Compared with the West, South, or Northeast regions in the US, the Midwest region has both the smallest Asian American population and the smallest Japanese American population. However, nationally Illinois has the sixth largest Japanese Americans population (27,702 individuals) and is the top state within the Midwest.
Census 2000 was the first to collect "racial" data that allows for multiethnic and multiracial self-identification with the instruction, "Mark one or more races to indicate what this person considers himself/herself to be." As seen in Figure 1, we now have a more complete pictu…