are

Americans Americans are the Citizenship of the United States, citizens and United States nationality law, nationals of the United States, United States of America.; ; Although direct citizens and nationals make up the majority of Americans, many Multi ...

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

ancestry. Japanese Americans were among the three largest

Asian American Asian Americans are Americans of Asian ancestry (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of such immigrants). Although this term had historically been used for all the indigenous people ...

ethnic communities during the 20th century; but, according to the 2000 census, they have declined in number to constitute the sixth largest Asian American group at around 1,469,637, including those of partial ancestry. According to the 2010 census, the largest Japanese American communities were found in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

with 272,528,

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

with 185,502,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

with 37,780,

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

with 35,008,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

with 17,542 and

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

with 16,995. Southern California has the largest Japanese American population in North America and the city of Gardena holds the densest Japanese American population in the 48 contiguous states.

History

Immigration

People from

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

began migrating to the US in significant numbers following the political, cultural, and social changes stemming from the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

in 1868. These early

Issei is a Japanese-language term used by ethnic Japanese in countries in North America and South America to specify the Japanese people who were the first generation to immigrate there. are born in Japan; their children born in the new country are ...

immigrants came primarily from small towns and rural areas in the southern Japanese prefectures of

Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui h ...

, Yamaguchi,

Kumamoto is the capital city of Kumamoto Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, Japan. , the city has an estimated population of 738,907 and a population density of 1,893 people per km2. The total area is 390.32 km2. had a population of 1,461,000, ...

, and

Fukuoka is the sixth-largest city in Japan, the second-largest port city after Yokohama, and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since ancie ...

and most of them settled in either

or along the

West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to: Geography Australia * Western Australia *Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia * West Coast, Tasmania **West Coast Range, mountain range in the region Canada * Britis ...

. The Japanese population in the United States grew from 148 in 1880 (mostly students) to 2,039 in 1890 and 24,326 by 1900. Nyssa, Oregon

In 1907, the

Gentlemen's Agreement A gentlemen's agreement, or gentleman's agreement, is an informal and legally non-binding agreement between two or more parties. It is typically oral, but it may be written or simply understood as part of an unspoken agreement by convention or th ...

between the governments of Japan and the United States ended immigration of Japanese unskilled workers, but permitted the immigration of businessmen, students and spouses of Japanese immigrants already in the US. Prior to the Gentlemen's Agreement, about seven out of eight ethnic Japanese in the continental United States were men. By 1924, the ratio had changed to approximately four women to every six men. Japanese immigration to the U.S. effectively ended when Congress passed the

Immigration Act of 1924 The Immigration Act of 1924, or Johnson–Reed Act, including the Asian Exclusion Act and National Origins Act (), was a United States federal law that prevented immigration from Asia and set quotas on the number of immigrants from the Eastern ...

which banned all but a token few Japanese people. The earlier

Naturalization Act of 1790 The Naturalization Act of 1790 (, enacted March 26, 1790) was a law of the United States Congress that set the first uniform rules for the granting of United States citizenship by naturalization. The law limited naturalization to "free White ...

restricted naturalized United States citizenship to free white persons, which excluded the Issei from citizenship. As a result, the Issei were unable to vote and faced additional restrictions such as the inability to own land under many state laws. Due to these restrictions, Japanese immigration to the United States between 1931 and 1950 only totaled 3,503 which is strikingly low compared to the totals of 46,250 people in 1951–1960, 39,988 in 1961–70, 49,775 in 1971–80, 47,085 in 1981–90, and 67,942 in 1991–2000. Because no new immigrants from Japan were permitted after 1924, almost all pre-World War II Japanese Americans born after this time were born in the United States. This generation, the

Nisei is a Japanese-language term used in countries in North America and South America to specify the ethnically Japanese children born in the new country to Japanese-born immigrants (who are called ). The are considered the second generation, ...

, became a distinct cohort from the Issei generation in terms of age, citizenship, and English-language ability, in addition to the usual generational differences. Institutional and interpersonal racism led many of the Nisei to marry other Nisei, resulting in a third distinct generation of Japanese Americans, the

Sansei is a Japanese and North American English term used in parts of the world such as South America and North America to specify the children of children born to ethnic Japanese in a new country of residence. The ''nisei'' are considered the second g ...

. Significant Japanese immigration did not occur again until the

Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, also known as the Hart–Celler Act and more recently as the 1965 Immigration Act, is a federal law passed by the 89th United States Congress and signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson. The l ...

ended 40 years of bans against immigration from Japan and other countries. In the last few decades, immigration from Japan has been more like that from

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. The numbers involve on average 5 to 10 thousand per year, and is similar to the amount of immigration to the US from Germany. This is in stark contrast to the rest of Asia, where better opportunity of life is the primary impetus for immigration.

Internment and redress

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, an estimated 120,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese nationals or citizens residing on the

West Coast of the United States The West Coast of the United States, also known as the Pacific Coast, Pacific states, and the western seaboard, is the coastline along which the Western United States meets the North Pacific Ocean. The term typically refers to the contiguous U.S ...

were forcibly interned in ten different camps across the

Western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the Wes ...

. The internment was based on the race or ancestry, rather than the activities of the interned. Families, including children, were interned together. and 5,000 were able to "voluntarily" relocate outside the exclusion zone; Japanese-American camp, war emergency evacuation, (Tule Lake Relocation Center, Newell, Calif

Japanese-American camp, war emergency evacuation, (Tule Lake Relocation Center, Newell, Calif

In 1948, the Evacuation Claims Act provided some compensation for property losses, but the act required documentation that many former inmates had lost during their removal and excluded lost opportunities, wages or interest from its calculations. Less than 24,000 filed a claim, and most received only a fraction of the losses they claimed. Four decades later, the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 officially acknowledged the "fundamental violations of the basic civil liberties and constitutional rights" of the internment. Many Japanese-Americans consider the term internment camp a

euphemism A euphemism () is an innocuous word or expression used in place of one that is deemed offensive or suggests something unpleasant. Some euphemisms are intended to amuse, while others use bland, inoffensive terms for concepts that the user wishes ...

and prefer to refer to the forced relocation of Japanese-Americans as imprisonment in concentration camps. Webster's New World Fourth College Edition defines a concentration camp: "A prison camp in which political dissidents, members of minority ethnic groups, etc. are confined."

Cultural profile

Generations

The nomenclature for each of their generations who are citizens or long-term residents of countries other than Japan, used by Japanese Americans and other nationals of Japanese descent are explained here; they are formed by combining one of the

Japanese numbers The Japanese numerals are the number names used in Japanese. In writing, they are the same as the Chinese numerals, and large numbers follow the Chinese style of grouping by 10,000. Two pronunciations are used: the Sino-Japanese (on'yomi) readi ...

corresponding to the

generation A generation refers to all of the people born and living at about the same time, regarded collectively. It can also be described as, "the average period, generally considered to be about 20–⁠30 years, during which children are born and gr ...

with the Japanese word for generation (''sei'' 世). The Japanese American communities have themselves distinguished their members with terms like ''Issei'', ''Nisei'', and ''Sansei'', which describe the first, second, and third generations of immigrants. The fourth generation is called ''Yonsei'' (四世), and the fifth is called ''Gosei'' (五世). The term '' Nikkei'' (日系) encompasses Japanese immigrants in all countries and of all generations. The ''

kanreki Hwangap () in Korean, in Japanese or Jiazi () in Chinese, is a traditional way of celebrating one's 61st birthday in Korea. It is technically the 60th birthday, but in Korean age, the person would be celebrating their 61st. The number 60 means a ...

'' (還暦), a pre-modern Japanese

rite of passage A rite of passage is a ceremony or ritual of the passage which occurs when an individual leaves one group to enter another. It involves a significant change of status in society. In cultural anthropology the term is the Anglicisation of ''rite ...

to old age at 60, is now being celebrated by increasing numbers of Japanese American ''Nisei.'' Rituals are enactments of shared meanings, norms, and values; and this traditional Japanese rite of passage highlights a collective response among the Nisei to the conventional dilemmas of growing older.

Languages

''Issei'' and many ''nisei'' speak

in addition to

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

as a second language. In general, later generations of Japanese Americans speak English as their first language, though some do learn Japanese later as a second language. In Hawaii however, where Nikkei are about one-fifth of the whole population, Japanese is a major language, spoken and studied by many of the state's residents across ethnicities. It is taught in private Japanese language schools as early as the second grade. As a courtesy to the large number of Japanese tourists (from Japan), Japanese characters are provided on place signs, public transportation, and civic facilities. The Hawaii media market has a few locally produced Japanese language newspapers and magazines, although these are on the verge of dying out, due to a lack of interest on the part of the local (Hawaii-born) Japanese population. Stores that cater to the tourist industry often have Japanese-speaking personnel. To show their allegiance to the US, many ''nisei'' and ''sansei'' intentionally avoided learning Japanese. But as many of the later generations find their identities in both Japan and America or American society broadens its definition of cultural identity, studying Japanese is becoming more popular than it once was.

Education

The Japanese-American residents of the camp in of Nyssa, Oregon elect the council members

Japanese American culture places great value on education and culture. Across generations, children are often instilled with a strong desire to enter the rigors of higher education. Math and reading scores on the

SAT The SAT ( ) is a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States. Since its debut in 1926, its name and scoring have changed several times; originally called the Scholastic Aptitude Test, it was later called the Schola ...

and ACT may often exceed the national averages. Japanese Americans have the largest showing of any ethnic group in nationwide

Advanced Placement Advanced Placement (AP) is a program in the United States and Canada created by the College Board which offers college-level curricula and examinations to high school students. American colleges and universities may grant placement and course ...

testing each year. A large majority of Japanese Americans obtain post-secondary degrees and are often confronted with the "

model minority A model minority is a minority demographic (whether based on ethnicity, race or religion) whose members are perceived as achieving a higher degree of socioeconomic success than the population average, thus serving as a reference group to outgroup ...

" stereotype, a characterization that first gained media attention during the 1960s. Among its earlier proponents, sociologist

William Petersen William Louis Petersen (born February 21, 1953) is an American actor and producer. He is best known for his role as Gil Grissom in the CBS drama series ''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'' (2000–2015), for which he won a Screen Actors Guild Aw ...

, writing in 1966 on Japanese American success, stated that "They have established this remarkable record, moreover, by their own almost totally unaided effort. Every attempt to hamper their progress resulted only in enhancing their determination to succeed." Although their numbers have declined slightly in recent years, Japanese Americans are still a prominent presence in Ivy League schools, the top

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

campuses including

Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California * George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer ...

and

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

, and other elite universities. The 2000 census reported that 40.8% of Japanese Americans held a college degree.

Schools for Japanese Americans and Japanese nationals

A Japanese school opened in Hawaii in 1893 and other Japanese schools for temporary settlers in North America followed.Endo, R. (

Hamline University Hamline University is a private liberal arts college in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Founded in 1854, Hamline is known for its emphasis on experiential learning, service, and social justice. The university is named after Bishop Leonidas Lent Hamline o ...

). "Realities, Rewards, and Risks of Heritage-Language Education: Perspectives from Japanese Immigrant Parents in a Midwestern Community." ''

Bilingual Research Journal The ''Bilingual Research Journal'' is a triannual peer-reviewed academic journal covering bilingualism. The journal was established in 1975 and is published by Routledge. The current editors-in-chief are Dr. María E. Fránquiz and Emeritus Profe ...

'', 2013, Vol.36(3), p.278-294. CITED: p. 279. In the years prior to World War II, many second generation Japanese American attended the American school by day and the Japanese school in the evening to keep up their Japanese skill as well as English. Other first generation Japanese American parents were worried that their child might go through the same discrimination when going to school so they gave them the choice to either go back to Japan to be educated, or to stay in America with their parents and study both languages. Anti-Japanese sentiment during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

resulted in public efforts to close Japanese-language schools. The 1927 Supreme Court case ''

Farrington v. Tokushige ''Farrington v. Tokushige'', 273 U.S. 284 (1927), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States unanimously struck down the Territory of Hawaii's law, making it illegal for schools to teach foreign languages without a permit, as it v ...

'' protected the Japanese American community's right to have Japanese language private institutions. During the

internment of Japanese Americans Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...

in World War II many Japanese schools were closed. After the war many Japanese schools reopened.Endo, R. (

). "Realities, Rewards, and Risks of Heritage-Language Education: Perspectives from Japanese Immigrant Parents in a Midwestern Community." ''

'', 2013, Vol.36(3), p.278-294. CITED: p. 280. There are primary school-junior high school Japanese international schools within the United States. Some are classified as ''

nihonjin gakkō , also called Japanese school, is a full-day school outside Japan intended primarily for Japanese citizens living abroad. It is an expatriate school designed for children whose parents are working on diplomatic, business, or education missions o ...

'' or Japanese international schools operated by Japanese associations, and some are classified as ''

Shiritsu zaigai kyōiku shisetsu ''Zaigai kyōiku shisetsu'' ( 在外教育施設 "Overseas educational institution"), or in English, Japanese international school or overseas Japanese school, may refer to one of three types of institutions officially classified by the Ministry ...

'' ( 私立在外教育施設) or overseas branches of Japanese private schools.私立在外教育施設一覧
().

Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology The , also known as MEXT or Monka-shō, is one of the eleven Ministries of Japan that composes part of the executive branch of the Government of Japan. Its goal is to improve the development of Japan in relation with the international community ...

. Retrieved on March 1, 2015. They are:

Seigakuin Atlanta International School was an international, private, Christian elementary school located in Peachtree Corners, Georgia, United States, northeast of Atlanta, It is an affiliate to Seigakuin University,Lively, Kit.EDUCATION IS MADE IN JAPAN, EXPORTED TO ATLANTA" ''Orlan ...

Chicago Futabakai Japanese School , alternately in Japanese , is a Japanese elementary and junior high day school and Saturday education program in Arlington Heights, Illinois near Chicago. As of 1988 it is sponsored by the Japanese Ministry of Education, now the Ministry of Edu ...

Japanese School of Guam The is a Japanese international school in Mangilao, Guam. It includes both day school and weekend supplementary school divisions, and the school also holds Japanese language classes. As of April 2013 Toyohito Yoneyama is the chairperson of the sc ...

, Nishiyamato Academy of California near

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

Japanese School of New Jersey is a private school, Japanese school located in Oakland, New Jersey, United States in the New York City metropolitan area. It is one of the two Japanese day schools operated by the Japanese Educational Institute of New York (JEI; ニューヨー� ...

, and

New York Japanese School , also known as The Greenwich Japanese School (GJS), is a Japanese elementary and junior high school,Keio Academy of New York is a private high school in Purchase, Harrison, New York in the New York City metropolitan area. It is sponsored by Keio University,Lyman, Rick.THE JAPANESE WAY IN A QUIET NEW YORK SCHOOL, 463 CHILDREN OF \ JAPAN'S CORPORATE ELITE GET A PROPER EDU ...

, is near

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. It is a ''Shiritsu zaigai kyōiku shisetsu''. There are also supplementary Japanese educational institutions (''hoshū jugyō kō'') that hold Japanese classes on weekends. They are located in several US cities.北米の補習授業校一覧（平成25年4月15日現在）
"

. Retrieved on May 5, 2014. The supplementary schools target Japanese nationals and second-generation Japanese Americans living in the United States. There are also Japanese heritage schools for third generation and beyond Japanese Americans.Endo, R. (

). "Realities, Rewards, and Risks of Heritage-Language Education: Perspectives from Japanese Immigrant Parents in a Midwestern Community." ''

'', 2013, Vol.36(3), p.278-294. CITED: p. 281. Rachel Endo of

, the author of "Realities, Rewards, and Risks of Heritage-Language Education: Perspectives from Japanese Immigrant Parents in a Midwestern Community," wrote that the heritage schools "generally emphasize learning about Japanese American historical experiences and Japanese culture in more loosely defined terms".Endo, R. (

). "Realities, Rewards, and Risks of Heritage-Language Education: Perspectives from Japanese Immigrant Parents in a Midwestern Community." ''

'', 2013, Vol.36(3), p.278-294. CITED: p. 282.

Tennessee Meiji Gakuin High School (1989–2007) was a Japanese education system boarding high school located in Sweetwater, Tennessee. The school, a part of Meiji Gakuin ( 学校法人明治学院) and affiliated with the Japanese Presbyterian institution Meiji Gakuin University ...

(''shiritsu zaigai kyōiku shisetsu'') and

International Bilingual School The was an international bilingual day school in Palos Verdes Estates, California, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, serving students in Kindergarten through grade 9.Park, Andrew. "The ABCs of Asian schools." '' Transpacific'', Transpacific Me ...

(unapproved by the

Japanese Ministry of Education The , also known as MEXT or Monka-shō, is one of the eleven Ministries of Japan that composes part of the executive branch of the Government of Japan. Its goal is to improve the development of Japan in relation with the international community. ...

or MEXT) were full-time Japanese schools that were formerly in existence.

Religion

Japanese Americans practice a wide range of religions, including

Mahayana Buddhism ''Mahāyāna'' (; "Great Vehicle") is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, texts, philosophies, and practices. Mahāyāna Buddhism developed in India (c. 1st century BCE onwards) and is considered one of the three main existing bra ...

(

Jōdo Shinshū , also known as Shin Buddhism or True Pure Land Buddhism, is a school of Pure Land Buddhism. It was founded by the former Tendai Japanese monk Shinran. Shin Buddhism is the most widely practiced branch of Buddhism in Japan. History Shinran ( ...

Jōdo-shū , also known as Jōdo Buddhism, is a branch of Pure Land Buddhism derived from the teachings of the Japanese ex-Tendai monk Hōnen. It was established in 1175 and is the most widely practiced branch of Buddhism in Japan, along with Jōdo Shi ...

Nichiren Nichiren (16 February 1222 – 13 October 1282) was a Japanese Buddhist priest and philosopher of the Kamakura period. Nichiren declared that the Lotus Sutra alone contains the highest truth of Buddhist teachings suited for the Third Age of B ...

Shingon file:Koyasan (Mount Koya) monks.jpg, Shingon monks at Mount Koya is one of the major schools of Buddhism in Japan and one of the few surviving Vajrayana lineages in East Asia, originally spread from India to China through traveling monks suc ...

, and

Zen Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...

forms being most prominent) their majority faith,

Shinto Shinto () is a religion from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shintois ...

, and

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

(usually

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

). In many ways, due to the longstanding nature of Buddhist and Shinto practices in Japanese society, many of the cultural values and traditions commonly associated with Japanese tradition have been strongly influenced by these religious forms. USA-San Jose-Betsuin Buddhist Church-1

A large number of the Japanese American community continue to practice

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

in some form, and a number of community traditions and festivals continue to center around Buddhist institutions. For example, one of the most popular community festivals is the annual

Obon Festival or just is fusion of the ancient Japanese belief in ancestral spirits and a Japanese Buddhist custom to honor the spirits of one's ancestors. This Buddhist–Confucian custom has evolved into a family reunion holiday during which people retu ...

, which occurs in the summer, and provides an opportunity to reconnect with their customs and traditions and to pass these traditions and customs to the young. These kinds of festivals are mostly popular in communities with large populations of Japanese Americans, such as

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

and

. A reasonable number of Japanese people both in and out of Japan are secular, as Shinto and Buddhism are most often practiced by rituals such as marriages or funerals, and not through faithful worship, as defines religion for many Americans. Many Japanese Americans also practice Christianity. Among mainline denominations the Presbyterians have long been active. The First Japanese Presbyterian Church of San Francisco opened in 1885. Los Angeles Holiness Church was founded by six Japanese men and women in 1921. There is also the Japanese Evangelical Missionary Society (JEMS) formed in the 1950s. It operates Asian American Christian Fellowships (AACF) programs on university campuses, especially in California. The Japanese language ministries are fondly known as "Nichigo" in Japanese American Christian communities. The newest trend includes Asian American members who do not have a Japanese heritage.

Celebrations

An important annual festival for Japanese Americans is the

, which happens in July or August of each year. Across the country, Japanese Americans gather on fair grounds, churches and large civic parking lots and commemorate the memory of their ancestors and their families through folk dances and food. Carnival booths are usually set up so Japanese American children have the opportunity to play together. Japanese American celebrations tend to be more sectarian in nature and focus on the community-sharing aspects.

Politics

Japanese Americans have shown strong support for Democratic candidates in recent elections. Shortly prior to the

2004 US presidential election The 2004 United States presidential election was the 55th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 2, 2004. The Republican ticket of incumbent President George W. Bush and his running mate incumbent Vice President Dick Chene ...

, Japanese Americans narrowly favored

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician and diplomat who currently serves as the first United States special presidential envoy for climate. A member of the Forbes family and the Democratic Party (Unite ...

by a 42% to 38% margin over

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

. In the

2008 US presidential election The 2008 United States presidential election was the 56th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 4, 2008. The Democratic ticket of Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, and Joe Biden, the senior senator from ...

, the

National Asian American Survey National Asian American Survey is a nonpartisan organization that conducts representative surveys of the political and social preferences of the Asian American and Pacific Islander population in the United States. Professor Karthick Ramakrishnan o ...

found that Japanese Americans favored

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

by a 62% to 16% margin over

John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American politician and United States Navy officer who served as a United States senator from Arizona from 1987 until his death in 2018. He previously served two terms ...

, while 22% were still undecided. In the 2012 presidential election, majority of Japanese Americans (70%) voted for Barack Obama. In the 2016 presidential election, majority of Japanese Americans (74%) voted for Hillary Clinton. In pre-election surveys for the 2020 presidential election, 61% to 72% of Japanese Americans planned to vote for Joe Biden.

Genetics

Risk for inherited diseases

Studies have looked into the risk factors that are more prone to Japanese Americans, specifically in hundreds of family generations of Nisei (''The generation of people born in North America, Latin America, Hawaii, or any country outside Japan either to at least one Issei or one non-immigrant Japanese parent)'' second-generation pro-bands (''A person serving as the starting point for the genetic study of a family, used in medicine and psychiatry).'' The risk factors for genetic diseases in Japanese Americans include coronary heart disease and diabetes. One study, called the Japanese American Community Diabetes Study that started in 1994 and went through 2003, involved the pro-bands taking part to test whether the increased risk of diabetes among Japanese Americans is due to the effects of Japanese Americans having a more westernized lifestyle due to the many differences between the United States of America and Japan. One of the main goals of the study was to create an archive of DNA samples which could be used to identify which diseases are more susceptible in Japanese Americans. Concerns with these studies of the risks of inherited diseases in Japanese Americans is that information pertaining to the genetic relationship may not be consistent with the reported biological family information given of Nisei second generation pro-bands. Also, research has been put on concerning apolipoprotein E genotypes; this polymorphism has three alleles (*e2, *e3, and *e4)and was determined from research because of its known association with increased cholesterol levels and risk of coronary heart disease in Japanese Americans. Specifically too, the apolipoprotein *e4 allele is linked to Alzheimer's disease as well. Also, there is increased coronary heart disease in Japanese-American men with a mutation in the cholesterol ester transfer protein gene despite having increased levels of HDL. By definition, HDL are plasma high density lipoproteins that show a genetic relationship with coronary heart disease (CHD). The cholesterol ester transfer protein(CETP) helps the transfer of cholesterol esters from lipoproteins to other lipoproteins in the human body. It plays a fundamental role in the reverse transport of cholesterol to the liver, which is why a mutation in this can lead to coronary heart disease. Studies have shown that the CETP is linked to increased HDL levels. There is a very common pattern of two different cholesterol ester transfer protein gene mutations (D442G, 5.1%; intron 14G:A, 0.5%) found in about 3,469 Japanese American men. This was based on a program called the Honolulu Heart Program. The mutations correlated with decreased CETP levels (-35%) and increased HDL cholesterol levels (+10% for D442G). The relative risk of CHD was 1.43 in men with mutations (P<0.05), and after research found for CHD risk factors, the relative risk went up to 1.55 (P=0.02); after further adjustments for HDL levels, the relative risk went up again to 1.68 (P=0.008). Genetic CETP deficiency is an independent risk factor for coronary heart disease, which is due mainly to increased CHD risks in Japanese American men with the D442G mutation and lipoprotein cholesterol levels between 41 and 60 mg/dl. With research and investigations, the possibility of finding "bad genes" denounces the Japanese Americans and will be associated only with Japanese American ancestry, leading to other issues the Japanese Americans had to deal with in the past such as discrimination and prejudice.

Japanese Americans by state

Alaska

California

In the early 1900s, Japanese Americans established fishing communities on

Terminal Island Terminal Island, historically known as Isla Raza de Buena Gente, is a largely artificial island located in Los Angeles County, California, between the neighborhoods of Wilmington and San Pedro in the city of Los Angeles, and the city of Long Be ...

and in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

. By 1923, there were two thousand Japanese fishermen sailing out of Los Angeles Harbor. By the 1930s, legislation was passed that attempted to limit Japanese fishermen. Still, areas like San Francisco's

Japantown is a common name for Japanese communities in cities and towns outside Japan. Alternatively, a Japantown may be called J-town, Little Tokyo or , the first two being common names for Japantown, San Francisco, Japantown, San Jose and Little To ...

managed to thrive. Due to the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, historically Japanese areas fell into disrepair or became adopted by other minority groups (in the case of Black and Latino populations in Little Tokyo). Boats owned by Japanese Americans were confiscated by the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...

. One of the vessels owned by a Japanese American, the ''Alert'', built in 1930, became YP-264 in December 1941, and was finally struck from the

Naval Vessel Register The ''Naval Vessel Register'' (NVR) is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from t ...

in 2014. When Japanese Americans returned from internment, many settled in neighborhoods where they set up their own

community centers Community centres, community centers, or community halls are public locations where members of a community tend to gather for group activities, social support, public information, and other purposes. They may sometimes be open for the whole co ...

in order to feel accepted. Today, many have been renamed cultural centers and focus on the sharing of Japanese culture with local community members, especially in the sponsorship of

Obon or just is fusion of the ancient Japanese belief in ancestral spirits and a Japanese Buddhist custom to honor the spirits of one's ancestors. This Buddhist–Confucian custom has evolved into a family reunion holiday during which people retu ...

festivals. The city of Torrance in

Greater Los Angeles Greater Los Angeles is the second-largest metropolitan region in the United States with a population of 18.5 million in 2021, encompassing five counties in Southern California extending from Ventura County in the west to San Bernardino Coun ...

has headquarters of Japanese automakers and offices of other Japanese companies. Because of the abundance of Japanese restaurants and other cultural offerings are in the city, and Willy Blackmore of ''

L.A. Weekly ''LA Weekly'' is a free weekly alternative newspaper in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Jay Levin, who served as president and editor until 1991. Voice Media Group sold the paper in late 2017 to Semanal Media LLC, whose paren ...

'' wrote that Torrance was "essentially Japan's 48th

prefecture A prefecture (from the Latin ''Praefectura'') is an administrative jurisdiction traditionally governed by an appointed prefect. This can be a regional or local government subdivision in various countries, or a subdivision in certain international ...

Connecticut

The Japanese School of New York , also known as The Greenwich Japanese School (GJS), is a Japanese elementary and junior high school,Greenwich, Connecticut Greenwich (, ) is a New England town, town in southwestern Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the town had a total population of 63,518. The largest town on Connecticut's Gold Coast (Conne ...

in Greater New York City; it had formerly been located in

. There is also the

Japanese Language School of Greater Hartford The Japanese Language School of Greater Hartford (JLGH; , ) is a supplementary Japanese language school located in the Greater Hartford area of Connecticut. It is Connecticut's oldest hoshū jugyō kō. The school has 74 students as of Septemb ...

, located in

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...

Georgia

The

is located in

Peachtree Corners Peachtree Corners is a city in Gwinnett County, Georgia, United States. It is part of the Atlanta metropolitan area, and is the largest city in Gwinnett County with a population of 42,243 as of the 2020 US Census. Peachtree Corners is the only ...

Greater Atlanta Metro Atlanta, designated by the United States Office of Management and Budget as the Atlanta–Sandy Springs–Alpharetta, GA Metropolitan Statistical Area, is the most populous metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. state of Georgia and the ...

Hawaii

Illinois

As of 2011 there is a Japanese community in Arlington Heights, near

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. Jay Shimotake, the president of the Mid America Japanese Club, an organization located in Arlington Heights, said "Arlington Heights is a very convenient location, and Japanese people in the business environment know it's a nice location surrounding

O'Hare airport Chicago O'Hare International Airport , sometimes referred to as, Chicago O'Hare, or simply O'Hare, is the main international airport serving Chicago, Illinois, located on the city's Northwest Side, approximately northwest of the Loop business ...

."Selvam, Ashok.
Asian population booming in suburbs
." ''

Daily Herald Daily or The Daily may refer to: Journalism * Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks * ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times'' * ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...

'' (

Arlington Heights, Illinois Arlington Heights is a municipality in Cook County with a small portion in Lake County in the U.S. state of Illinois. A suburb of Chicago, it lies about northwest of the city's downtown. Per the 2020 Census, the population was 77,676. Per the ...

). March 6, 2011. Retrieved on June 19, 2013. The

is located in Arlington Heights. The

Mitsuwa Marketplace is a Asian supermarket, Japanese supermarket chain in America, with locations in California, Illinois, Texas, Hawaii, and New Jersey. History As a subsidiary of Yaohan, ''Yaohan USA'' opened its first supermarket in Fresno, California, Fresno ...

, a shopping center owned by Japanese, opened around 1981. Many Japanese companies have their US headquarters in nearby

Hoffman Estates Hoffman Estates is a village (Illinois), village in Illinois, United States. The village is located primarily in Cook County, Illinois, Cook County, with a small section in Kane County, Illinois, Kane County. It is a suburb of Chicago. Per the 2 ...

and

Schaumburg Schaumburg is a district (''Landkreis'') of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by (clockwise from the north) the districts of Nienburg, Hanover and Hamelin-Pyrmont, and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (districts of Lippe and Minden-Lübbe ...

Massachusetts

There is a Japanese School of Language in Medford. Another, the Amherst Japanese Language School, is in South Hadley, in the 5-college area of the western part of the state.Most Japanese-Americans in the state live in Greater Boston, with a high concentration in the town of Brookline.

Porter Square, Boston Porter may refer to: Companies * Porter Airlines, Canadian regional airline based in Toronto * Porter Chemical Company, a defunct U.S. toy manufacturer of chemistry sets * Porter Motor Company, defunct U.S. car manufacturer * H.K. Porter, Inc ...

has a Japanese-cultural district and shopping plaza.

Michigan

As of April 2013, the largest Japanese national population in

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

is in Novi, with 2,666 Japanese residents, and the next largest populations are respectively in

Ann Arbor Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna (name), Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah (given name), Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie (given name), ...

, West Bloomfield Township,

Farmington Hills Farmington Hills is a city in Oakland County, Michigan, Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. Part of the affluent suburbs northwest of Metro Detroit, Detroit, Farmington Hills is the second most-populated city in Oakland County, after Tro ...

, and

Battle Creek Battle Creek is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan, in northwest Calhoun County, at the confluence of the Kalamazoo and Battle Creek rivers. It is the principal city of the Battle Creek, Michigan Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), which encom ...

. The state has 481 Japanese employment facilities providing 35,554 local jobs. 391 of them are in Southeast Michigan, providing 20,816 jobs, and the 90 in other regions in the state provide 14,738 jobs. The Japanese Direct Investment Survey of the

Consulate-General of Japan, Detroit The is a diplomatic mission of Japan. It is located in Suite 1600 Tower 400 of the GM Renaissance Center in Downtown Detroit, Michigan. Its jurisdiction includes the states of Michigan and Ohio. The Japanese government proposed opening the consu ...

stated that over 2,208 more Japanese residents were employed in the State of Michigan as of October 1, 2012, than had been in 2011.

New Jersey

As of March 2011 about 2,500 Japanese Americans combined live in Edgewater and Fort Lee; this is the largest concentration of Japanese Americans in the state. The

New Jersey Japanese School is a private school, Japanese school located in Oakland, New Jersey, United States in the New York City metropolitan area. It is one of the two Japanese day schools operated by the Japanese Educational Institute of New York (JEI; ニューヨ� ...

is located in

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...

. Paramus Catholic High School hosts
weekend Japanese school
and Englewood Cliffs has
Japanese school
Other smaller Japanese American populations are also located in the remainder of

Bergen County Bergen County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Mitsuwa Marketplace is a Asian supermarket, Japanese supermarket chain in America, with locations in California, Illinois, Texas, Hawaii, and New Jersey. History As a subsidiary of Yaohan, ''Yaohan USA'' opened its first supermarket in Fresno, California, Fresno ...

has a location in Edgewater that also houses a mini shopping complex.

New York

Oregon

Rhode Island

Rhode Island is the only state celebrating Victory Over Japan Day (V-J Day) as a holiday. Every year, the holiday is observed on the second Monday in August. It has been claimed that this holiday is racially-based and negatively affects Japanese American citizens in RI and other states in the U.S., ignoring traumas caused by the history of the internment camp and deaths of between 129,000 and 226,000 civilians and lasting radiation poisoning due to the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It is reported that in Rhode Island, some Japanese "are uncomfortable leaving their homes on Victory Day because they fear violence."

Virginia

There are about 5,500 Japanese Americans in

Northern Virginia Northern Virginia, locally referred to as NOVA or NoVA, comprises several counties and independent cities in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. It is a widespread region radiating westward and southward from Washington, D.C. Wit ...

, representing the majority of Japanese Americans in the state and the multi-state Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area. A small, but relatively high number of Japanese Americans can be found areas surrounding the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

and

Virginia Tech Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also ...

