Thread
it’s so funny to me when writers use the term “almond eyes” to mean “east asian” because like. i don’t know about other countries in asia but at least japan has a boatload of terms to describe eye shape. for example, here are some fairly common terms:
切れ長 (kirenaga), lit. “cut long.” kirenaga eyes are long and thin, but they can be either monolids or double eyelids. kirenaga eyes are often considered aloof or sexy (as opposed to cute). kirenaga are also associated with traditional eastern beauty in japan.
examples of kirenaga eyes in real people and anime include: wonho (solo k-pop artist, former monsta x), kuroki meisa (actress), giyuu (kny), lust (fma) 
丸目or まんまる目 (marume or manmarume), lit. “round eyes.” marume are the opposite of kirenaga eyes. as the name suggests, they’re big and round. marume are considered cute and childlike.
examples: jungkook (bts), aragaki yui (actress), deku (bnha), every love live character
examples: jungkook (bts), aragaki yui (actress), deku (bnha), every love live character
たれ目 (tareme), lit. “droopy eyes.” tareme are when the outer corner of the eye “droops” down and is lower than the inner corner of the eye. tareme are often considered cute or gentle. examples: tanaka kei (actor), arimura kasumi (actress), makoto (free), nobara (jujutsu kaisen) 
つり目 (tsurime), lit. “hung/lifted eyes.” tsurime are the opposite of tareme. the outer corner of the eye is higher than the inner corner, so it looks like the eyes are angled. tsurime are considered alluring and are often associated with a “fox face” look.
examples of tsurime: yeji (itzy), i.n (stray kids), kageyama (haikyuu), fubuki (opm) 
三白眼 (sanpakugan), lit. “eye with 3 whites.” this is when the iris is small enough that some of the white of the eye is visible above or below the iris. this means the white is visible on 3 sides of the iris instead of 2. sanpakugan is often considered intimidating or intense.
a lot of anime characters have sanpakugan but that seems more due to some authors’ drawing styles than anything. for example, pretty much all one piece and bnha characters technically have sanpakugan.
examples of sanpakugan: jennie (blackpink), v (bts)
yamato (idolish7) (in i7 i’m pretty sure yamato’s eyes are referred to as sanpakugan in canon which is why i included him)
yamato (idolish7) (in i7 i’m pretty sure yamato’s eyes are referred to as sanpakugan in canon which is why i included him)
糸目・細目 (itome, hosome), lit. “string eyes” or “thin eyes.” so basically just very thin eyes. i wouldn’t call the terms super positive, but i wouldn’t consider them as derogatory as english “slit eyed.” itome/hosome are also often associated with “fox eyes” and tsurime.
the terms itome and hosome are also more common in anime/fandom than irl. examples of itome/hosome: hoshino gen (singer), konishi manami (actress), gin (bleach), todoroki (working!!) 
for describing eyelids, we have 一重 (monolids), 二重 (double eyelids), and 奥二重 (okubutae). okubutae are double eyelids where the upper eyelid skin hangs down over the lower part, so they often look similar to monolids. i think in english they’re sometimes called “hooded”?
the actress yoshitaka yuriko has okubutae 
many of these can also be used together! for example, both of these characters have tareme but leona (left) has kirenaga eyes while ruggie (right) has marume. 
lastly, "almond eye" also exists as a loanword in japanese! but people seem to use it to indicate a specific eye shape and not just "east asian eyes." here's a graphic from the cosmetic company "lips" explaining the difference between "almond eyes" (left) and tsurime (right) 
okay i did not expect people to latch onto this thread so i want to clarify: i'm japanese american and have lived in japan for a handful of years. i also read a lot of fiction in japanese. all of these terms are fairly common in fiction.
except for itome/hosome, it's unlikely a japanese person in japan would be offended by any of these terms. HOWEVER the diaspora has different experiences and it depends on the person. i am not suggesting you just replace every instance of "almond eye" with one of these terms.
this thread is just because i thought it was super neat that although many non-asian people describe all asian eye shapes in the same way, in some asian countries there are so many terms for eye shape! it's an interesting difference and i'm a language nerd!
