Doppelgangers

I am one of those people who, most of their lives, has been told that they look "exactly" like someone else. Immediately after I was born, people began saying that I looked just like my two older sisters. Our similarities were so striking that strangers would often ask my mother if she was the mother of triplets, nevermind the three different heights.

It was even more annoying when I was 7 years old and Shogun, the miniseries based on James Clavell's novel, was shown on television for the first time. Among its characters was a Japanese woman. I was instanty the talk of primary school. Classmates would make comments like, "You look like that lady on Shogun, and she took her clothes off and took a bath with that man!" I was humiliated.

Pilot-Major John Blackthorne with Lady Toda Buntaro.

Over the next several years, I received comments about the likeness I shared with Connie Chung (American news correspondent), Ann Curry (American news correspondent), Kristi Yamaguchi (Olympic ice skater), and the girl from Karate Kid Part II. I was also told that I resembled others, including Shannon Doherty when she was on Little House on the Prairie. But that was nothing compared to what would happen during middle school.

Shannon Doherty during her "Little House" years.

In 1988, a new television show called The Wonder Years began to air. There was a character named "Winnie Cooper" on it, who was the sweet girl-next-door type. Apparently, my resemblance to Winnie was strong, because it inspired complete strangers to gleefully point at me and shout, "Winnie!" in very public places. They would often begin talking to me as if they were my closest friends. At one point, this problem had grown so large that for each hour I was out and about, anywhere from 6 to 12 strangers would approach me with their discovery that I looked like Winnie.

Winnie Cooper from "Wonder Years".

While The Wonder Years' popularity was beginning to wind down, Shannon Doherty reared her similar head again, this time in a TV show called Beverly Hills 90210. This show was even more popular than Wonder Years, and people thought I looked like Shannon more than ever.

Shannon and her character, Brenda, both shared the characteristic of having rather abrasive personalities. Because Wonder Years and 90210 shared a couple of overlapping years, people I encountered would treat me differently according to which one they thought I looked like (i.e. some people were very nice and some were very rude).

Shannon Doherty during her "90210" years.

In time, Shannon got fired from her show, Wonder Years disappeared from television, I grew my bangs out (bangs = fringe for some of you), dyed my hair jet black and worked at getting the perfect coppertone tan. By this point, I had graduated from high school. There was a brief period of calm before the storm.

In 1995, Disney came out with an animated motion picture called Pocahontas. (I bet you can guess what happened then.) Children would enthusiastically approach me, asking, "Are you the real Pocahontas?" And I would crush their spirits with a terse, "No." Friends and enemies alike would harass me with questions like, "Can you paint with all the colors of the wind?" and "What's John Smith like in bed?" I was a grown woman and people were comparing me to a cartoon!

Disney's Pocahontas.

After I got married and began to have children, people rarely told me that I looked like anyone, as they were more concerned with how it was possible for me to have a child with blue eyes. It appeared I had finally escaped my curse.

However, when I arrived in Japan 2 years ago, I was told I had yet another twin. This one was named Becky. Who was this "Becky"? Was she another ALT? Was she a foreign movie star? Or was she--God forbid--another cartoon?

It turns out that Becky is an uber-genki 21-year-old Japanese television talent who appears in variety shows and ad campaigns. She was born in Japan to a Japanese mother and a British father. So we have the hafu (half Japanese) thing in common. Other than that, I see very little resemblance.

"Becky", J -talent.

Initially I was embittered that my twin curse seemed to have caught up with me halfway around the world. But that was before I realized that virtually EVERY foreigner in Japan is designated a twin by Japanese people. It is almost a required rite of passage.

Other ALTs are told they are dead ringers for celebrities like Mariah Carey, Julia Roberts or Tom Cruise. My husband's twin while he's in Japan is Ben Affleck (with whom he shares no real resemblance).

So, perhaps there is no uncommon likeness I share with Becky. But even if there is, I figure I can't complain too much about looking like a female who's 10 years my junior, even if she is annoyingly cheery.