Washington

Neighborhoods and communities

Japanese Village Plaza, Little Tokyo (19293489684)

West

: * California: **

: ***

Anaheim Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orange County, the 10th-most p ...

and

Orange County Orange County most commonly refers to: *Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area Orange County may also refer to: U.S. counties *Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando *Orange County, Indiana *Orange County, New ...

. *** Cerritos,

Hawaiian Gardens Hawaiian Gardens is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the smallest city in the county in area (approximately 1.0 mi2) and was incorporated on April 9, 1964. The population was 14,254 at the 2010 census, down fro ...

and adjacent cities. ***

Fontana Fontana may refer to: Places Italy *Fontana Liri, comune in the Province of Frosinone *Fontanafredda, comune in the Province of Pordenone *Fontanarosa, comune in the Province of Avellino *Francavilla Fontana, comune in the Province of Brindisi * ...

in the

Inland Empire The Inland Empire (IE) is a metropolitan area and region inland of and adjacent to coastal Southern California, centering around the cities of San Bernardino and Riverside, and bordering Los Angeles County to the west. It includes the cities o ...

. *** Fullerton in

. *** Gardena in Los Angeles' South Bay area. ***

Lomita Lomita (Spanish for "Little hill") is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 20,921 at the 2020 census, up from 20,256 at the 2010 census. History The Spanish Empire had expanded into this area when the ...

in the L.A. area. ***

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

– historic Japanese fisheries presence in

. ***

, especially the Little Tokyo section. ***

Palm Desert Palm Desert is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, in the Coachella Valley, approximately east of Palm Springs, northeast of San Diego and east of Los Angeles. The population was 48,445 at the 2010 census. The city has been ...

, the Japanese also developed the year-round agricultural industries in the

Coachella Valley , map_image = Wpdms shdrlfi020l coachella valley.jpg , map_caption = Coachella Valley , location = California, United States , coordinates = , width = , boundaries = Salton Sea (southeast), Santa Rosa Mountains (southwest), San Jacint ...

and

Imperial Valley , photo = Salton Sea from Space.jpg , photo_caption = The Imperial Valley below the Salton Sea. The US-Mexican border runs diagonally across the lower left of the image. , map_image = Newriverwatershed-1-.jpg , map_caption = Map of Imperial ...

. ***

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. Its ...

in the Los Angeles'

San Gabriel Valley The San Gabriel Valley ( es, Valle de San Gabriel) is one of the principal valleys of Southern California, lying immediately to the east of the eastern city limits of the city of Los Angeles, and occupying the vast majority of the eastern part ...

. ***

Santa Monica Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing to ...

– esp. Blacks Beach. ***

Sawtelle, California Sawtelle is a district in the Westside of the city of Los Angeles, California, partially within the West Los Angeles subregion. It was established in 1899 and named after a manager of the Pacific Land Company who was initially responsible fo ...

, in West Los Angeles. *** Torrance in Los Angeles' South Bay area, the largest Japanese community in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

and the second largest Japanese community in the U.S. ***

Venice, Los Angeles Venice is a neighborhood of the city of Los Angeles within the Westside region of Los Angeles County, California. Venice was founded by Abbot Kinney in 1905 as a seaside resort town. It was an independent city until 1926, when it was annexed by ...

– historically Japanese fisheries in

Marina Del Rey Marina del Rey (Spanish for "Marina of the King") is an unincorporated seaside community in Los Angeles County, California, with an eponymous harbor that is a major boating and water recreation destination of the greater Los Angeles area. The p ...

. ***

– site of a former Japanese fishing village in Los Angeles Harbor. Notable for a Japanese-English pidgin spoken there before WWII. It was demolished during the War, after its residents were sent to

Manzanar Manzanar is the site of one of ten American concentration camps, where more than 120,000 Japanese Americans were incarcerated during World War II from March 1942 to November 1945. Although it had over 10,000 inmates at its peak, it was one o ...

. **

area: *** University City. *** Chula Vista. *** Japanese community center in

Vista Vista usually refers to a distant view. Vista may also refer to: Software *Windows Vista, the line of Microsoft Windows client operating systems released in 2006 and 2007 *VistA, (Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture) ...

in North County, one of two of its kind in Southern California. **

Central Valley, California The Central Valley is a broad, elongated, flat valley that dominates the interior of California. It is wide and runs approximately from north-northwest to south-southeast, inland from and parallel to the Pacific coast of the state. It covers ...

region: ***

Bakersfield Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's populat ...

Kern County Kern County is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 909,235. Its county seat is Bakersfield. Kern County comprises the Bakersfield, California, Metropolitan statistical area. The county sp ...

. *** Butte County. ***

Fresno Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, maki ...

, 5% of county residents have Japanese ancestry. ***

Livingston, California Livingston is a city in Merced County, California, United States. Livingston is located west-northwest of Atwater, at an elevation of 131 feet (40 m). According to the 2020 census, the city population was 14,172, up from 13,058 in 2010. Living ...

in Merced County. *** Lodi. ***

Merced Merced (; Spanish for "Mercy") is a city in, and the county seat of, Merced County, California, United States, in the San Joaquin Valley. As of the 2020 Census, the city had a population of 86,333, up from 78,958 in 2010. Incorporated on April 1 ...

. *** Stockton. ***

Sutter County Sutter County is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 99,633. The county seat is Yuba City. Sutter County is included in the Yuba City, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area as well as the Sacra ...

. ***

Yuba County Yuba County (; Maidu: ''Yubu'') is a county in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 81,575. The county seat is Marysville. Yuba County is included in the Yuba City, California Metropolitan Statistical A ...

. **

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

, the main concentration of ''Nisei'' and ''Sansei'' in the 20th century: *** Alameda County, concentrated and historic populations in the cities of Alameda, Berkeley, Fremont, Oakland, and Hayward. *** Contra Costa County, concentrated in Walnut Creek. *** San Mateo County, especially Daly City and Pacifica. *** San Jose, has one of the three remaining officially recognized

s in North America. *** Santa Clara County, concentrated in Cupertino, Palo Alto, Santa Clara, and Sunnyvale. ***

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, notably in the Japantown district *** Santa Cruz County. ** Monterey County, especially

Salinas, California Salinas (; Spanish for "Salt Marsh or Salt Flats") is a city in California and the county seat of Monterey County. With a population of 163,542 in the 2020 Census, Salinas is the most populous city in Monterey County. Salinas is an urban area lo ...

. ** Sacramento, and some neighborhoods of Elk Grove, Florin and Walnut Grove. * Washington State: ** Seattle area. ** Bellevue. ** Redmond. ** Tacoma. * Puget Sound region (San Juan Islands) have Japanese fisheries for over a century. *

Skagit Valley The Skagit Valley lies in the northwestern corner of the state of Washington, United States. Its defining feature is the Skagit River, which snakes through local communities which include the seat of Skagit County, Mount Vernon, as well as Sed ...

of Washington. * Yakima Valley, Washington. * Chehalis Valley of Washington. * Oregon: ** Ontario. ** Portland and surrounding area. ** Southern Oregon valleys. ** Willamette Valley. * Idaho: ** Boise Area. ** Caldwell. ** Meridian. ** Nampa. * Arizona: ** Phoenix Area, notably a section of Grand Avenue in Northwest Phoenix, and Maryvale. ** Las Vegas Area, with a reference of Japanese farmers on ''Bonzai Slough'', Arizona near

Needles, California Needles is a city in San Bernardino County, California, in the Mojave Desert region of Southern California. Situated on the western banks of the Colorado River, Needles is located near the Californian border with Arizona and Nevada. The city is a ...

. ** Southern Arizona, part of the "exclusion area" for Japanese internment during World War II along with the Pacific coast states. ** Yuma County/Colorado River Valley. * New Mexico **

Gallup, New Mexico Zuni: ''Kalabwaki'' , settlement_type = City , nickname = "Indian Capital of the World" , motto = , image_skyline = Gallup, New Mexico.jpg , imagesize = 250px , image_caption ...

, in World War II the city fought to prevent the internment of its 800 Japanese residents. * Colorado **

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

, note

Sakura Square Sakura Square ( ja, サクラ・スクエア, ''Sakura Sukuea'') is a small plaza located on the north/east side of the intersection of 19th Street and Larimer Street in Denver, Colorado. The square contains busts of Ralph L. Carr, Governor of C ...

. ** Greeley. **

Pueblo In the Southwestern United States, Pueblo (capitalized) refers to the Native tribes of Puebloans having fixed-location communities with permanent buildings which also are called pueblos (lowercased). The Spanish explorers of northern New Spain ...

. * Utah **

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

Outside the West

In the

Southern Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...

Midwestern The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of the United States. I ...

, and

Northeastern United States The Northeastern United States, also referred to as the Northeast, the East Coast, or the American Northeast, is a geographic region of the United States. It is located on the Atlantic coast of North America, with Canada to its north, the Southe ...

, the

New York metropolitan area The New York metropolitan area, also commonly referred to as the Tri-State area, is the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban area, urban landmass, at , and one of the list of most populous metropolitan areas, most populous urban agg ...

has the highest number of Japanese Americans, followed by the

Washington metropolitan area The Washington metropolitan area, also commonly referred to as the National Capital Region, is the metropolitan area centered on Washington, D.C. The metropolitan area includes all of Washington, D.C. and parts of the states of Maryland, Virgin ...

. *

Arlington, Virginia Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from the District of Columbia, of which it was once a part. The county is ...

and

Alexandria, Virginia Alexandria is an independent city (United States), independent city in the northern region of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of Downto ...

(the

region). *

Bergen County, New Jersey Bergen County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Boone County, Kentucky. * Carmel, Indiana. * Boston, Massachusetts. *

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...

. *

Brookline, Massachusetts Brookline is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, in the United States, and part of the Greater Boston, Boston metropolitan area. Brookline borders six of Boston's neighborhoods: Brighton, Boston, Brighton, A ...

. *

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

and suburbs: ** Arlington Heights. **

Buffalo Grove Buffalo Grove, officially the Village of Buffalo Grove, is a village in Lake and Cook County, Illinois. A suburb of Chicago, it lies about northwest of Downtown Chicago. As of the 2020 Census, Buffalo Grove has a population of 43,212. It tota ...

Elk Grove Village Elk Grove Village is a village in Cook and DuPage counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. Per the 2020 census, the population was 32,812. Located northwest of Chicago along the Golden Corridor, the Village of Elk Grove Village was incorpora ...

. ** Evanston. ** Kane County. **

Naperville Naperville ( ) is a city in DuPage and Will counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is in the Chicago metro area, west of the city. Naperville was founded in 1831 by Joseph Naper. The city was established by the banks of the DuPage river, ...

. **

. ** Skokie. **

Wilmette Wilmette is a village in New Trier Township, Cook County, Illinois, United States. Bordering Lake Michigan and Evanston, Illinois, it is located north of Chicago's downtown district. Wilmette had a population of 27,087 at the 2010 census. The ...

. *

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...

. *

Fayetteville, North Carolina Fayetteville () is a city in and the county seat of Cumberland County, North Carolina, United States. It is best known as the home of Fort Bragg, a major U.S. Army installation northwest of the city. Fayetteville has received the All-America C ...

– close to the

Research Triangle The Research Triangle, or simply The Triangle, are both common nicknames for a metropolitan area in the Piedmont region of North Carolina in the United States, anchored by the cities of Raleigh and Durham and the town of Chapel Hill, home to ...

