As of 2014, The U.S. Census Bureau estimated that there were about 20.3 million American residents who were Asian or mixed with Asian, as well as an additional 1.5 million Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders. The celebration was chosen to be in May to honor both the first immigration of Japanese to the United States, in May 1843, and the completion of the transcontinental railroad, in May 1869, by mostly Chinese immigrants.According to the official Asian/Pacific American Heritage website, the rather broad term Asian/Pacific includes all of the Asian continent and the Pacific islands of Melanesia (New Guinea, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fiji, and the Solomon Islands), Micronesia (Marianas, Guam, Wake Island, Palau, Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Nauru, and the Federated States of Micronesia) and Polynesia (New Zealand, Hawaiian Islands, Rotuma, Midway Islands, Samoa, American Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, Cook Islands, French Polynesia, and Easter Island). It’s a much more diverse group than many might realize.