Are You an Asiaphile? - A Love Affair with the Far East

Lets be honest from the start, being an anything ‘Phile’ these days carries a certain amount of stigma with it, and being an ‘Asiaphile’ is no exception. A quick look around the Internet reveals reference after reference explaining that an Asiaphile is a sad old white man, who searches out helpless young Asian women to have his wicked way with. 

And while I’d be lying if I told you that I didn’t harbour a certain amount of fascination for Asian women, and wasn’t in awe of their beauty, for me that isn’t what being an Asiaphile is all about. As my attraction towards Asian women came as a by-product of my life-long obsession with all things Asian, and from my weakness to the lure of the mystique of the Far East.

And it all started with Ninjas, as I suspect it did for many a young man, when the first book I ever purchased for myself with a book token I’d received for Christmas was a huge volume of black and white photographs from old Kung-Fu movies. Then next came Bruce Lee, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Chinese food as a treat on a Friday night, Karate lessons, The Chinese state circus, and photographs of two overly-friendly Japanese girls; inside a stolen magazine. And so to me, like a crazed ‘Lord of the Rings’ geek, the Far East became my middle earth, and my promised land.

For there be Dragons and magick. Yet even as I outgrew these childish fantasies my fascination never waned, because Dragons were replaced with dense lush green landscapes, and giant golden Buddhas towering high over buildings, and bustling pollution choked side-streets where anything can be bought for a price, and a million flavors and combinations and tastes, enough to satisfy even the most hard-pleased of palates. And so to a young man from a small grey English sea-side town, partially there to give chase, and partially there to escape, this was a place equal to any Heaven upon Earth.

So that now back in England, by the light of the paper lanterns that now illuminate my room, I flick eagerly through brochures, and compare prices online, impatiently biding my time, until once more I’m free to step foot into the lands where I feel more at home, than at home.

Are you an Asiaphile?

Tell me one thing you love about Asia below: