Young Asian Girl Posing At Home

Respondents can also report their specific ancestry, e.g.: Okinawan, etc. Someone reporting these ancestries but no race would be classified as "Asian". Unlike South Asians, Middle Eastern Americans and Central Asian Americans have not lobbied to be included as Asians by the U.S. Census Board.
According to Sharon M. Lee in her 1998 publication, for many non-Asian Americans in the United States (in 1998), "Asian American means Oriental, Chinese American or Japanese American. This is due to the Chinese and Japanese immigrants being the first Asian immigrants into the United States. Today, with the increasing demographic of South Asian Americans and Southeast Asian Americans the definition among United States citizens of who is Asian American is expanding."