How to Tell He’s Interested – The Mixed Signals of Asian Men

Recently a reader asked me if there was a way of telling if an Asian Male was interested in her. Honestly to tell you the truth, if your gut feeling tells you that he is interested, he probably is. Before I discuss the possible actions to resolve this, I’ll discuss the background information. Asian males are quite the mysterious and tricky bunch, but they are not that difficult to decipher. The majority of our behaviour stems from language issues, cultural traditions, and family upbringing.

Language & Communication

Language issues are usually the easiest to spot. If the Asian Male’s primary language is not English, then you will notice a difference in character when he is around you, and his Asian friends. When he is around his friends there are people who can relate to him through his native language and cultural understandings.  Asian humour is often different from the slapstick varieties, where there is this cute-yet-satirical tone involved. This is strongly evident in Japanese culture and has been replicated across Asia.

Cultural Traditions

Historically the coveted occupations in Asia were professionals such as the typical doctors, engineers, lawyers, or high ranking military officer.  The fact is that the ability to provide for a family can be thought of as a duty for Asian Men.  Thus, by having an excellent career would (in theory) make life easier because there would be no financial struggles.  Job? Check. Car? Check. House? Check. Those three items are what deems an Asian Male to be worthy of a wife – or even just a girlfriend.
This may seem strange for a typical Westerner, but having these three things in Asia is one of those status symbols. Bear in mind that real estate prices are astronomical so home ownership is something almost unattainable as a young Asian Male. Really it is a sad story for Asian Men when they feel unable to provide. This is what they believe defines them as a man.

Traditional Family Upbringings

Traditional family upbringings also make things difficult as well. At times it could be considered as stifling with a Confucian filial piety system for over 2000 years. There is an order in the household, and the family unit is strongly emphasized. Typical Asian families would involve the husband to be the sole breadwinner with the wife in charge of domestic duties. While the man would be out working, the woman would have time to take care of the children and the home (finances included). In theory it would allow for a functional and happy family. What I mean by happy family, is a family free from the financial struggles – where stress can often stem from. This is not the same type of happiness as Westerner would assume, think of it more as being at peace. In other words it’s considered a gentle warm glow when it comes to passion, and not as red-hot intense as we imagine.

The reason for this is because in Asian media and family, the amount of intense passion is muted. We never see much physical contact between our parents. Growing up as a child, I barely remember my parents hugging or kissing. Even in the Asian Television series physical contact is portrayed as being “cute”. The first kiss is made to be a magical moment – and there very rarely any passionate interludes that proceed after the kiss. Now of course this is dealing with public appropriateness. Often in public, Asian Males will drastically tone down their affections. Behind closed doors may be a different story.

Understanding the Asian Male

Once you really understand the background of Asian Males it starts to make sense about how we behave around others. Spending increasing amounts of time together is a clear indicator of interest. The reason why we tend to use the friend approach is even if we don’t have the guts to express our feelings we still have friendship.  It’s a shame to have never tried, but often we spend too much time trying to find absolute certainty when our opportunity has already passed. So what can you do as a White Female? Well if you believe you don’t want to let the opportunity to pass, you can simply help give him a little push. Talk about how excited you are about how a great movie is coming out in theatres. Just by coincidence you don’t have any friends that want to go with you. Be sure to make it clear that you are interested in him. This may mean explicitly making it clear to his friends so they can also extend their influences over him. It does not just have to be a movie, but you can apply it to any event, or location. Help him break through the initial social awkwardness and he is yours.