Japanese American

Japanese Americans are a group of people who trace their ancestry to Japan or Okinawa and are residents and/or citizens of the United States. Japan is a western Pacific Ocean multi-archipelagic nation east of the China in Asia. Japanese Americans are a subgroup of East-Asian Americans which is further a subgroup of Asian Americans. Okinawa, a former independent nation, was annexed by Japan in the late nineteenth century.

Cultural Profile

Generations

Japanese Americans have special names for each of its generations in the United States. The first generation born in Japan or Okinawa, is called Issei (一世). The second generation is Nisei (二世), third is Sansei (三世), fourth is Yonsei (四世) and fifth is Gosei (五世). The term Nikkei was coined by Japanese American sociologists and encompasses the entire population across generations.

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Languages

Issei and Nisei speak Japanese or Okinawan in addition to English 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 Hawai'i 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 public schools as early as the second grade. Japanese subtexts are provided on place signs, public transportation, and civic facilities. The Hawai'i media market has many locally-produced Japanese language newspapers and magazines. Stores that cater to the tourist industry often have Japanese-speaking personnel.

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Education

Japanese American culture places great value on the education of its youth. Across generations, parents tend to push their children to study for long hours and venture into advanced subjects. As a result of such cultural pressure, math and reading scores on standardized testing exceed national averages. They fill gifted classrooms and have the largest showing of any ethnic group in nationwide Advanced Placement testing each year.

Related Topics:
Standardized testing - Advanced Placement

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Japanese Americans however face stereotyping when it comes to educational skills. The American public has tended to place unreasonably high expectations in the intellectual capacities of Japanese Americans. In reality, the ratio between gifted versus normal intellectual capacity is about the same with whites.

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Most Japanese Americans enter the military and/or obtain advanced college degrees. Japanese Americans once again face stereotyping as dominating the sciences in colleges and universities across the United States. In reality, there is equal distribution of Japanese Americans across academic disciplines in the arts and humanities in addition to the sciences.

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Economics

As a result of Japanese American educational prowess, the community as a whole tends to enjoy above average economic well being. However, with the exception of Hawai'i, Japanese Americans still face racial discrimination in non-government and non-medical industries.

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Religion

Japanese Americans are typically Christians. Only a small minority are also followers of Mahayana Buddhism, Zen Buddhism and sectarian Shinto.

Related Topics:
Christians - Mahayana Buddhism - Zen Buddhism - Shinto

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After Filipino Americans, Japanese Americans are the second largest Asian Christian community. The church is one of the most important cultural foundations for Japanese Americans. In California, Hawai'i and Washington, congregations can be comprised entirely of Japanese Americans. In the rest of the country they tend to be accepted in white dominated churches.

Related Topics:
Church - California - Hawai'i - Washington

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Celebrations

Japanese Americans tend to discard original religious values for most of its cultural celebrations and holidays. Instead, such celebrations are sectarian in nature and focus on the community-sharing aspects. An important annual festival for Japanese Americans is the Bon Festival which happens in July or August of each year. Across the country, Japanese Americans gather on fair grounds 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.

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