. *

Grand Prairie, Texas Grand Prairie is a city in Dallas, Tarrant, and Ellis counties of Texas, in the United States. It is part of the Mid-Cities region in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It had a population of 175,396 according to the 2010 census, making it t ...

(the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex area). * Japan, North Carolina – former town bulldozed by dam construction. *

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...

metro area. *

New York City, New York New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, according to the Japanese Embassy of the US, over 100,000 persons of Japanese ancestry live in the NYC metro area, including

South Shore (Long Island) The South Shore of Long Island, in the U.S. state of New York, is the area along Long Island's Atlantic Ocean shoreline. Description Though some consider the South Shore to include parts of Queens, particularly the beach communities in the ...

and Hudson Valley;

Fairfield County, Connecticut Fairfield County is a County (United States), county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is the List of counties in Connecticut, most populous county in the state and was also its fastest-growing from 2010 to 2020. A ...

and

Northern New Jersey North Jersey comprises the northern portions of the U.S. state of New Jersey between the upper Delaware River and the Atlantic Ocean. The designation of northern New Jersey with a distinct toponym is a colloquial one rather than an administrativ ...

. *

Northern Indiana Northern Indiana is a region of the U.S. State of Indiana, including 26 counties which border the states of Illinois, Michigan, and Ohio. Northern Indiana is also considered part of the Great Lakes Megalopolis. The area is generally classified in ...

has a small, but evident Japanese community. *

Novi, Michigan Novi ( ) is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the population was 66,243, an increase of 20% from the 2010 census. A northern suburb of Metro Detroit, Novi is located about northwest of the city of D ...

outside Detroit. *

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

with the suburbs of

Chester County Chester County may refer to: * Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States * Chester County, South Carolina, United States * Chester County, Tennessee, United States * Cheshire or the County Palatine of Chester, a ceremonial county in the North Wes ...

. *

Salem, New Jersey Salem is a city in Salem County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, the city's population was 5,146,

and

Cherry Hill, New Jersey Cherry Hill is a township within Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the township had a population of 74,553, which reflected an increase of 3,508 (+4.94%) from the 71,045 counted in the 2010 census.

(see Delaware Valley). *

Salisbury, Maryland Salisbury () is a city in and the county seat of Wicomico County, Maryland, Wicomico County, Maryland, United States, and the largest city in Eastern Shore of Maryland, the state's Eastern Shore region. The population was 33,050 at the 2020 United ...

and

Ocean City, Maryland Ocean City, officially the Town of Ocean City, is an Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic resort town in Worcester County, Maryland, Worcester County, Maryland along the East Coast of the United States. The population was 6,844 at the 2020 United States cens ...

(see Wicomico County). *

Seabrook Farms, New Jersey Seabrook Farms is an Local government in New Jersey#Unincorporated communities, unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) located within Seabrook, New Jersey, Seabrook, which is in turn located in Upper Deerfield Township, New Jers ...

. *

South Texas South Texas is a region of the U.S. state of Texas that lies roughly south of—and includes—San Antonio. The southern and western boundary is the Rio Grande, and to the east it is the Gulf of Mexico. The population of this region is about 4.96 ...

– Rio Grande Valley had Japanese farmers. *

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

and suburbs in

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

and

. *

Yamato Colony, Florida The Yamato Colony was an attempt to create a community of Japanese farmers in what is now Boca Raton, Florida, early in the 20th century. With encouragement from Florida authorities, young Japanese men were recruited to farm in the colony. There w ...

in South Florida.

Notable people

Politics

After the

Territory of Hawaiʻi The Territory of Hawaii or Hawaii Territory (Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ''Panalāʻau o Hawaiʻi'') was an organized incorporated territories of the United States, organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from Ap ...

's statehood in 1959, Japanese American political empowerment took a step forward with the election of

Daniel K. Inouye Daniel Ken Inouye ( ; September 7, 1924 – December 17, 2012) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from Hawaii from 1963 until his death in 2012. Beginning in 1959, he was the first U.S. representative f ...

to Congress.

Spark Matsunaga Spark Masayuki Matsunaga ( ja, 松永正幸, October 8, 1916April 15, 1990) was an American politician and attorney who served as United States Senator for Hawaii from 1977 until his death in 1990. Matsunaga also represented Hawaii in the U.S. ...

was elected to the US House of Representatives in 1963, and in 1965,

Patsy Mink Patsy Matsu Mink (née Takemoto; December 6, 1927 – September 28, 2002) was an American attorney and politician from the U.S. state of Hawaii. Mink was a third-generation Japanese American, having been born and raised on the island of Maui. ...

became the first Asian American woman elected to the United States Congress. Inouye, Matsunaga, and Mink's success led to the gradual acceptance of Japanese American leadership on the national stage. Federal level appointments include

Eric Shinseki Eric Ken Shinseki (; born November 28, 1942) is a retired United States Army general who served as the seventh United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs (2009–2014). His final United States Army post was as the 34th Chief of Staff of the Arm ...

and

Norman Y. Mineta Norman Yoshio Mineta ( ja, 峯田良雄, November 12, 1931 – May 3, 2022) was an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, Mineta served in the United States Cabinet for Presidents Bill Clinton, a Democrat, and George W. Bush, a R ...

, the first Japanese American military chief of staff and federal cabinet secretary, respectively. As an expansion of immigration continued in 1920, more restrictions on women were put in place.This also came with the push for more Single women to act as continental brides and come to the United States and more to raise up strong Japanese communities by marrying Japanese settlers who lived there. This push also called for women to be trained to best server the household needs, husband and mostly the empire. Japanese American members of the United States House of Representatives have included Daniel K. Inouye, Spark Matsunaga, Patsy Mink, Norman Mineta,

Bob Matsui Robert Takeo Matsui (September 17, 1941 – January 1, 2005) was an American politician from the state of California. Matsui was a member of the Democratic Party and served in the U.S. House of Representatives as the congressman for California's ...

Pat Saiki Patricia Hatsue Saiki (''née'' Fukuda; born May 28, 1930) is an American politician and former educator from Hilo, Hawaii. She served as a Republican in Congress from 1987 to 1991 and then as Administrator of the Small Business Administration un ...

Mike Honda Michael Makoto "Mike" Honda (born June 27, 1941) is an American politician and former educator. A member of the Democratic Party, he served in Congress from 2001 to 2017. Initially involved in education in California, he first became active in ...

Doris Matsui Doris Okada Matsui (; born Doris Kazue Okada; September 25, 1944) is an American politician from the Democratic Party, serving since 2005 in the House of Representatives. She represents (until 2013 numbered the 5th district), covering the city ...

Mazie Hirono Mazie Keiko Hirono (; Japanese name: , ; born November 3, 1947) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the junior United States senator from Hawaii since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, Hirono previously served as a member of the ...

Mark Takano Mark Allan Takano ( ; born December 10, 1960) is an American politician and academic who has been the United States representative for California's 41st congressional district since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, Takano became the first ...

, and

Mark Takai Kyle Mark Takai (July 1, 1967 – July 20, 2016) was an American politician from the state of Hawaii who served in the United States House of Representatives, representing , from 2015 to 2016. He served in the Hawaii House of Representatives ...

. Japanese American members of the United States Senate have included Daniel K. Inouye,

Samuel I. Hayakawa Samuel Ichiye Hayakawa (July 18, 1906 – February 27, 1992) was a Canadian-born American academic and politician of Japanese ancestry. A professor of English, he served as president of San Francisco State University and then as U.S. Senator from ...

, Spark Matsunaga, and Mazie Hirono. In 2010, Inouye was sworn in as

President pro tempore of the United States Senate The president pro tempore of the United States Senate (often shortened to president pro tem) is the second-highest-ranking official of the United States Senate, after the Vice President of the United States, vice president. According to Articl ...

making him the highest-ranking Asian-American politician in American history up to that time.

George Ariyoshi George Ryoichi Ariyoshi ( ja, 有吉良一, born March 12, 1926) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the third governor of Hawaii from 1974 to 1986. A Democrat, he is Hawaii's longest-serving governor and the first American of ...

served as the Governor of Hawaiʻi from 1974 to 1986. He was the first American of Asian descent to be elected governor of a state of the United States.

David Ige David Yutaka Ige (; born January 15, 1957) is an American politician and engineer who served as the eighth governor of Hawaii from 2014 to 2022. A Democrat, he served in the Hawaii State Senate from 1995 to 2014 and the Hawaii House of Represen ...

is the current governor of Hawaii and has served in that office since 2014.

Kinjiro Matsudaira was an American inventor and politician who served as the mayor of Edmonston, Maryland in 1927 and 1943. Biography Matsudaira was born in Pennsylvania on September 13, 1885, as the son of a Japanese father, Tadaatsu, and an American mother, ...

was elected mayor of

Edmonston, Maryland Edmonston is a town in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. As of the 2010 census, the town population was 1,445. The community is located from Washington, D.C. Edmonston's ZIP code is 20781. History The area of present-day Edmon ...

in 1927 and 1943. In 1957, Japanese American

James Kanno James Kanno (December 22, 1925 – July 15, 2017) served as the first mayor of Fountain Valley, California from 1957 to 1962. He was one of the first mayors of Asian descent in the United States. Biography Kanno was born in an unincorporated ...

was elected as the first mayor of California's Fountain Valley. Norm Mineta became mayor of

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...

in 1971. In 1980,

Eunice Sato Eunice Noda Sato (June 8, 1921 – February 12, 2021) was an American politician. She served as mayor of Long Beach, California from 1980 to 1982. As such she was the first Asian-American female mayor of a major American city, as well as the firs ...

became the first Asian-American female mayor of a major American city when she was elected mayor of

Science and technology

Many Japanese Americans have also gained prominence in science and technology. In 1979, biochemist

Harvey Itano Harvey Akio Itano (November 3, 1920 – May 8, 2010) was an American biochemist best known for his work on the molecular basis of sickle cell anemia and other diseases. In collaboration with Linus Pauling, Itano used electrophoresis to demonstra ...

became the first Japanese American elected to the

United States National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

Charles J. Pedersen Charles John Pedersen ( ja, 安井良男, ''Yasui Yoshio'', October 3, 1904 – October 26, 1989) was an American organic chemist best known for describing methods of synthesizing crown ethers during his entire 42-year career as a chemist for D ...

won the 1987 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his methods of synthesizing crown ethers.

Yoichiro Nambu was a Japanese-American physicist and professor at the University of Chicago. Known for his contributions to the field of theoretical physics, he was awarded half of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2008 for the discovery in 1960 of the mechanism ...

won the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on quantum chromodynamics and spontaneous symmetry breaking.

Shuji Nakamura is a Japanese-born American electronic engineer and inventor specializing in the field of semiconductor technology, professor at the Materials Department of the College of Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), and is regar ...

won the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics for the invention of efficient blue light-emitting diodes.

Syukuro Manabe is a Japanese-American meteorologist and climatologist who pioneered the use of computers to simulate global climate change and natural climate variations. He was awarded the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics jointly with Klaus Hasselmann and Giorg ...

won the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics for his contributions to the "physical modeling of earth's climate, quantifying variability and reliably predicting global warming."

