Meeting Asian women through overseas social networking sites

[momopi]

The following is primarily for Asian Americans from East Asia, or of East Asian origin (Chinese/Taiwanese/Japanese/Korean).

If you're thinking about using the internet dating or social networking services, understand that the gender balance is extremely skewed in the States. Some dating service providers even hire employees to act as "date bait", pretending to be women subscribers and flirt with men. Read this article:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10098349/

Others, such as adult friend finder, have been blasted for spamming web pages with images of barely dressed women who probably wouldn't need to go on dating sites to find a date. But ironically adult friend finder is also one of the very few honest guys around with statistics. For example:
http://search.adultfriendfinder.com/bro ... 14278.html

Notice the ratio between "men seeking women" versus "women seeking men"? Now why would you want to pay $ to join a hook-up service with such large disparity between men and women? Well, at least they're honest.

Some Asian Americans join local Asian dating services, where the ratio is a little better. But your choices are still slimmer, since there are fewer Asians here, and even fewer who'd go on those dating sites. Not all is bad mind you, I think Sina.com is OK for social networking. But I think you'd have much better chances by attending a college or university with higher Asian student population. (hint: students at 2-year community college are less academically inclined and more open to parties) It's easy to check demographic data for US colleges, or you can simply go abroad (study abroad) in Asia. Or, if you prefer European women, check with Winston or Ladislav for suggestions on which countries to look.

If you're in a situation where you can't leave for another country or go back to school, there's another alternative for you. You can join social networking sites & SNS networking overseas to meet people. There are many East Asian social networking services such as Wretch, Roodoo, Cyworld, Mixi, Sexi (cough), Mobag town, etc.

Now let's look at the gender ratio on one of these sites, Mixi (Japan):
http://translate.google.com/translate?u ... n&ie=UTF-8

Original Japanese:
http://www.itmedia.co.jp/news/articles/ ... ws091.html

Let's look at the numbers. The translation is a bit off -- it's actually 5 million and not 500 million members. But let's look at the age and gender stats. 50.5% women vs. 49.5% men. For age group, 8.5% teenagers, 62% 20's, 23% 30's, 3% 40's, and 2% 50's or more.

Doesn't that look a lot better than adult friend finder? Unfortunately there are some down sides too. The first is language, you must learn Japanese to use the service. The second, Japanese are pretty insular and don't like foreigners barging in, so you'll need an invite & Japanese mobile phone account. If you're Japanese-American, now is a good time to hit up your cousins back in Japan for some help! Here is a Mixi tutorial:


I don't use this service, so cannot send you an invite, sorry. But if you do decide to join, don't send random friend requests. Join one of the community discussion groups and get to know people, then your friend list will grow.

For those from Taiwan (like myself), I prefer services like Wretch (aka nameless station). You need to learn Chinese and follow a few simple rules. There are many members who love photography and post photos of themselves or their GF's. Note that just because they posted it on their blog doesn't mean the photo is in the public domain. Don't steal & repost/republish photos without permission. If you choose to join, it helps if you like photography and post a lot of photos to attract others to befriend you.

There are some culture difference between here and Asia regarding photos. In the US if you attend an Anime convention, it's assumed that the cosplayers are there to have their photos taken by the public. In East Asia under similar circumstances, such as Comiket, unsolicited photography is prohibited. That is, you must ASK for permission before snapping photos. Not doing so is considered extremely rude and may provoke a response from security.

If you're from Korea (or of Korean origin), I don't think I really need to say much, South Korea is one of the most wired places on this planet. If you're not hooked in to Korean social networking services, you're probably isolated and don't have many Korean friends. Learn Korean and make some Korean friends on Cyworld.

---------------------------------------

So why go through all this trouble? Well there are many girls in their 20's and 30's in Asia who have graduated school and working, have $$, and love to travel. But they don't have any friends in the US, or they're not confident in their English skills. That's where you come in. Be a tour guide! Invite them over! Let them come to you.

Unlike girls you'd meet at local community college, who might be into wearing mini skirt and a quick hump in the school elevator, girls visiting from overseas tend to be more cautious, because she is in a new/unfamiliar environment. Be polite and treat them well, don't be offended if they bring a friend for safety -- think of it as meeting +1 girl. Don't worry if the girl might not be interested in you, she probably has several friends or female relatives that she could hook you up with, if you impress her enough.

The rest, is up to you.