South Asians to seek freedoms in U.S. society, such as
Sri Lankan Tamils and Filipinos.
The biggest contributors to the Asian American
population, however, remained India and China.
During the 1980’s, the Asian Indian and Chinese
populations in the United States grew in similar pro-
portions as the Vietnamese and Korean ones. The
West Coast of the United States, particularly Califor-
nia, and the Pacific state of Hawaii were key regions
of settlement for Asians.
In the 1990 census, San Francisco led major cities
in the continental United States in Asian American
population, with about 29 percent reporting Asian
ancestry. It was followed by Los Angeles, with about
10 percent, and New York City, with about 7 percent.
The state with the highest percentage of Asian
Americans in its population was Hawaii, with more
than 64 percent of people in Honolulu describing
themselves as Asian.
Japanese Americans Close geographical proxim-
ity to East Asia and mass migration from Japan with
the end of the fascist government following World
War II paved the way for Hawaii and California as key
migrant destinations. On a political level, several
landmark events during the 1980’s transformed the
relationship between United States and Japan and
encouraged increased growth of the Japanese Amer-
ican population. Under the leadership of U.S. presi-
dent Ronald Reagan and through congressional leg-
islation, the United States made several agreements
to reconcile America’s infamous role in Japanese
American internment during World War II. In 1980,
for instance, Congress passed the Commission on
Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians
Act, which was initiated to investigate injustices done
to Japanese Americans in World War II internment
camps. Similar efforts culminated in 1988 when
President Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act,
which offered a formal apology to Japanese Ameri-
cans for internment as well as monetary reparations.
Japanese Americans witnessed great changes in
their population during the 1980’s. Japanese Ameri-
cans are often described in terms of three genera-
tional stages of migration from Japan: Issei (first
immigrants from Japan), Nisei (their children), and
Sansei (grandchildren of Issei). The 1980’s wit-
nessed a large Issei population and maturing of the
Nisei and Sansei Japanese Americans from the post-
World War II Japanese immigration. Each of these
generational groups influenced a unique cultural
mixture to the American society.
The 1980’s also witnessed a resurgence of indus-
trial regions in United States with strong Japanese
ties that influenced growth in the Japanese Ameri-
can population. In Detroit, growth of the automo-
bile industry influenced higher levels of competition
as well as collaboration between American and Japa-
nese automakers. The cultural exchanges that fol-
lowed resulted in unique cultural cross-fertilization
between the two nations, with Japanese Americans
in Detroit as key facilitators in these exchanges.
American jazz music, synonymous with the U.S.
South, was accepted in the Japanese community, re-
sulting in a Japanese American fusion jazz that ap-
pealed to both cultural groups. Baseball, regarded as
America’s pastime, became quite popular in Japan,
and Japanese baseball attracted more than twenty
million fans toward the end of 1980’s.
From San Francisco to Detroit, Japanese Ameri-
cans shared their rich cultural heritage in many
ways. With their predominately Buddhist religion
and annual Obon festival to commemorate their an-
cestors, Japanese Americans helped transform the
American perception of Japan. A key aspect of this
change was in the tourism business, and in 1980’s
Japanese Americans encouraged their fellow Ameri-
cans to visit their ancestral homeland with the slogan
“Exotic Japan,” much different from the simple “Dis-
cover Japan” theme of the 1970’s.Chinese Americans As the initial Asian migrant
group, Chinese Americans share a special relation-
ship with the United States that goes back to 1850
when the first Chinese Filipino migrants landed at
Angel Island in California. Migrants of Chinese eth-
nicity assimilating to American culture were not en-
tirely from mainland China. Vietnamese, Cambo-
dian, and Laotian refugees during the post-Vietnam
War years were largely of Chinese ethnicity.
The years leading up to the 1980’s witnessed a
rapid transformation in the perception of Chinese
Americans by the mainland Chinese and conse-
quently the immigration and subsequent assimila-
tion of the Chinese in the United States. Mao Ze-
dong’s Cultural Revolution of the 1960’s and 1970’s
had regarded Chinese Americans as “capitalistic
traitors.” This attitude changed when Deng Xiao-
ping became China’s leader in 1981. He viewed Chi-
nese Americans as key players, not rivals, and as a74 Asian Americans The Eighties in America