Michio Kaku Michio Kaku (, ; born January 24, 1947) is an American theoretical physics, theoretical physicist, futurist, and popular science, popularizer of science (science communicator). He is a professor of theoretical physics in the City College of New ...

is a

theoretical physicist Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain and predict natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental physics, which uses experimen ...

specializing in

string field theory String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * Strings (1991 film), ''Strings'' (1991 fi ...

, and a well-known science popularizer.

Ellison Onizuka was an American astronaut, engineer, and USAF test pilot from Kealakekua, Hawaii, who successfully flew into space with the Space Shuttle ''Discovery'' on STS-51-C. He died in the destruction of the Space Shuttle ''Challenger'', on which he wa ...

became the first Asian American

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

and was the mission specialist aboard ''Challenger'' at the time of its

explosion An explosion is a rapid expansion in volume associated with an extreme outward release of energy, usually with the generation of high temperatures and release of high-pressure gases. Supersonic explosions created by high explosives are known ...

. Immunologist

Santa J. Ono Santa Jeremy Ono ( ja, 小野三太; born November 23, 1962) is a Canadian-American immunologist and academic administrator, currently serving as the 15th president of the University of Michigan since October 2022. Ono previously served as th ...

became the first Japanese American president of a major research university (the

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,00 ...

). Ono subsequently served as president of the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

and

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

. Bell M. Shimada was a notable

fisheries scientist Fisheries science is the academic discipline of managing and understanding fisheries. It is a multidisciplinary science, which draws on the disciplines of limnology, oceanography, freshwater biology, marine biology, meteorology, conservation, ...

of the 1950s after whom the

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditio ...

research ship A research vessel (RV or R/V) is a ship or boat designed, modified, or equipped to carry out research at sea. Research vessels carry out a number of roles. Some of these roles can be combined into a single vessel but others require a dedicated ...

NOAAS ''Bell M. Shimada'' (R 227) and the

Shimada Seamount Shimada Seamount is a seamount in the Pacific Ocean located southwest of Baja California Sur in Mexico. It is a shallow seamount, reaching a depth of below sea level and is a regular single-peaked mountain with a westerly spur and little relief oth ...

in the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

were named. In 2018, Lauren Kiyomi Williams became the second ever tenured female mathematician of the

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

mathematics department.

Art and literature

Art and architecture

Artist

Sueo Serisawa Sueo Serisawa (April 10, 1910 – September 7, 2004) was a Japanese American who became a modernist of the Los Angeles school. Theme/style Serisawa's painting genres included Impressionism, Modernism, Regionalism, Expressionism, and Abstrac ...

helped establish the California Impressionist style of painting.

Yoko Ono Yoko Ono ( ; ja, 小野洋子, Ono Yōko, usually spelled in katakana ; born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking. Ono grew up i ...

Fluxus Fluxus was an international, interdisciplinary community of artists, composers, designers and poets during the 1960s and 1970s who engaged in experimental art performances which emphasized the artistic process over the finished product. Fluxus ...

art and performance art has been exhibited internationally. Other influential Japanese American artists include

Chiura Obata was a well-known Japanese-American artist and popular art teacher. A self-described "roughneck", Obata went to the United States in 1903, at age 17. After initially working as an illustrator and commercial decorator, he had a successful career a ...

Isamu Noguchi was an American artist and landscape architect whose artistic career spanned six decades, from the 1920s onward. Known for his sculpture and public artworks, Noguchi also designed stage sets for various Martha Graham productions, and several ...

Kenjiro Nomura Kenjiro Nomura may refer to: * Kenjiro Nomura (baseball) * Kenjiro Nomura (artist) Kenjiro Nomura (1896–1956) was a Japanese American painter. Immigrating to the United States from Japan as a boy, he became a well-known artist in the Pacific Nor ...

George Tsutakawa George Tsutakawa (February 22, 1910 – December 18, 1997) was an American painter and sculptor best known for his avant-garde bronze fountain designs. Born in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington, he was raised in both the United States ...

George Nakashima George Katsutoshi Nakashima ( ja, 中島勝寿 ''Nakashima Katsutoshi'', May 24, 1905 – June 15, 1990) was an American woodworker, architect, and furniture maker who was one of the leading innovators of 20th century furniture design and a fathe ...

Hideo Noda , also known as Hideo Benjamin Noda and Benjamin Hideo Noda, was a Japanese-American modernist painter and muralist, member of the movement in Japan, student of Arnold Blanch, and uncle of Japanese printmaker Tetsuya Noda, as well as alleged co ...

, and

Ruth Asawa Ruth Aiko Asawa (January 24, 1926 – August 5, 2013) was an American modernist sculptor. Her work is featured in collections at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City.< ...

. Architect

Minoru Yamasaki was an American architect, best known for designing the original World Trade Center in New York City and several other large-scale projects. Yamasaki was one of the most prominent architects of the 20th century. He and fellow architect Edward D ...

designed the original

World Trade Center World Trade Centers are sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association. World Trade Center may refer to: Buildings * List of World Trade Centers * World Trade Center (2001–present), a building complex that includes five skyscrapers, a ...

(completed in 1973) and several other large-scale projects.

Gyo Obata Gyo Obata (小圃暁, February 28, 1923 – March 8, 2022) was an American architect, the son of painter Chiura Obata and his wife, Haruko Obata, a floral designer. In 1955, he co-founded the global architectural firm HOK (formerly Hellmuth, O ...

designed the

National Air and Space Museum The National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, also called the Air and Space Museum, is a museum in Washington, D.C., in the United States. Established in 1946 as the National Air Museum, it opened its main building on the Nat ...

in Washington, D.C (completed in 1976) and the pavilion of the

Japanese American National Museum The is located in Los Angeles, California, and dedicated to preserving the history and culture of Japanese Americans. Founded in 1992, it is located in the Little Tokyo area near downtown. The museum is an affiliate within the Smithsonian Affil ...

in Los Angeles (completed in 1992).

Literature

Miné Okubo paused to have this picture taken (G-828) (cropped)

Japanese American recipients of the

American Book Award The American Book Award is an American literary award that annually recognizes a set of books and people for "outstanding literary achievement". According to the 2010 awards press release, it is "a writers' award given by other writers" and "the ...

include

Milton Murayama Milton Atsushi Murayama (April 10, 1923 – July 27, 2016) was an American novelist and playwright. A Nisei, he wrote the 1975 novel ''All I Asking for Is My Body'', which is considered a classic novel of the experiences of Japanese Americans ...

(1980),

Ronald Phillip Tanaka Ronald Phillip Tanaka (1944–2007) was a Japanese-American poet and editor. Life He was a ''Sansei'' (a third-generation Japanese-American), born in the Poston War Relocation Center in Arizona in 1944 behind barbed wire. He attended Pomona Coll ...

(1982),

Miné Okubo Miné Okubo (; June 27, 1912 – February 10, 2001) was an American artist and writer. She is best known for her book ''Citizen 13660'', a collection of 198 drawings and accompanying text chronicling her experiences in Japanese American internmen ...

(1984),

Keiho Soga Yasutaro (Keiho) Soga (相賀安太郎渓芳, March 18, 1873 Tokyo - March 7, 1957) was a Hawaiian Issei journalist, poet and activist. He was a community leader among Hawaii's Japanese residents, serving as chief editor of the '' Nippu Jiji'', the ...

(1985), Taisanboku Mori (1985),

Sojin Takei Park So-jin (born May 21, 1986), better known mononymously as Sojin, is a South Korean singer and actress. She is best known as the leader of South Korean girl group Girl's Day. Early life and education Park So-jin was born on May 21, 1986 ...

(1985), Muin Ozaki (1985),

Toshio Mori Toshio Mori (March 3, 1910 – 1980) was an American author, best known for being one of the earliest (and perhaps the first) Japanese–American writers to publish a book of fiction. He participated in drawing the UFO Robo Grendizer, the J ...

(1986),

William Minoru Hohri William Minoru Hohri (March 13, 1927 – November 12, 2010) was an American political activist and the lead plaintiff in the National Council for Japanese American Redress lawsuit seeking monetary reparations for the internment of Japanese Amer ...

(1989),

Sesshu Foster Sesshu Foster (born April 5, 1957) is an American poet and novelist. Sesshu Foster is a Japanese-American poet of white and Nisei descent. He grew up on Los Angeles’ East Side and came of age in the primarily Chicano neighborhood of City Ter ...

(1990 and 2010),

Karen Tei Yamashita Karen Tei Yamashita ( ja, 山下てい ; born January 8, 1951) is a Japanese-American writer. Early life Yamashita was born on January 8, 1951, in Oakland, California. Career Yamashita is Professor of Literature at the University of Calif ...

(1991 and 2011),

Sheila Hamanaka Sheila Hamanaka is an American freelance children's author and illustrator. Life Hamanaka is a Sansei Japanese American, the daughter of actor Conrad Yama and Mary Takaoka of the Vaudeville group Taka Sisters. She has two older siblings; the wr ...

(1992),

Lawson Fusao Inada Lawson Fusao Inada (born May 26, 1938) is a Japanese American poet. He was the fifth poet laureate of the state of Oregon. Early life Born May 26, 1938, Inada is a third-generation Japanese American (''Sansei''). His father, Fusaji, worked as a d ...

(1994),

Ronald Takaki Ronald Toshiyuki Takaki (April 12, 1939 – May 26, 2009) was an American academic, historian, ethnographer and author. Born in pre-statehood Hawaii, Takaki studied at the College of Wooster and completed his doctorate in American history at t ...

(1994),

Kimiko Hahn Kimiko Hahn (born July 5, 1955) is an American poet and distinguished professor in the MFA program of Queens College, CUNY. Her works frequently deal with the reinvention of poetic forms and the intersecting of conflicting identities. Biography ...

(1996),

Lois-Ann Yamanaka Lois-Ann Yamanaka (born September 7, 1961) is an American poet and novelist from Hawaii. Many of her literary works are written in Hawaiian Pidgin, and some of her writing has dealt with controversial ethnic issues. In particular, her works confro ...

(2000),

Ruth Ozeki Ruth Ozeki is an American-Canadian author, filmmaker and Zen Buddhist priest. Her books and films, including the novels '' My Year of Meats'' (1998), '' All Over Creation'' (2003), '' A Tale for the Time Being'' (2013), and '' The Book of Form ...

(2004),

Hiroshi Kashiwagi Hiroshi Kashiwagi (November 8, 1922 – October 29, 2019) was a ''Nisei'' (second-generation Japanese American) poet, playwright and actor. For his writing and performance work on stage he is considered an early pioneer of Asian American theatr ...

(2005),

Yuko Taniguchi Yuko Taniguchi (born in Yokohama, Japan) is a Japanese American poet, and novelist. Life She graduated from the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University and from the University of Minnesota with a M.F.A. She teaches at University of ...

(2008), and

Frank Abe Frank or Franks may refer to: People * Frank (given name) * Frank (surname) * Franks (surname) * Franks, a medieval Germanic people * Frank, a term in the Muslim world for all western Europeans, particularly during the Crusades - see Farang Curre ...

(2019).

Hisaye Yamamoto Hisaye Yamamoto (August 23, 1921 – January 30, 2011) was an American author known for the short story collection ''Seventeen Syllables and Other Stories,'' first published in 1988. Her work confronts issues of the Japanese immigrant experience ...

received an American Book Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1986.

