I'm not Asian and can't speak for anybody who is, but I do spend a lot of time thinking about language.
I'm around 40 and it would never occur to me to describe someone as "oriental." My dad or grandfather might have used the term, but it doesn't stand out in my mind. Oriental seems to have fallen out of common usage in favor of "Asian."
My guess is that oriental implied mysteriousness and absolute difference for colonizing Europeans. Saying Asian is more objectively descriptive--it identifies a region without suggesting a stance.
I'm around 40 and it would never occur to me to describe someone as "oriental." My dad or grandfather might have used the term, but it doesn't stand out in my mind. Oriental seems to have fallen out of common usage in favor of "Asian."
My guess is that oriental implied mysteriousness and absolute difference for colonizing Europeans. Saying Asian is more objectively descriptive--it identifies a region without suggesting a stance.