What nationality was your first Asian friend?

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

I've had Oriental and Indian girl friends, all American (I think).  All of which were hot, of course (why would I date a dog?)

[Insula Dei]

If Turks don't count, I knew this Slovenian-Indonesian girl in highschool.

[Eraserhead]

I can't remember.

[RI]

Japanese. I didn't meet any Asians my age who weren't Japanese or Chinese until college.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Probably South Korean. That's what our foreign exchange students are, and I don't think I've met or befriended any Asian before that, though I have very vague recollections of my earlier years.

EDIT: My cousin Chaya, adopted from Cambodia. There.

[Meeker]

It's worth noting that Chinese and Taiwanese are not necessarily the same thing.

[tpfkaw]

Voted Chinese, although I just remembered that my first Asian friends were actually Vietnamese - I didn't think of them because they were adopted by a Swedish couple (so I always thought of them as Swedish, lol).

[Хahar 🤔]

I didn't make any non-white friends until middle school, I think. Probably Chinese or Indian.

You didn't know any other Indian kids your age through your family?

[King]

I didn't make any non-white friends until middle school, I think. Probably Chinese or Indian.

You didn't know any other Indian kids your age through your family?

Family? This is a thread about friends not enemies.

[Yelnoc]

One of my best friends is Vietnamese.

[King]

I have nothing against Chinese people. THEY HAVE GREAT FOOD!!!

[rejectamenta]

Korean, although the extent of our friendship was hanging out at recess sometimes because we sat together in class. I think that was second grade?

[MaxQue]

French (from Cambodian ancestry).
From university, you see, in my area, there is no Asian people, even if Natives looks Asian.

[patrick1]

Filipino.

[2952-0-0]

It's worth noting that Chinese and Taiwanese are not necessarily the same thing.

This statement is analogous to stating that Americans and Texans are not necessarily the same thing. Of course, the average Taiwanese is not representative of the average Chinese (in particular, the Taiwanese are more fiery, hot-headed, and clannish than the average Chinese), but the vast majority of Taiwanese people do culturally see themselves as Chinese.

[Hash]

I lived in Asia itself for most of my life, but I do know that my first best friend was Thai.

[memphis]

Luckily I lived in a place where meeting and befriending an Asian person was not an uncommon or particularly noteworthy occurrence, so I don't remember.

^^^^^^^^^^
There was a Chinese pediatrician at the office I went to as a kid. Don't think he counts as a friend, so somebody in Kindergarten or 1st grade probably. Most likely Chinese as they are most common Asians in Memphis, but could just as easily be Indian, Vietnamese, Japanese...

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

I lived in Asia itself for most of my life

Ah, if Middle Easterns are counting, my answer is Iranian.

[JewCon]

Korean

[Torie]

My first real Asian friend was my Japanese roommate in law school. After graduation, he invited to his home on the island of Kauai.

[Vazdul (Formerly Chairman of the Communist Party of Ontario)]

I honestly don't know. I was only in elementary school then, and I never asked. I think he might have been Chinese.

[Platypus]

Australian.

(Half Malaysian, quarter British Australian, quarter French New Caledonian.)

[California8429]

A Korean girl who was actually born there and adopted.

and a Chinese/Japanese boy. I met them both the same time early in elementary school.

[Citizen (The) Doctor]

Filipino, since it's a family thing.

[Mehmentum]

A transfer student from China, (though he was in Austrailia for awhile as well).