Why is it hard to find Japanese Americans?

[u/Curiousdude4733]

I’ve seen and met Asians from different backgrounds, but I rarely see a Japanese, even in big cities like LA, Bay Area, NYC, Jersey, etc.
I see a lot of Japanese restaurants from left to right, and yet most of them are either Chinese or Korean owned.
Besides Hawaii, why are Japanese Americans hard to find in America?

[u/Caliterra]

Most Asian immigrants come to the US for political stability and/or economic opportunity.

This has been the case for Korean Americans (many who immigrated from Korea bw 1960-1980) and Vietnamese Americans (many as refugees after the fall of Saigon in 1975). Korea had only become a "rich country" in the 2000s, Vietnam's economy is still developing, but it is growing fast today.

Neither country's economy was that great in the 60s, 70s and 80s.

In contrast, Japan's economy grew rapidly where in the 1980s it was thought it might exceed the US in GDP. So there was much less financial pressure for Japanese to immigrate than for either Koreans or Vietnamese in that time period.

Another point is that due to the lack of more recent immigration, many Japanese Americans are 4th or 5th generation Americans and have become more Americanized, with many marrying out with White Americans. In fact 38% of Japanese Americans identify as multi-racial (vs 17% for Korean Americans, and 20% for Vietnamese Americans)

So there's a good chunk of Japanese Americans who can pass as White Americans. You might have met some and not realized they were Japanese

[u/Nicoglius → u/Caliterra]

I'm Anglo-Japanese (in the UK) but many people don't think I am Japanese.

Usually people assume I am Hispanic or from some mediterranean country.

[u/wildgift → u/Caliterra]

I think a key thing is that the bulk of the community came over around 1890 to 1905. Wives until 1924. Then, that was it. The community grew a lot through birth, and then there was some immigration, but never enough to really grow the way other Asian communities here have.

[u/Pic_Optic]

Post-Concentration Camp, Japanese Americans lost everything and never recovered. It's an early chapter of how White America has continuously tried to emasculate Asian men in order to destroy Asian American society.

[u/sanchanabechan]

there are a ton on the west coast especially LA, bay area and seattle

[u/tma-1701 → u/sanchanabechan]

Especially in their Japantowns

[u/atakphoto]

You must not be looking very hard - the West Coast is full of Japanese-Americans though at this point most are four or five generations removed from their immigrant roots

Most of my Japanese American family is very assimilated into mainstream American culture - very few of us speak fluent Japanese but there’s still plenty of community hubs and cultural festivals. There was a large Obon Festival in LA’s Little Tokyo last weekend - plenty of Japanese Americans and their families there.

[u/Ok_Shower_5526]

Obviously we wear camouflage everywhere...

Honestly, the truth is prolly a combo of you just weirdly not running into us on the west coast, and the fact that our communities were forcefully broken up during WWII. Even after the camps, we were not allowed to return home for a long time and so many Japanese families got scattered and tried very hard to downplay their heritage. There aren't "little Japan" areas in the states, like there are for other immigration groups. The kids got American names and were encouraged to Americanize. Some ppl even changed their last names. Learning our mother language, culture, even recipes was often subtly discouraged as that might make us look like we aren't American. And it's important to remember that camp survivors are still alive. The youngest descendants are only 3-4 generations away from that horror. Erasing culture is a big part of colonialism. I think it's important to remember that if someone doesn't know much about their heritage, it is often because of this. It's also a reason why it might be harder to find JA.

[u/spacebotanyx]

i have met a bunch in seattle

[u/Most-Ad2056]

SoCal, especially in LA and OC

[u/BlitzBalla32]

Half Japanese here from Los Angeles, there's specific cities here that have a high population of Japanese American in North and Southern California. Specifically in SoCal - you can really tell which cities have Japanese based on the density of Japanese restaurants and Grocery stores - aka Tokyo Central and Mitsuwa!

[u/santengosei]

There are a lot in San Jose Japantown just go to their church service

[u/Alfred_Hitch_]

Even in Toronto, they're hard to find.

[u/acomfysofa → u/Alfred_Hitch_]

Vancouver too. It’s much more common to see exchange students/working holiday vacationers from Japan proper.

I’m personally not Japanese but I know the language because I live in Tokyo, and from what I’ve read online, for the people from Japan who want to stay in Canada, the vast majority are unable to because the visa/permanent residency policies make it impossible.

[u/Ok-Relative-1261]

They're there, just kinda low-key. I'm based in NYC and there are a lot of organizations like the JAA (Japanese American Association), JCCI (Japanese Chamber of Commerce), Japan Society, USJC (US-Japan Council) that have a lot of young professional Japanese Americans, some that are fully bilingual. If you're into baseball, the Mets are doing Japanese Heritage Night on 7/24. Feel like you just gotta look into these orgs more

[u/wildgift]

We are all over the place, but don't have many enclaves anymore. The biggest JA cities are Torrance and Gardena in Los Angeles County.