• Fundamentals of learning: Part and parcel of working as an English teacher in Japan and other countries in Asia are personal questions that come from curious students. Those queries could be problematic, however, if you don’t fit the blonde-haired, blue-eyed mold that English-language schools have used to advertise their services for decades. | GETTY IMAGES
    Fundamentals of learning: Part and parcel of working as an English teacher in Japan and other countries in Asia are personal questions that come from curious students. Those queries could be problematic, however, if you don’t fit the blonde-haired, blue-eyed mold that English-language schools have used to advertise their services for decades. | GETTY IMAGES
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If there’s one thing English teachers are warned about when they come to Japan, it’s to be ready for some personal questions: Where do you live? Do you have a boyfriend? … The list goes on.

When you are a woman of color, however, these questions — no matter how innocent — can take on a racialist tone: Why is your skin so dark? Why do you have an accent, do you really know English?

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