City in the western world with most direct/firsthand connection to Asia/Asians?

[202_Cyclist]

Originally Posted by Crawford

How are Asians not on the verge of being the primate group in Van?

They constitute 40-something % of the metro population, and will be the majority within a few years. And Canada has lower birth rates than the U.S. so it's easier for ascendant groups to achieve demographic gains than in the U.S.

I think you mean ‘primary’ group.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by 202_Cyclist

I think you mean ‘primary’ group.

Primate means "leading"; primary has a slightly different meaning. The pope is the primate of the Catholic church. Or are you objecting to primate because you're thinking like, monkeys? That's same word, but different meaning.

[202_Cyclist]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Primate means "leading"; primary has a slightly different meaning. The pope is the primate of the Catholic church. Or are you objecting to primate because you're thinking like, monkeys? That's same word, but different meaning.

Apologies— I never heard it used in that context. I thought it was a typo.

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by ocman

Asian presence in SF is more integrated throughout a wider spread of their cities whereas Asian presence in LA is more collectively rooted. So you go to Santa Monica and you don’t feel their presence.

Huh? You go to any gathering spot or shopping area in Santa Monica and you see Asians everywhere. In fact, when you go to LA's westside it's difficult NOT to see Asians or mixed-race couples where one of them is Asian.

[dimondpark]

Places with Asian Populations that exceed 20% of the total, 2016

Los Angeles CSA:
Monterey Park, CA 65.2%
Walnut, CA 63.7%
San Gabriel, CA 61.1%
Cerritos, CA 60.7%
Rosemead, CA 59.9%
Arcadia, CA 59.3%
Rowland Heights, CA 59.1%
South San Gabriel, CA 58.3%
Alhambra, CA 55.5%
San Marino, CA 54.8%
Diamond Bar, CA 53.2%
Midway, CA 53.2%
East San Gabriel, CA 52.3%
Westminister, CA 46.4%
La Palma, CA 46.0%
Irvine, CA 43.3%
Garden Grove, CA 42.1%
North El Monte, CA 40.1%
Hacienda Heights, CA 39.8%
Artesia, CA 37.5%
Torrance, CA 36.9%
Mayflower Village, CA 36.7%
Bradbury, CA 34.9%
Chino Hills, CA 33.5%
Fountain Valley, CA 33.5%
West Carson, CA 32.5%
Cypress, CA 31.6%
El Monte, CA 30.7%
Rolling Hills Estates, CA 30.4%
South Pasadena, CA 29.7%
La Canada-Flintridge, CA 29.2%
West Covina, CA 28.4%
Rancho Palos Verdes, CA 27.6%
Eastvale, CA 27.5%
La Crescenta-Montrose, CA 26.6%
East Pasadena, CA 26.1%
Carson, CA 25.9%
Loma Linda, CA 25.9%
Buena Park, CA 25.7%
La Habra Heights, CA 25.6%
Stanton, CA 25.4%
Gardena, CA 25.1%
Fullerton, CA 25.0%
Tustin, CA 24.5%
Industry, CA 22.6%
Lakewood, CA 22.4%
Yorba Linda, CA 21.7%
Stevenson Ranch, CA 21.6%
Signal Hill, CA 20.9%

