“I Don’t Feel Very Asian American”: Why Aren’t Japanese Americans More Panethnic?

Abstract

Because Japanese Americans are among the oldest Asian American groups, they would be expected to have a high level of panethnicity since they apparently have much in common with other U.S.‐born Asian Americans. However, most Japanese Americans interviewed for this paper did not identify panethnically with their Asian co‐ethnics, but felt separate and distinct as Japanese Americans. Research on panethnicity has not sufficiently examined why some Asian Americans are not panethnic. Although Japanese Americans are homogeneously racialized as “Asians,” they also resist their panethnic racialization by insisting on their distinct identity as Japanese descendants. They also continue to experience cultural and generational differences with other Asian Americans. In addition, even third and fourth generation Japanese Americans are not immune to the interethnic prejudices, hostilities, and homeland tensions that continue to simmer among different groups of Asian Americans. Finally, my interviewees were not interested in panethnic activism because they apparently no longer had compelling experiences of racial injustice and socioeconomic marginalization. Nonetheless, national‐origins ethnicity and panethnicity should not be regarded as mutually exclusive opposites.

“Urgently Needed to Protect Asian American Children and Families”: The Social Movement for Asian American Studies at K‐12 Grades

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The Mechanisms of Ethnoracialization and Asian American Support for Race-conscious Admissions

“…At the same time, researchers document that the role of ethnic identities and communities connected to national origin do not disappear easily. Many Asian immigrants do not identify themselves as "Asian" Americans due to factors such as the international conflicts between countries, relative underrepresentation of their national or regional origin in the public sphere, or differential racialization faced by their ethnic group (Baluran 2023;Shams 2020;Tsuda 2022;Yamashita 2022). Beyond panethnic identification, ethnic variation exists across a range of political attitudes and behaviors (Kim 2021;Lee 2021a;Ramakrishnan et al 2009;Tran and Warikoo 2021;Wong et al 2011).…”

Predicting group consciousness among Asian Americans: Considering commonalities, shared interests, panethnic group identification, and linked fate

“…Some Asian ethnic groups, such as South Asians and Southeast Asians, are often left out of the Asian American narrative due to the common conflation of “Asian‐ness” with East Asians (Lee & Ramakrishnan, 2020; Yamashita, 2022). As well, ethnic groups such as Japanese who have longstanding connections to the United States, higher rates of interracial marriage, and relatively higher social mobility often sense less connection with other Asian Americans and their Asian American identity more broadly (Tsuda, 2021). Other groups such as Filipinos and Koreans have been shown to have a stronger sense of group consciousness relative to other Asian subgroups (Masuoka, 2006).…”