I find the idea (that having particular job experience could kill my market worth) intriguing, given that I could always just leave the job off my resume.
In some places gaps in your CV are a big problem, as they want to know exactly what you were doing and why you were not employable. The idea that you might have chosen to take time out is pretty new in some areas.
Could you really? I presume most employers will ask you what did you do in that omitted period. At least listening to Career Tools podcast gave me that impression.
Have a look at the workplace stack overflow to see the sort of problems Asian developers face "horrific" is how it was describe to me.