What kind of "ese"?

An American and a Japanese were sitting on the plane on the way to LA when the American turned to the Japanese  and asked, "What kind of 'ese' are you?"

The Japanese confused, replied, "Sorry, but I don't understand what you mean."

The American repeated, "What kind of 'ese' are you?"  Again, the Japanese was confused over the question. The American, now irritated, loudly repeated, "Jeez, how tough is this -- what kind of 'ESE' are you?  Are you
ChinESE or JapanESE or VietnamESE . . . ?

The Japanese gentleman replied, "Oh, I see. I'm Japanese."

"Well, ok, now we're getting somewhere," the American said.

A little while later, the Japanese man asked, "Excuse me, but what kind of 'key' are you?"

"What?  What the hell do you mean?" the irritated American answered.

"You know, a monKEY or a donKEY or just a typical YanKEE?"