In an August 2 article on efforts by young Japanese Americans to honor their ethnic heritage, the New York Times has quoted Larry Hajime Shinagawa, director of the Center for the Study of Culture, Race, and Ethnicity.
The article noted that Japanese Americans, who once made up the largest Asian group in the United States, have been overtaken by a wave of immigrants from other parts of Asia, including China, South Korea, and the Philippines.
The author of Atlas of American Diversity and Asian Americans: Experiences and Perspectives, Shinagawa told the Times that Japanese-American ethnicity is being diluted by "outmarriage," mostly to whites and other Asians. He said that most Japanese Americans face only two choices: assimilating into "whiteness" or adopting a "pan-Asian" identity.
The article has been distributed by the New York Times News Service and has been picked up by the International Herald Tribune and Taipei Times, among other newspapers.
Contributed by David Maley
