I would characterise it more as xenophobic, ignorant, and non-inclusive, but these terms are subject to a variety of interpretations.
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You should have a youtube series where you meet and hang out with old timers around Taiwan. If you are near NTC we can meet and my wife can show you around.
I gave some examples already.
The fact of living in Taiwan is not in and of itself cultural integration, and majority of long term foreigners here seem to do very little in terms of understanding and participating in local culture. Note that I say “majority” and “seem”.
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I hear a lot of foreigners complaining about this in China, but not so much Taiwan. I may be wrong, but I feel like Taiwanese folk are quite open to accepting foreigners as one of their own.
That would be really cool. Do you have a Line?
You’ve only been here for 1 day. Or maybe 2 now.
This is pretty much all true.
It’s terribly hard for someone who grew up surrounded by a wide range of ethnicities with a common nationality to see this as non-pathlogical behavior, of course.
One has to realize that, for most people who grew up here, it’s perfectly logical to say/think something like “You can’t be Taiwanese, you’re white!”
Ethnic/cultural origin being discrete from passport is a uniquely Western/New World idea. I still have English friends, younger than me, who scoff at the idea that Canadians/Americans can identify as being Scots or German or Norwegian.
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My apologies, I somehow read “Speaking passable Taiwanese, knowing about the kind of stories you would have had growing up in Taiwan, pop culture, doing military service” as examples of “unreal” cultural integration. 
But I don’t see those as real KPIs of “being Taiwanese”. A lot of Taiwanese for example certainly do not speak passable Taiwanese. You could trot out all sorts of cliches; liking stinky tofu, burning ghost money, pushing a dog in a pram… Obviously this is a topic for another thread.
There is a qualitative difference between the things I mentioned and “liking stinky tofu”. I’m talking about understanding the cultural environment children grow up in enough to relate to them through that, despite not having that same shared experience.
Most non-Taiwanese speaking Taiwanese actually do understand it at least enough to follow conversation, and everyone I’ve ever asked about it (who doesn’t speak Taiwanese) said they were made fun of when they were younger and had to learn enough to be “passable” (enough to avoid ridicule).
Of course there are more similarities than differences in the overall “human experience” across cultures, but seeing those experiences through a particular lens and world view takes time and effort, and pushing a dog in a pram won’t get there.
Feel free to move to a new thread.
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This I will have to disagree with. No matter how well you learn the language, how many times you go to the in-laws’ house, how many times you go to the temple to bai bai, it ain’t the same. You can spend all your time playing online games on your phone, you can stop engaging in meaningful conversation, hell, you can even start wearing your jacket backwards on your bike. It won’t make a difference to most local people.
Decrease your bone mass by 30 to 40%, knock 5 to 12 inches off your height, grow your hair out straight and coarse and black, get your nose knocked back by 2/3 and retrain your eyes to get squinky and dark brown.
Now you’re getting somewhere.
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On my second day in Taipei, Taiwan, I learned what it means to be Taiwanese.
Sorry to offend.
And he hasn’t pulled the backs of his shoes up from under his heels since…
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Don’t worry. Nobody is offended.
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By default, maybe. Like I said, try having this conversation with some under-40s and see what happens. I will be shocked if you meet a 20 or 30-something Taiwanese who doesn’t accept or realize that this is racism, and doesn’t agree that being Taiwanese has naught to do with skin color or facial features.
Now with an attitude like that, you’ll never be Taiwanese!
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of course, they understand the concept of nationality. Though, it is a different thing from their concept of foreigner.
I’ll concede the stinky tofu if you concede the pop culture. Pop culture is a terrible example. Some people ignore pop culture completely but surprisingly retain an ethnic identity.
I got more than a few family members who fall into that category, University educated 20-something professionals who’ve traveled and worked all over the place.
And I guarantee that if they’re talking among themselves, and they’re describing a Caucasoid third party, they’ll immediately refer to them as straight up waiguoren.
Completely irrespective of their consular status.
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