By David Yamaguchi
The North American Post
On Jan. 6, the Washington State Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs (CAPAA) released its Community Demography Report based on 2020 U.S. census data. A brief snapshot of the data for ethnic Japanese (Nikkei) is at right.
Perhaps the most interesting is the 66-percent versus 34-percent division of “speak English very well” and not. This suggests that the present ratio of Japanese Americans to immigrants (war brides & Shin-Issei) is 66:34.
It is also useful to know that the number of Nikkei is growing.
The full report, presented as a series of 24 slides, is available on the website noted above.
The bottom line is that Japanese comprise 91,000 in the state: 2/3 Japanese Americans and 1/3 immigrants. This interpretation is possible because now is a rare time when such clear division is possible. Few bilingual JA Nisei remain, while many Shin-Issei are recent immigrants, not yet comfortable in English.
