East Asians in America: Chinese, Japanese, and Southeast Asian Ethnic Landscapes

Abstract

The history of immigration from Asia has been marked by racial exclusion and for the Japanese, internment during World War II. In contrast, over the past several decades, only Hispanics have rivaled the number of Asian immigrants. This chapter focuses upon describing the population distributions and ethnic landscapes of the Chinese-Americans, the Japanese-Americans, and the Vietnamese and Hmong immigrants from Southeast Asia. It emphasizes both the historic urban Chinatowns and the contemporary establishment of new Chinese enclaves in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York City and elsewhere. It notes the expansion of Chinatowns in cities, such as New York and Chicago, where they were previously much more restricted. The chapter also describes the significance of Japanese and Chinese immigration to Hawaii, where these groups have evolved a clearly distinct landscape best shown by their religious structures. It also reviews the recent impacts of the settlement of refugees from Southeast Asia upon the landscape, both in California which has long had significant Asian populations as well as in two Upper Great Lake states, where the Hmong have now become the largest minority group within many counties. The chapter briefly discusses the expanding ethnic populations of Koreans, Filipinos, and South Asians in the United States.