San Francisco CSA:
Milpitas, CA 74.4%
Cupertino, CA 66.5%
Daly City, CA 64.8%
Broadmoor, CA 59.8%
Fremont, CA 58.4%
Union City, CA 52.6%
Norris Canyon, CA 50.1%
Millbrae, CA 48.3%
Hercules, CA 47.7%
Camino Tassajara, CA 47.3%
Foster City, CA 46.9%
San Ramon, CA 46.0%
Saratoga, CA 45.8%
Sunnyvale, CA 43.4%
Santa Clara, CA 39.5%
Pleasanton, CA 36.6%
South San Francisco, CA 36.6%
American Canyon, CA 35.2%
San Jose, CA 34.9%
San Francisco, CA 34.5%
Brisbane, CA 33.7%
Highlands-Baywood Park, CA 33.1%
Mountain House, CA 32.6%
San Leandro, CA 32.6%
Colma, CA 31.7%
Alameda, CA 30.0%
Newark, CA 30.0%
Los Altos Hills, CA 29.8%
Mountain View, CA 29.1%
Palo Alto, CA 29.0%
Loyola, CA 28.6%
San Bruno, CA 28.5%
Stanford, CA 27.6%
Hillsborough, CA 27.5%
Los Altos, CA 27.3%
El Cerrito, CA 26.9%
Albany, CA 26.4%
Castro Valley, CA 26.1%
Hayward, CA 25.5%
Emeryville, CA 25.3%
Belmont, CA 25.0%
East Foothills, CA 24.8%
Fruitdale, CA 24.3%
Vallejo, CA 24.3%
Castro Valley, CA 23.9%
Shell Ridge, CA 23.9%
Burlingame, CA 23.7%
San Lorenzo, CA 23.5%
Lathrop, CA 23.3%
Pinole, CA 22.5%
Bayview, CA 22.0%
San Mateo, CA 21.8%
Contra Costa Centre, CA 21.7%
Stockton, CA 21.7%
Rodeo, CA 21.5%
Acalanes Ridge, CA 20.9%
Clyde, CA 20.2%
Berkeley, CA 20.0%

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by sopas ej

Huh? You go to any gathering spot or shopping area in Santa Monica and you see Asians everywhere. In fact, when you go to LA's westside it's difficult NOT to see Asians or mixed-race couples where one of them is Asian.

I don't think this is true. LA's Westside isn't particularly Asian, while the SGV is possibly the biggest Asian concentration outside of Asia. The Bay Area is less enclave-y, not just for Asians, but for everyone.

For example, if you live in coastal OC, your community is probably about as Asian as one in suburban Ohio. But if you're in, say, Westminster, or Garden Grove, the community is almost entirely Asian. I'm not sure if the Bay Area has areas with practically no Asians and then almost entirely Asian.

[202_Cyclist]

Originally Posted by Crawford

I don't think this is true. LA's Westside isn't particularly Asian, while the SGV is possibly the biggest Asian concentration outside of Asia. The Bay Area is less enclave-y, not just for Asians, but for everyone.

For example, if you live in coastal OC, your community is probably about as Asian as one in suburban Ohio. But if you're in, say, Westminster, or Garden Grove, the community is almost entirely Asian. I'm not sure if the Bay Area has areas with practically no Asians and then almost entirely Asian.

Irvine has a large Korean population and many suburban Orange Co. communities have a decent-size Iranian population.

[RST500]

Originally Posted by pizzaguy

It's the Bay Area. Almost as many Asians as LA even with less than half the metro population.



These are the five core counties of the Bay Area. Their combined population is 6,337,917 (82.5% of total Bay Area population). Contra Costa County (CoCoCo!) stands out because it contains the predominantly European suburbs east of the Berkeley Hills. If you cut everything east of the Hills out and only include the ring around the Bay, the population becomes even more diverse.

That map is too simplistic. Northern Contra Costa County is mostly Hispanic while the Southern part is mostly Asian. Only the Central part is mostly White.

[pizzaguy]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Most places within commuting distance of Silicon Valley will naturally have a high Asian %, given the tech industry employee demographics.

I still don't see how it isn't Vancouver. The Bay Area and LA indeed have larger and more diverse populations, but Asians don't dominate either metro. In Vancouver, they're on the verge of being the primate group. And if you valued size and diversity in NA, the answer would be NYC, and probably then Toronto.

It's like asking whether Miami or NYC are more inherently Latin. NYC has a larger and more diverse Latin population, but the obvious answer is Miami, which is essentially a Latin city. The power/wealth structure in NYC (and LA, SF, and I imagine Toronto) is still overwhelmingly white Anglo. In Miami it's Hispanic, and I think Vancouver is just a few years behind.

Are you seriously suggesting that the tech industry is the reason for the Bay's high Asian population? Have you ever been here?

[floor23]

I like how a lot of people are just lumping all of Asia into one category.
Each of these cities have connections to different countries.

