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ASIAMS.NET |
ASIAN AMERICAN ISSUES
Is Seattle a Haven for Asian Americans?
he Seattle-Bellevue-Everett area is only 11th largest in the size of its Asian American population (285,000, or about 11.4% of the area's 2.5 million), but it claims one of the oldest and richest slices of Asian American history. Its Chinatown was home to America's first Asian-owned manufacturing business, the Wa Chong Co. The company produced, among other things, a very fine grade of opium, some of which was probably exported to China with the U.S. government's blessings.
Best city for AA?
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Since its birth in 1910 Seattle's atmospheric International District was settled by generations of Chinese, Japanese, Filipino and Vietnamese immigrants. In the late 70s the aging District began enjoying a rebirth into its modern incarnation thanks to Asian American activism in seeking to preserve it as a historical and cultural site. More recently an influx of trendy young AA professionals, entrepreneurs and artists has helped transform it into a vibrant part of downtown Seattle's cultural and night life. The District hosts the Northwest Asian American Theater Company and the Wing Luke Asian American Museum, named after a Chinese American elected to the Seattle City Council in 1965.
On the far end of the Seattle area's cultural spectrum is lush, ultra-modern Bellevue, one of the nation's most affluent communities. Asians make up 20.3% of the students of the Bellevue School District, thrice the 7.3% concentration in the general population of Washington state. This points up the fact that Seattle hosts one of the nation's best established Asian populations. Unlike some urban areas dominated by one or two Asian nationalities, Seattle's AA population is highly diversified, comprising the nations 7th largest Japanese (31,000), the 8th largest Vietnamese (44,000), 9th largest Corean (38,000), and the 11th largest Chinese (58,000) and Filipino (53,000) communities.
The area's Asian Americans take pride in their high degree of acceptance and integration. The fact that the state's governor is a Chinese American named Gary Locke doesn't hurt, of course. Or that the city's major league baseball team is owned by Nintendo chairman Hiroshi Yamauchi and sparked by Ichiro. Even on the grassroots level, one sees signs of acceptance. The ratio of AM/WF couples is noticeably higher than in most other metro areas. A cop who was rude in issuing a jaywalking ticket to a group of Asian Americans last year was reprimanded by the police department. And the ticket was dismissed by the judge.
Is the Seattle area really a haven for Asian Americans? What are the best and worst aspects of AA life there?
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WHAT YOU SAY
[This page is closed to new input. --Ed.]
(Updated
Tuesday, Apr 1, 2008, 05:56:37 PM)
I've found that the higher the international population (FOBs), the worse it is for asian males (and probably asian females) to meet a white person. They actually seem detract white females from seeing asian males as even possibilities. Vancouver has an extremely high FOB population and I've found the girls there to be down right cold in the nightclubs (they're fine in the daytime for some reason). I was in a few Seattle bars/clubs recently and the girls there were extremely approachable, more approachable than anywhere else I've ever been to - completely opposite to Vancouver. That's my 2 cents for anyone considering moving to Vancouver (especially if they're dependent on night clubs for dating).
JasonY79
yeo@purdue.edu
Monday, July 15, 2002 at 05:18:20 (PDT)
i'm a first generation Asian American, don't necessarily identify with being indonesian/chinese American, but as Asian American, I'm having trouble finding where people and organizations or etc, not separted by ethnicity/american are.
can anyone help me out?
-asuseno@wesleyan.edu
andrew suseno
asuseno@wesleyan.edu
Sunday, July 14, 2002 at 13:03:30 (PDT)
Does anybody know how the job situation is in Vancouver B.C.? I'm thinking of moving out there.
Jay
Sunday, July 14, 2002 at 12:09:44 (PDT)
I enjoy Seattle because it's diverse in it's richness with different Asians. You left out that the Seattle area and surrounding cities have a large concentration of Southeast Asians (Cambodians, Loas,Thais)this group of Asians has also help shape Seattle. Even thou they are not mentioned at all in this article.
From a Asian that lives in Seattle.
Ivyy
ramanayan@hotmail.com
Tuesday, July 09, 2002 at 23:28:21 (PDT)
"I have long admired Seattle from afar. Remember that an 18-year-old Bruce Lee got his start in Seattle after emigrating from Hong Kong in 1959 (met and married his wife there, too). He worked at Ruby Chow's restaurant for a while (now there's another prominent Seattle AA!)."
Yeah, but he was born in SF, and most of his martial arts work was done in the Bay.
TSJ
Eric@KristinKreuk.net
Tuesday, July 02, 2002 at 15:49:27 (PDT)
I have long admired Seattle from afar. Remember that an 18-year-old Bruce Lee got his start in Seattle after emigrating from Hong Kong in 1959 (met and married his wife there, too). He worked at Ruby Chow's restaurant for a while (now there's another prominent Seattle AA!).
Now you have Ichiro, another phenom. And speaking of phenoms, look at Jimi Hendrix, who was not Asian, but whose dad married a Japanese woman later in life and they produced a daughter (Janie, who has had enough acumen to take control of Jimi's considerable estate).
Yea, for Asians, Seattle rocks. No question.
Yonsei
Monday, July 01, 2002 at 10:39:33 (PDT)
I love Seattle. That is the most Asain friendly city out there (Whites towards asains that is). And the city is so beautiful during the summer. Huge thumbs up for this town!!!!
A Cute Filipino Guy Who Knows!
Wednesday, June 19, 2002 at 18:21:01 (PDT)
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