I'm a librarian who loves anime, manga, and reading a wide variety of genres.
A question for British English speakers: Is "Oriental" considered an okay way to refer to people from China and Japan?
The main characters, Lee and Matthew, are chatting, and Lee asks Matthew if he prefers Asian women to Western women. Matthew replies that he prefers Oriental women - he thinks they're overall prettier than Western women. This detours briefly into a discussion about the word "Oriental" vs. "Asian." Matthew acknowledges that, in American English, "Oriental" is considered a pejorative but explains that, in British English, "Oriental" is often used to refer to people from China or Japan, while "Asian" is used to refer to people from India or Pakistan. Wikipedia isn't entirely clear, saying that "Oriental" is sometimes a pejorative in British English.
This entire conversation is handled pretty lightly, but, as a speaker of American English, it made me a little twitchy, so I figured I'd ask.