Taro Yashima was a Japanese-American artist and children's book author. He immigrated to the United States in 1939 and assisted the U.S. war effort. Early life Iwamatsu was born September 21, 1908, in Nejime, Kimotsuki District, Kagoshima, and raised there o ...

won the

Children's Book Award Children's Book Award is a generic term that has been applied to: * Caldecott Medal, Caldecott Medal, annual "most distinguished American picture book for children" * Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award from the Vermont Department of Lib ...

in 1955 for his book ''Crow Boy''.

Cynthia Kadohata Cynthia Kadohata (born July 2, 1956) is a Japanese American children's writer best known for her young adult novel ''Kira-Kira'' which won the Newbery Medal in 2005. She won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature in 2013 for ''The ...

won the

Newbery Medal The John Newbery Medal, frequently shortened to the Newbery, is a literary award given by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), to the author of "the most distinguished contr ...

in 2005 and

National Book Award for Young People's Literature The National Book Award for Young People's Literature is one of five annual National Book Awards, which are given by the National Book Foundation (NBF) to recognize outstanding literary work by US citizens. They are awards "by writers to writers".< ...

in 2013.

Michi Weglyn Michi Nishiura Weglyn (November 29, 1926 – April 25, 1999) was an American author. Her book ''Years of Infamy: The Untold Story of America’s Concentration Camps'', which was published in 1976, helped fuel a movement leading to reparations ...

and

received the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award in 1977 and 1994 respectively.

Dale Furutani Dale Furutani (born December 1, 1946, in Hilo, Hawaii) is the first Asian American to win major mystery writing awards. He has won the Anthony Award and the Macavity Award and has been nominated for the Agatha Award. His book, ''The Toyotomi B ...

won the

Anthony Award The Anthony Awards are literary awards for mystery writers presented at the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention since 1986. The awards are named for Anthony Boucher (1911–1968), one of the founders of the Mystery Writers of America. Among the m ...

and the

Macavity Award The Macavity Awards are a literary award for mystery writers. Nominated and voted upon annually by the members of the Mystery Readers International, the award is named for the " mystery cat" of T. S. Eliot's ''Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats'' ...

in 1997. Poet laureate of San Francisco (from 2000 to 2002)

Janice Mirikitani Janice Mirikitani (February 5, 1941 – July 29, 2021) was a Japanese–American poet and activist who resided in the San Francisco Bay Area for most of her adult life. She managed the Glide Memorial Church with her husband, Cecil Williams. Sh ...

published three volumes of poems. Lawson Fusao Inada was named poet laureate of the state of

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

(2006–2010).

Tomie Arai Tomie Arai (born 1949) is an American artist and community activist who was born, raised, and is still active in New York City. Her works consist of multimedia site specific art pieces that deal with topics of gender, community, and racial identit ...

's work is part of permanent collection of

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

, and the

Museum of Chinese in the Americas The Museum of Chinese in America (; abbreviated MOCA) is a museum in New York City which exhibits Chinese American history. It is a Nonprofit organization, nonprofit 501(c)(3) education and cultural institution that presents the living history, h ...

Michiko Kakutani Michiko Kakutani (born January 9, 1955) is an American writer and retired literary critic, best known for reviewing books for ''The New York Times'' from 1983 to 2017. In that role, she won the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 1998. Early life ...

is an American

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...

-winning literary critic and former chief book critic for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' (from 1983 to 2017). Karen Tei Yamashita was named the recipient of the National Book Foundation's

Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. The Nat ...

in 2021.

Music

Classical violinist

Midori Gotō , who performs under the mononym Midori, is a Japanese-born American violinist. She made her debut with the New York Philharmonic at age 11 as a surprise guest soloist at the New Year's Eve Gala in 1982. In 1986 her performance at the Tanglewood ...

is a recipient of the prestigious

Avery Fisher Prize The Avery Fisher Prize is an award given to American musicians for outstanding achievement in classical music. Founded by philanthropist Avery Fisher in 1974, it is regarded as one of the most significant awards for American instrumentalists. Th ...

(2001), while world-renowned violinist Anne Akiko Meyers received an Avery Fisher career grant in 1993.

Juno Award The Juno Awards, more popularly known as the JUNOS, are awards presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall of ...

-nominated classical violinist Hidetaro Suzuki was the concertmaster of the

Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra (ISO) is an American orchestra based in Indianapolis, Indiana. The largest performing arts organization in Indiana, the orchestra is based at the Hilbert Circle Theatre in downtown Indianapolis on Monument Circl ...

from 1978 to 2005.

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

-winning singer-songwriter

released 14 studio albums and was named the 11th most successful dance club artist of all time by

Billboard Magazine ''Billboard'' (stylized as ''billboard'') is an American music and entertainment magazine published weekly by Penske Media Corporation. The magazine provides music charts, news, video, opinion, reviews, events, and style related to the music ...

. Other notable Japanese American musicians include singer, actress and Broadway star

Pat Suzuki Pat Suzuki (born Chiyoko Suzuki; September 22, 1930) is an American popular singer and actress, who is best known for her role in the original Broadway production of the musical ''Flower Drum Song'', and her performance of the song "I Enjoy Being ...

; rapper

Mike Shinoda Michael Kenji Shinoda (; ja, 篠田賢治, Shinoda Kenji; born February 11, 1977) is an American musician, singer, rapper, songwriter and record producer. He co-founded the rock band Linkin Park in 1996 and was the band's collaborative vocali ...

Linkin Park Linkin Park is an American rock band from Agoura Hills, California. The band's current lineup comprises vocalist/rhythm guitarist/keyboardist Mike Shinoda, lead guitarist Brad Delson, bassist Dave Farrell, DJ/turntablist Joe Hahn and drummer ...

and

Fort Minor Fort Minor was a hip hop side project by American musician Mike Shinoda, who is better known as the rhythm guitarist, keyboardist, producer, and rapper of the rock band Linkin Park. The project's only album, ''The Rising Tied'', was released in ...

; rapper Kikuo Nishi aka "KeyKool" of

The Visionaries Visionaries is an underground hip hop crew from Los Angeles, California. The crew formed in 1995, and have since released four full-length albums on Up Above Records, and their fifth album "V" on their newly re-formed label Visionaries Crew, In ...

;

Hiro Yamamoto Hiro Yamamoto (born April 13, 1961) is an American bassist who was a founding member of grunge band Soundgarden, along with Kim Thayil and Chris Cornell in 1984. He left the band in 1989, and two years later, he started the independent rock ban ...

, original bassist of

Soundgarden Soundgarden was an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1984 by singer and drummer Chris Cornell, lead guitarist Kim Thayil (both of whom are the only members to appear in every incarnation of the band), and bassist Hiro Yamamo ...

;

ukulele The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings. The tone and volume of the instrumen ...

player

Jake Shimabukuro Jake Shimabukuro (born November 3, 1976) is a Hawaiian ukulele virtuoso and composer known for his fast and complex finger work. His music combines elements of jazz, blues, funk, rock, bluegrass, classical, folk, and flamenco. Shimabukuro has writt ...

; guitarist

James Iha (born March 26, 1968) is an American rock musician. He is best known as a guitarist and co-founder of the alternative rock band the Smashing Pumpkins. He was a member until the initial breakup in 2000. Among his musical projects of recent years ...

The Smashing Pumpkins The Smashing Pumpkins (also referred to as simply Smashing Pumpkins) are an American alternative rock band from Chicago. Formed in 1988 by frontman and guitarist Billy Corgan, bassist D'arcy Wretzky, guitarist James Iha and drummer Jimmy Chamb ...

fame; singer-songwriter

Rachael Yamagata Rachael Yamagata (born September 23, 1977) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist from Arlington, Virginia. She began her musical career with the band Bumpus before becoming a solo artist and releasing five EPs and four studio albums. Her ...

; bilingual singer-songwriter

Emi Meyer Emi Meyer (born March 1987) is a Japanese-born, American-raised jazz pianist and singer-songwriter who is based in Seattle and Tokyo and active in both the Japanese and American markets. Background Meyer was born in Kyoto, Japan, but grew up in ...

; and

Trivium The trivium is the lower division of the seven liberal arts and comprises grammar, logic, and rhetoric. The trivium is implicit in ''De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii'' ("On the Marriage of Philology and Mercury") by Martianus Capella, but the ...

lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist

Matt Heafy Matthew Kiichi Heafy (born January 26, 1986) is an American musician, best known as the guitarist and lead vocalist for heavy metal band Trivium. He was also the lead vocalist for the band Capharnaum, along with Trivium's former producer Jason ...

. Marc Okubo, guitarist of

Veil of Maya Veil of Maya is an American metalcore band, formed in Chicago, Illinois, by members Marc Okubo and Sam Applebaum in 2004. They are currently signed to Sumerian Records and have released six studio albums. Their first four albums are considered ...

, is of Japanese descent. Singer-songwriter and composer

Mari Iijima is a Japanese actress and singer. She writes and produces most of her own music, and plays the piano and other instruments. After being signed to JVC Victor in 1982, Mari first became known for her voice-acting role as Lynn Minmay in the anime ...

is a Japanese expat currently living in the United States.

J-Pop J-pop ( ja, ジェイポップ, ''jeipoppu''; often stylized as J-POP; an abbreviated form of "Japanese popular music"), natively also known simply as , is the name for a form of popular music that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1 ...

singers

Hikaru Utada , who is also known by the mononym Utada, is a Japanese-American pop singer, songwriter and producer. By 2010, Utada had become one of the most influential, and best-selling, musical artists in Japan. Born in the United States to Japanese parent ...

and

Joe Inoue is a Japanese-American rock musician signed to Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Ki/oon Records label. Background and career He was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, to two Japanese immigrants. It was not until middle school that he b ...

were both born in the United States but gained their fame in Japan.

Sports

Japanese Americans first made an impact in Olympic sports in the late 1940s and in the 1950s.

Harold Sakata , better known as Harold Sakata, was an American Olympic weightlifter, professional wrestler, and film actor of Japanese descent. He won a silver medal for the United States at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London in weightlifting, and later b ...

won a weightlifting silver medal in the 1948 Olympics, while Japanese Americans

Tommy Kono Tamio "Tommy" Kono (June 27, 1930 – April 24, 2016) was a Japanese American weightlifter in the 1950s and 1960s. Kono set world records in four different weight classes: lightweight (149 pounds or 67.5 kilograms), middleweight (165 lb or ...

(weightlifting),

Yoshinobu Oyakawa Yoshinobu Oyakawa (born August 9, 1933) is an American former competition swimming (sport), swimmer, Olympic champion, and former world record-holder in the 100-meter backstroke. Oyakawa is considered to be the last of the great "straight-arm-pu ...

(100-meter backstroke), and

Ford Konno Ford Hiroshi Konno (born January 1, 1933) is a Japanese–American former competition swimmer, two-time Olympic champion, and former world record-holder in three events. Konno was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. He attended McKinley High School in Ho ...

(1500-meter freestyle) each won gold and set Olympic records in the 1952 Olympics. Also at the 1952 Olympics,

Evelyn Kawamoto Evelyn Tokue Kawamoto (September 17, 1933 – January 22, 2017), also known by her married name Evelyn Konno, was an American competition swimmer and two-time Olympic medalist. In 1949, Kawamoto broke the American record in the 300-meter ind ...

won two bronze medals in swimming. Konno won another gold and silver swimming medal at the same Olympics and added a silver medal in 1956, while Kono set another Olympic weightlifting record in 1956. Several decades later,

Eric Sato Eric Anthony Sato (born May 5, 1966 in Santa Monica, California) is a former American volleyball player, who was a member of the United States men's national volleyball team that won the gold medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Kore ...

won gold (1988) and bronze (1992) medals in volleyball, while his sister

Liane Sato Liane Lissa Sato (born September 9, 1964 in Santa Monica, California) is a retired female volleyball player from the United States, who won the bronze medal with the USA National Team at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. She also com ...

won bronze in the same sport in 1992.