I can really only speak for Honolulu since its where I live, and I know were the #1 one city in the western world when it comes to our connection with Japan (not even debatable) and probably one of the top 3 in connection to the Philippines (Waipahu is the biggest Filipino community in the US). Hawaii in general is the Ellis island of the pacific, where a lot of immigrants from East Asia immigrate to the US through here and eventually move to the mainland looking for a cheaper cost of living. I remember reading in the local news 5-6 years back that our local USCIS office had one point processed around 1/3 of all the immigrants from East Asia/Philippines that are living currently living in the US. In my own personal experience, I've had about 3 friends from Korea and 4 from the Philippines move to LA after living in Honolulu for several years. The notion that immigrants that move to US/Canada and stick to one city for their whole life is a very naive way of thinking. Of all the cities listed Honolulu is the only one where Caucasians are a minority and Asians are the majority.

LA would be another good pick because they've had immigration from Asia for years and have a large Korean and Vietnamese population. If were talking about total # of people from asia then LA would be the obvious choice due to it being the biggest metro on this list.

Vancouver is probably the best pick for a Canadian city, and probably the #1 city when it comes to Chinese immigrants.

I don't know a lot about Australian cities but I do know a lot of immigrants from Asia have have moved to Sydney/Melbourne. Always funny to see a Chinese family and the kids have Australian accents.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by floor23

I like how a lot of people are just lumping all of Asia into one category.

Yeah, how dare anyone consider the entirety of Asia in a thread about Asian influence?

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by pizzaguy

Are you seriously suggesting that the tech industry is the reason for the Bay's high Asian population? Have you ever been here?

Yes, it's a strong contributing factor. The most Asian county in the Bay Area is Santa Clara County, which is Silicon Valley. The most Asian city is Cupertino, home of Apple.

And always love the "Have you been there" argument as if one's travels have any relevance to Census data. If I visit Rome do I get to overrule Italian govt. demographers?

[pizzaguy]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Yes, it's a strong contributing factor. The most Asian county in the Bay Area is Santa Clara County, which is Silicon Valley. The most Asian city is Cupertino, home of Apple.

And always love the "Have you been there" argument as if one's travels have any relevance to Census data. If I visit Rome do I get to overrule Italian govt. demographers?

No it's not a strong contributing factor. To say so is to admit your ignorance. The Bay Area has been the most Asian part of the mainland US since literally the 1850s.

[floor23]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Yeah, how dare anyone consider the entirety of Asia in a thread about Asian influence?

Well if that was the case the obvious choices would most likely be NYC, London, Toronto, and LA (im sure I'm missing a few others) as they're the only western cities with people from every cultural group/country in Asia.

Considering 60% of the worlds population lives within Asia, this thread really should be called which city is the most multi-cultural. Plus the thread title is a little confusing considering it says direct/firsthand connection to asia/asians, and the vast majority of people in the west don't refer to people from the middle-east, India, or Russia as Asians. So is thread about people from all over Asia? Or is it about Asians which we use to describe people from East/SE Asia?

[ocman]

Originally Posted by sopas ej

Huh? You go to any gathering spot or shopping area in Santa Monica and you see Asians everywhere. In fact, when you go to LA's westside it's difficult NOT to see Asians or mixed-race couples where one of them is Asian.

I’m talking about more than faces, but businesses, services, signs for asians etc integrated into the city. Obviously tourist and business crowd tends to be multicultural in SM. But Asians aren't rooted in the city like in San Gabriel V, where signs for businesses are only in Chinese or Vietnamese for miles.

[Docere]

I voted for Van, but I'm surprised how poorly the Bay Area is polling.

[mrnyc]

Originally Posted by bnk

I am posting this message via the title

Direct First hand access to Asia. To me that's non stop.




Chicago has more flights to Asia without a layover than any East cost city because of the mere distance traveled.


NYC can fly to Tokyo or Shanghai without a refueling layover but its one of the longest flights in the world. Like 15.5 hours long in the air alone.

A lot of USA west flight travels to Asia takes the shortest route which by the globe the fly into Canada, than to Alaska, than to their final destination.


Its quite often one hears flights cut short and land in anchorage for fuel or kicking off drunken UK passengers going to east Asia via America.

The only real area that Chicago cannot fly direct non stop is Australia and NZ

Chicago has non stop flights to India ~ 14 hours.

