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.

Notable Japanese Americans

After Hawai'i's statehood in 1959, Japanese American political empowerment took a step forward with the election of Daniel K. Inouye to Congress. Inouye's success led to the gradual acceptance of Japanese American leadership on the national stage, culminating in the appointments of Eric Shinseki and Norman Y. Mineta, the first Japanese American military chief of staff and federal cabinet secretary, respectively. Many Japanese Americans have also gained prominence in the arts, sciences, and sports, including Minoru Yamasaki, architect of the World Trade Center, which was famously attacked by Islamic terrorists resulting in nearly 3,000 killed; Ellison Onizuka, the first Asian American astronaut and the mission specialist aboard Challenger at the time of its explosion; and Olympic gold medalist Kristi Yamaguchi.

Related Topics:
Hawai'i - 1959 - Daniel K. Inouye - Eric Shinseki - Norman Y. Mineta - Chief of staff - Cabinet secretary - Minoru Yamasaki - World Trade Center - Ellison Onizuka - Astronaut - Olympic - Kristi Yamaguchi

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• List of Japanese Americans