and raised in Japan who is not ethnically Japanese, to play a Japanese character? I wouldn’t mind it as much, if the show/movie was written by a Japanese person, because the actor is culturally Japanese to a large extent. But even though I don’t personally mind it, their ethnicity and heritage is likely important to them and therefore we should not erase it. 

Then we also need to think about people who were not Asian born. It’s incredibly unfair to them to do this in Hollywood and in RP, where most rpers in general are from America and therefore are exposed to the lack of representation or miscasting. We need to provide accurate casting and respect for them, because they are here for a form of escapism and not to have to see someone using Oh S*hun as a Chinese person because “there aren’t enough Chinese fcs” when there are plenty of good alternatives. Not to mention I have seen people literally say that Chinese and Japanese actors are not as good looking as Korean actors, so they used a Korean fc for their [Chinese/Japanese/Thai] character because that’s how they wanted the character to look.