Japanese Americans are widely considered the most assimilated of all Asians living in the United States, a fact that sometimes makes marketers overlook the need to reach out to the community culturally relevant advertising.

Adding to the dismissal of the group are the latest U.S. Census numbers, which show that Japanese Americans went from being the third largest Asian group in 1990 to the sixth largest in 2000.

In fact, Japanese Americans are the only group whose numbers have actually decreased during the past 10 years, from 866,000 in 1990 to 797,000 in 2000, according to the Census. By contrast, they made up the largest Asian population in the United States as late as the early 1970s.

But an important segment of the population overlooked by many and not reflected by the Census is temporary residents, or ex-patriots, said Saul Gitlin, executive vice president for strategic marketing services and new business at Kang & Lee Advertising.

There are about 250,000 Japanese living semi-permanently in the United States, according to Kang & Lee. These business executives and their families generally seek out Japanese-language media and familiar brands.

“The Census doesn't just count citizens. You need to participate whether or not you're a citizen, but a lot of ex-pats didn't receive that message,' Gitlin said. 'We've always believed that the Census 1990 and definitely the Census 2000 haven't fully captured the market.”

The Japanese American market has always been a hard sell to advertisers because most don't target all Asian groups, but instead focus on the largest populations and those least likely to be influenced by mainstream English-language media.

“If most of the Japanese Americans are U.S.-born and speak English, many companies wonder why they need to target them. Now that the population is smaller, it will be an ever harder sell,” Gitlin said. “But if you realize that the Census doesn't target this transient group, which highly prefers Japanese-language media, you're losing out.”

There are some categories and products that could see revenues skyrocket by going after this smaller population, Gitlin said.

AT&T is one of the few companies that have come around. “AT&T does direct outreach to the ex-patriot community because they realize that the majority of their friends and family are at home in Japan. They need to call each other regularly,” he said. “There are some products that really lend themselves to this group.”

Advertising can be effective and cost relatively little since there is little need for national campaigns.

Like all Asian Americans, Japanese Americans are largely concentrated in a handful of metropolitan areas. In 1990, more than three-quarters of all Japanese Americans lived in four cities: Honolulu, Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York.

Although Japanese Americans are the only Asian group to have the majority of its members born in the United States, the 66 in-language media outlets show that many members of this community want Japanese-language options.

Convincing advertisers to look at Japanese Americans will remain a difficult task, but small, focused ad campaigns could be a very effective means of reach out to this highly educated and relatively wealthy segment, Gitlin said.