Would you believe that white girl is Japanese?

This was the question that an entire group of Chinese people were asking and discussing amongst themselves at the bus station several weeks ago.

Why?

Well, Tony who is ever-patient and tolerant of all the attention I get in China, finally got fed up. Here's the background... When I go anywhere in Tianjin the first question that people ask me is, "where are you from?" If I happen to be with another Chinese person than the question is directed at them, "where is the waiguoren (foreigner) from?" Since I spend a lot of time with Tony, he gets this question CONSTANTLY. I'm talking, 2-3 times a day! That can get really annoying day after day but he always answered cordially to all of their inquiries. Eventually, he decided to vary his answer, since it causes no harm to those curious askers. Instead of saying, "she's American" he started saying, "she's Irish...or Australian...or Norwegian..." amongst others. I always got a laugh out of it and it helped him to break away from the mundane!

So, back to the bus... It was a Sunday morning and we were waiting for the bus to church. My good friend Christina was also with us. She is another person who has to answer this question relentlessly! A woman approached Tony and asked, "where is she from?" For some reason, probably because she was somewhat rude and didn't even greet him first, this rubbed him the wrong way and he immediately (no hesitation) said, "she's Japanese." Both mine and Christina's jaw dropped and then we both just smiled like we had a secret.

Obviously, the woman had a hard time believing this and the next 5 minutes went something like this...

Woman: She can't be Japanese! Look at her hair and eyes! (she comes closer to examine me)
Tony: She is...just talk to her in Japanese, she'll respond to you. (he said this knowing that she can't speak Japanese).
Woman to crowd at station: He said she's Japanese...what do you think?
Crowd: No, can't be... (crowd of 10-15 people form circle around me)
Woman: But, her friend said she is! She MUST be!
Christina: (muffling her laughter)
Me: (glaring at Tony for bringing more unwanted attention to me!)
Woman to newcomers at station: Look at this girl! She's Japanese!
Newcomers: She can't be!
Woman: She is! She is! Incredible!
Me: (plotting my revenge on Tony)
Tony: (still convincing people that it's true)
Student at my university to me: I'm from our school (in English) and I've seen you on campus...I think you're American, right? (totally doubting himself as he's also starting to believe that I'm Japanese)
Me: AHHHHHH!!! (in my head)
Bus: (pulling up)
Me: (getting on bus, pulling a hysterical Christina and Tony behind me!)