Reaching Brazil or Argentina is easy. 12-13 hrs.





The only places Chicago cannot reach non stop are probably only the most distant places in the southern hemisphere. Like AU and OZ due to pure distance. I don't think any east coast city can reach them either. Travel to Australia and OZ is one of the most expensive round trip flights in the world or 4/5th of the America, and that's with a layover and a refueling.

And the time zone differences, wow.

And to think the UK used it as a penial colony for the poor and less appreciated peoples of its kingdom it turned out pretty well for at least the English forced settlement there. I cannot even imagine the written mail back than or the percentage that made it from the UK to AU.


I'm sure the Aboriginals would have preferred to go their own route but that is relatively distant history by now.

after a five year hiatus, newark to singapore is coming back this year.

its the longest regular flight in the world.

in the interim, dallas to sydney has been the longest.

http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.c...es-nonstop-us/

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by Crawford

I don't think this is true. LA's Westside isn't particularly Asian, while the SGV is possibly the biggest Asian concentration outside of Asia.

Are you saying that Asians only stay in the neighborhoods that they live in, and don't shop or hang out anywhere else? Believe it or not, Asians, just like other people who live in Los Angeles, move around the County too.

I guess you haven't been to LA's west side? Just go to the Century City mall and you'll see Asians (and other races/ethnicities) too. They/we also shop in Santa Monica. Culver City also has a lot of Asians, as does Mar Vista, the Palms District. LA's Sawtelle neighborhood historically has had Japanese people, and they still do. The tons of Thai and Japanese restaurants on the westside are run by Thai and Japanese people who I presume, also live on the westside. Venice, Sawtelle, West Hollywood, Santa Monica, Culver City... all have Buddhist Temples. And you see Koreans everywhere and hear Korean and Mandarin everywhere... and there's Tibetan restaurants, run by Tibetans.

Here's the racial dot map of LA's westside; you can see that there are clusters of Asians, as well as red dots mixed in among the blue, and of course these are residents. UCLA is a big cluster, as well as Sawtelle and Culver City:

demographics.virginia.edu

Key:

1 dot = 1 person
Blue = White
Green = Black
Red = Asian
Orange = Hispanic
Brown = Other Race/Native American/Multi-racial

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by ocman

I’m talking about more than faces, but businesses, services, signs for asians etc integrated into the city. Obviously tourist and business crowd tends to be multicultural in SM. But Asians aren't rooted in the city like in San Gabriel V, where signs for businesses are only in Chinese or Vietnamese for miles.

Well, you had said this:

Asian presence in SF is more integrated throughout a wider spread of their cities whereas Asian presence in LA is more collectively rooted. So you go to Santa Monica and you don’t feel their presence.

I took your "Asian presence" to mean the visibility of Asians in LA; so, being that I live here and go all around a good chunk of the city of LA, I know that I see Asians of all kinds everywhere.

But regarding your comment of business signs, services for Asians, etc., being more integrated in SF than in LA, I beg to differ. You go into Hayes Valley, Cow Hollow, Dogpatch, Noe Valley, the Castro... you don't see signs that are only in Chinese for businesses that cater especially to Chinese people.

[Pedestrian]

The responses so far show a distinct lack of knowledge on the part of too many about the history of SF and LA. I suppose the term "connections" is rather vague but I took it to mean current and historical cultural ties and in that regard I'd say San Francisco probably leads the pack. At a time when people in China may have hardly heard of Vancouver or Toronto, San Francisco was widely known in China as "Gold Mountain" and was a major destination for emigrating Chinese. In the most recent census (2010), ⅓ of the city was Asian and 21.4% ethnic Chinese. For comparison, non-Hispanic whites were 41.9%. The city's recently deceased Mayor was Chinese as have been numerous city Supervisors (council members) and the Chinese community is politically powerful as you might expect of the second largest ethnicity. San Francisco also has one of if not the finest collections of Chinese and Asian art in the West held in its Chong-Moon Lee Center for Asian Art and Culture (aka the Asian Art Museum).

SF Asian Art Museum (a spectacular repurposing designed by Gai Aulenti of the city's former Main Library )

https://www.google.com/maps/uv?hl=en...G7C8QQoioIdzAN