Bryan Clay Bryan Ezra Tsumoru Clay (born January 3, 1980) is an American decathlete who was the 2008 Summer Olympic champion for the decathlon and was also World champion in 2005. Biography Clay was born in Austin, Texas and raised in Hawaii. He is Afr ...

(mother from Japan) won the decathlon gold medal in the

2008 Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nati ...

, the silver medal in the

2004 Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

, and was the sport's 2005 world champion. Apolo Anton Ohno (father from Japan) won eight Olympic medals in short-track speed skating (two gold) in 2002, 2006, and 2010, as well as a world cup championship. Brothers

Kawika Kawika is a Hawaiian name meaning "David". Notable people with the name include: * Kawika Crowley (born 1952), Japanese-American politician * Kawika Kapahulehua (1930–2007), Hawaiian sailor * Kawika Mitchell (born 1979), American football pla ...

and

Erik Shoji Erik Thomas Shoji (born August 24, 1989) is an American professional volleyball player. He is a member of the US national team, a bronze medalist at the Olympic Games Rio 2016 and the 2018 World Championship, 2014 World League and 2015 World ...

won bronze medals in volleyball in 2016. Michael Norman (mother from Japan) was a member of the gold medal-winning 4 × 400 meters relay at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

in Tokyo, and won an individual gold medal in the 400 meter race at the

2022 World Athletics Championships The 2022 World Athletics Championships was the eighteenth edition of the World Athletics Championships. It was held at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, United States, from July 15–24, 2022, with the country hosting that competition for the f ...

. Swimmers Erica Sullivan and

Jay Litherland Jay Litherland (born August 24, 1995) is an American competition swimmer of both Japanese and New Zealand descent. He represents DC Trident which is part of the International Swimming League. He won the silver medal in the Men's 400 Individual M ...

(both with mothers from Japan) each won silver medals at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. In figure skating,

Kristi Yamaguchi Kristine Tsuya Yamaguchi (born July 12, 1971) is an American former figure skater. In ladies' singles, Yamaguchi is the 1992 Olympic champion, a two-time World champion (1991 and 1992), and the 1992 U.S. champion. In 1992, she became the first ...

, a fourth-generation Japanese American, won three national championship titles (one in singles, two in pairs), two world titles, and the 1992 Olympic gold medal in singles figure skating.

Rena Inoue is a Japanese-born American retired pair skater. With partner John Baldwin, she is the 2004 and 2006 U.S. National Champion. Inoue previously competed for Japan as both a single skater and pair skater. Inoue and Baldwin are the first skaters t ...

, a Japanese immigrant to America who later became a US citizen, competed at the 2006 Olympics in pair skating for the United States.

Kyoko Ina is a Japanese-American figure skater. With partner John Zimmerman, she is the 2002 World bronze medalist and a three-time (2000–2002) U.S. national champion. The pair also competed at the 2002 Winter Olympics. With previous partner Jason Dung ...

, who was born in Japan, but raised in the United States, competed for the United States in singles and pairs, and was a multiple national champion and an Olympian with two different partners. Two-time Olympian

Mirai Nagasu is an American figure skater. She is a 2018 Olympic Games team event bronze medalist, three-time Four Continents medalist (silver in 2016, bronze in 2011 and 2017), the 2007 JGP Final champion, a two-time World Junior medalist (silver in 2007 ...

won the

2008 U.S. Figure Skating Championships The 2008 U.S. Figure Skating Championships took place between January 20 and 27th at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Skaters competed in four disciplines – men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing – acro ...

at the age of 14, becoming the second youngest woman to ever win that title.

Alex Alex is a given name. It can refer to a shortened version of Alexander, Alexandra, Alexis. People Multiple *Alex Brown (disambiguation), multiple people * Alex Gordon (disambiguation), multiple people *Alex Harris (disambiguation), multiple pe ...

and

Maia Shibutani Maia Harumi Shibutani (born July 20, 1994) is an American ice dancer. Partnered with her brother Alex Shibutani, she is a two time 2018 Olympic bronze medalist, a three-time World medalist (silver in 2016, bronze in 2011 and 2017), the 2016 Fou ...

are two-time national champions in

ice dancing Ice dance (sometimes referred to as ice dancing) is a discipline of figure skating that historically draws from ballroom dancing. It joined the World Figure Skating Championships in 1952, and became a Winter Olympic Games medal sport in 1976. Ac ...

and 2018 Olympic bronze medalists. In distance running, Miki (Michiko) Gorman won the

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

and

marathons twice in the 1970s. A former American record holder at the distance, she is the only woman to win both races twice, and is one of only two women to win both marathons in the same year. In professional sports, ''

''-born

Wataru Misaka Wataru Misaka (December 21, 1923 – November 20, 2019) was an American professional basketball player. A point guard of Japanese descent, he broke a color barrier in professional basketball by being the first non-white player and the first p ...

made the

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associat ...

roster in 1947 as the first person of color to play in modern professional basketball, just months after Jackie Robinson had broken the color barrier in Major League Baseball for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Misaka played college basketball for the Utah Utes men's basketball, Utah Utes and led the team to win the 1944 NCAA basketball tournament, 1944 NCAA and 1947 National Invitation Tournament, 1947 NIT championships. He took a two-year hiatus between these titles to serve in the United States Army in the American occupation of Japan. Wally Kaname Yonamine was a professional running back for the San Francisco 49ers in 1947. Lenn Sakata, born in Hawaii, played in the Major League Baseball, MLB from 1977 to 1987. Rex Walters, whose mother was Japanese, played in the NBA from 1993 to 2000. Lindsey Yamasaki was the first Asian American to play in the WNBA and finished off her NCAA career with the third-most career 3-pointers at Stanford University. Hikaru Nakamura became the youngest American ever to earn the titles of National Master (age 10) and International Grandmaster (age 15) in chess. In 2004, at the age of 16, he won the U.S. Chess Championship for the first time. He later won four other times. Collin Morikawa won golf's 2020 PGA Championship and 2021 Open Championship. Naomi Osaka, who held U.S. citizenship until she renounced it in 2019, was the main torchbearer of the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. Osaka resides in the United States. Kyle Larson, born to an American father and Japanese-American mother, won the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series.

Entertainment and media

Miyoshi Umeki won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1957. Actors Sessue Hayakawa, Mako Iwamatsu, and Pat Morita were nominated for Academy Awards in 1957, 1966, and 1984 respectively. Steven Okazaki won the 1990 Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject) for his film ''Days of Waiting: The Life & Art of Estelle Ishigo''. Chris Tashima won the 1997 Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film. Audrey Marrs won the 2010 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. Kazu Hiro won the Academy Award for Best Makeup and Hairstyling in 2018 and 2020, winning the second award as an American citizen. Jack Soo, born Goro Suzuki, (''Valentine's Day (TV series), Valentine's Day'' and ''Barney Miller''), George Takei (''Star Trek'' fame) and Pat Morita (''Happy Days'' and ''The Karate Kid (1984 film), The Karate Kid'') helped pioneer acting roles for Asian Americans while playing secondary roles on the small screen during the 1960s and 1970s. In 1976, Morita also starred in ''Mr. T and Tina'', the first American sitcom centered on a person of Asian descent. Keiko Yoshida appeared on the 1999–2005 TV show ''Zoom (1999 TV series), ZOOM'' on PBS Kids. Gregg Araki (director of independent films) is also Japanese American. Shin Koyamada had a leading role in the Warner Bros. epic movie ''The Last Samurai'' and Disney Channel movie franchise ''Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior'' and TV series ''Disney Channel Games''. Masi Oka played a prominent role in the NBC series ''Heroes (American TV series), Heroes'', Grant Imahara appeared on the Discovery Channel series ''MythBusters'' and Derek Mio appeared in the NBC series ''Day One (TV series), Day One''. Daisuke Tsuji played the Crown Prince in the Amazon original series ''The Man in the High Castle (TV series), The Man in the High Castle'' and as the voice and motion-capture of the main protagonist Jin Sakai in the 2020 video game ''Ghost of Tsushima''. Cary Fukunaga is an Emmy-award-winning filmmaker and writer known for directing and producing the first season of HBO series ''True Detective'' and for directing the 2021 James Bond film ''No Time to Die''. Karen Fukuhara grew up speaking Japanese as her first language and attended Japanese language schools on Saturdays for 11 years. She got her start in the entertainment industry as a host for Disney Channel's ''Movie Surfers'' before she made her film debut in 2016's ''Suicide Squad (film), Suicide Squad'' as Katana (comics), Tatsu Yamashiro / Katana. Fukuhara has since lent her talent to live-action and animated shows such as ''The Boys (TV series), The Boys'', ''She-Ra and the Princesses of Power'' and ''Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts''. Japanese Americans now anchor TV newscasts in markets all over the country. Notable anchors include Tritia Toyota, Adele Arakawa, David Ono, Kent Ninomiya, Lori Matsukawa, an
Rob Fukuzaki

Works about Japanese Americans

* In 2010 Tokyo Broadcasting System, TBS produced a five-part, ten-hour fictional Japanese language miniseries, ''Japanese Americans (miniseries), Japanese Americans''. This featured many of the major events and themes of the Issei and Nisei experience, including emigration, racism, picture brides, farming, pressure due to the China and Pacific wars, internment, a key character who serves in the 442nd, and the ongoing redefinition in identity of what it means to be Japanese and American.

References

Japanese American Historical Society

Densho: The Japanese American Legacy Project

Japanese American Museum
of

Japanese American Network

Japanese-American's own companies in USA

Japanese American Relocation Digital Archives

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110525012332/http://www.floridamemory.com/PhotographicCollection/photo_exhibits/yamato.cfm Photo Exhibit of Japanese American community] in Florida
Nikkei Federation

Discover Nikkei

* [https://www.pbs.org/thewar/at_war_democracy_japanese_american.htm The War: Fighting for Democracy: Japanese Americans]
''"The War Relocation Centers of World War II: When Fear Was Stronger than Justice"'', a National Park Service Teaching with Historic Places (TwHP) lesson plan

* Short radio episode

' from "Lil' Yokohama" by Toshio Mori, 1941. California Legacy Project.
American Life in the 20th Century in Washington State
– University of Washington Digital Collections {{Authority control Japanese American, Japanese-American history Japanese-American culture in Hawaii, History of immigration to Hawaii American people of Japanese descent, Japanese diaspora by country, American Asian-American society East Asian American

History

Immigration

Internment and redress

Cultural profile

Generations

Languages

Education

Schools for Japanese Americans and Japanese nationals

Religion

Celebrations

Politics

Genetics

Risk for inherited diseases

Japanese Americans by state

Alaska

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Neighborhoods and communities

West

Outside the West

Notable people

Politics

Science and technology

Art and literature

Art and architecture

Literature

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Sports

Entertainment and media

Works about Japanese Americans

See also

References

Further reading

In Hawaii

External links