Contrast that with for 60 years before that, we had this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Exclusion_Act http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Exclusion_Act

Contrast that with for 60 years before that, we had this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Exclusion_Act http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Exclusion_Act Later extended to cover all Asian immigrants. There was certainly demand to emigrate to the US, but it was forbidden. This act alone I think goes a long, long way to explaining why Asian Americans are a fairly recent phenomenon and "weird" to American culture.