Asians

They are complete strangers, born of different cultures nearly eight decades apart. But a twist of historic fate has bound Fred Hoshiyama, a 94-year-old Japanese American, and Chimchanbo Uk, an 18-year-old Cambodian native: The families of both have experienced displacement amid political turmoil. Hoshiyama was forcibly removed from his Northern California home and sent to a bleak internment camp in Utah after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941.

Business ownership by Asians, Pacific Islanders and Native Americans, growing twice as fast as the national average, jumped 56% nationwide from 1987 to 1992, and receipts soared by 163%, the Census Bureau said Thursday. California was home to a third of these businesses, more than any other state. Asians and Pacific Islanders owned more than 230,000 businesses here--10.3% of all firms in the state, accounting for 9.2% of receipts.

At first glance, the strip mall in Long Beach appears to be its own Little Southeast Asia, with Cambodian and Vietnamese grocery stores, sandwich shops and other businesses that cater to a largely immigrant clientele. But nestled alongside Dr. Dien Van Pham's Medical Clinic and the Mekong Pharmacy is a multiculturalist's dream. Step inside Mini's Hair and Nail salon and you enter a world that belies the notion that people from radically different backgrounds and races cannot get along.

At first glance, the strip mall in Long Beach appears to be its own Little Southeast Asia, with Cambodian and Vietnamese grocery stores, sandwich shops and other businesses that cater to a largely immigrant clientele. But nestled alongside Dr. Dien Van Pham's Medical Clinic and the Mekong Pharmacy is a multiculturalist's dream. Step inside Mini's Hair and Nail salon and you enter a world that belies the notion that people from radically different backgrounds and races cannot get along.

They live like nomads, roaming the length of California and well beyond, often staying in a new city only long enough to party or--if the money has run out--to find a new target, a new victim. Police say they usually travel in groups of six to eight and are typically well-armed. And though they deal drugs, they rarely use them. After all, a muddled mind doesn't serve you well when you aspire to be a master criminal.

Bill Gates ranks as the world's richest private citizen with an $18 billion fortune from his Microsoft Corp. software empire, but a growing number of Asian billionaires are gaining on him, Forbes magazine reports. In the magazine's annual billionaires ranking released Sunday, Forbes estimated Gates' worth grew 40% from $12.9 billion last year, making him the wealthiest billionaire for the second straight year. The increase was due largely to the higher value of Microsoft stock. No.

Cantonese filled John Fong Chin's ears as a boy growing up in Los Angeles' Chinatown more than four decades ago. But these days when the second-generation Chinatown merchant walks down the street from his gift shop, he's more likely to hear a Chinese dialect he can't understand. And he can't decipher the mix of signs--in Vietnamese, Cambodian or Thai--above the newer shops and restaurants. Ethnic Chinese from Southeast Asia have come to dominate Chinatown, operating nearly 90% of the businesses.

Three decades after America eased long-standing restrictions on Asian immigration, Asians are not only the nation's fastest-growing minority, they also have the highest rate of naturalization, according to a new study being released in Washington today. Dispelling a common public perception, the UCLA Asian American Studies Center report says that Asians are as likely as immigrants of European ancestry to become citizens.

Latinos and Asians will account for more than half the growth in the U.S. population every year for the next half century and beyond, the Census Bureau predicted Wednesday. Also rising fast are those over 50, a group that is growing because the huge baby boom generation is beginning to turn gray and head for the retirement years.