The most Japaneezy states in the UnionMarch 4th, 2006 by Joe Jones |
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The U.S. states/wannabe states where you’re most likely to find Japanese people:
- Hawaii: 1.70% (20,590 / 1,211,537)
- California: 0.33% (112,212 / 33,871,648)
- Washington: 0.29% (16,396 / 5,894,121)
- Nevada: 0.20% (3,935 / 1,998,257)
- Oregon: 0.19% (6,351 / 3,421,399)
- New York: 0.17% (32,034 / 18,976,457)
- Massachusetts: 0.14% (8,682 / 6,349,097)
- New Jersey: 0.13% (11,245 / 8,414,350)
- District of Columbia: 0.13% (749 / 572,059)
- Maryland: 0.12% (5,354 / 4,296,486)
And the lowest? Puerto Rico, with only 183 Japanese people—0.004%. Pitiful.
Source: 2000 U.S. census data, translated by this dude, and brought to my attention by someone on the Philadelphia mixi board who was complaining about Pennsylvania being ranked 39. (Cross the river to Jersey and enjoy your shrimp chips, dang it.)
March 4th, 2006 at 9:32 pm
The Hawai’i figure grossly understates the “japaneeziness” of these islands: Americans of Japanese descent make up the single largest ethnic group in the state, a plurality but not a majority. As a result, certain Japanese customs—flying Carp for Boy’s Day, removing shoes indoors, etc.—are considered “Hawaiian” now.
California, similarly, has both a substantial Japanese-descended population as well as the cultural remains of wave after wave of modern Japonisme.
March 4th, 2006 at 9:46 pm
A Japanese friend went to Hawaii for 6 weeks for something school related. Naturally wanting to practice his English, he was frustrated by shop keepers who universally spoke at least basic transactional Japanese, and eventually started pretending that he was Korean. For the frustrated foreigners in Japan, don’t forget that it sometimes goes the other way too.
March 5th, 2006 at 5:34 am
Being from OC, I was drawn first to the California number, which seemed a bit low because I was thinking that by “Japaneeziness” you meant also ethnic Japanese. When I realized my mistake, it then suddenly occurred to me that 112,000+ Japanese citizens in California seems awfully high. But hey, that’s great. The more, the merrier.
And since we’re including “wannabe states,” what are the numbers for Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands? It would seem they might beat DC at least, especially in percentage.
March 5th, 2006 at 10:24 am
Unfortunately, Micronesia is not included in these statistics…
March 5th, 2006 at 11:06 am
750 Japanese in DC seems so low. I feel like I’ve met more than that here. There are certainly way way more than that living around MD and VA, and there are a good number of students here at the various universities. I wonder what exactly they are counting? Green card holders?