Gloria Chung can see it in her children’s classroom, at her business

Gloria Chung can see it in her children’s classroom, at her business and in her neighborhood.

“It’s getting more diverse,” Chung, who lives in Brentwood, said. “I think maybe with the move of Nissan, that changed things.”

The faces of Williamson County are increasingly representative of a wider range of ethnic and cultural backgrounds, and one demographic in particular has grown by leaps and bounds during the past decade. The number of Asians living in Williamson County grew by 253 percent from 2000 to 2010, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, making this one of the fastest-growing destinations in the entire country for Asian-Americans.

A report issued last month by the Census Bureau found that the Asian population grew faster than any other ethnic group in the United States during that period. Williamson County is somewhat unique. It is one of only 38 counties in the U.S. where the population ballooned by at least 200 percent.

Chung and her husband grew up in Los Angeles and are Korean. They moved from Tokyo to Brentwood six years ago when his employer, Nissan, reassigned him. She immediately connected with the Korean Presbyterian Church. In late 2010, Chung opened her own restaurant in the Cool Springs corridor, Gloria’s Korean Kitchen.

“I think diversity is good,” Chung said. “We need to learn to accept people that don’t look like us.”

Still a small slice
Though the number of Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Filipino and Asian Indian residents is surging, their overall numbers still represent only 3.6 percent of Williamson County. A little more than 90 percent of the county’s total population is white, according to the census.

The question of diversity is one that pops up regularly when companies consider relocating their offices here. Matt Largen, director of the county’s Economic Development Office, said employers are trying to determine whether their workers will be comfortable socially. They often are looking for neighborhoods dominated by various ethnic groups, similar to what is found in Los Angeles or Chicago, and Largen has to tell them those settings simply don’t exist.

He offers it as a selling point.

“On a small scale, admittedly, we’ve established that you can have diversity with integration,” Largen said.

It should not be assumed that because the census lumps different nationalities under the umbrella of “Asian” that members of this growing demographic will tend to identify with one another. Kaz Kikkawa is a Nashville attorney and president of the Tennessee Asian Pacific American Bar Association. His organization primarily offers a networking opportunity. Socially, however, Kikkawa said, nationality can be more important than race. Asian-Americans of Japanese descent will identify with one another more so than with Asian-Americans of Korean descent, for example.

“We’re unique, in a way,” Kikkawa said.

Williamson County may not have a Chinatown or Indiaville, but there are pockets where this demographic has concentrated. The easiest way to find those neighborhoods is to look at the schools.

Schools tell the story
Across the entire county school system, the percentage of Asian students closely mirrors that of the general population at 3.4 percent, according to school report card data. But at Kenrose Elementary in Brentwood, this ethnic group comprises 16.4 percent of the student body. And at Sunset Elementary, also in Brentwood, Asians represent 16.9 percent of the students.

Both of Chung’s kids attend Sunset.

“Williamson County has a very good school system, and I know Asian people rate that very highly,” Chung said with a laugh.

Faith and sports can also help bridge cultural boundaries. Alex Lim oversees a table tennis league for Williamson County Parks and Recreation and hosts games twice a week in Brentwood and Franklin. He has his core group of participants, but Lim said he regularly gets phone calls from Indians, Japanese and other Asians who are here for a few months on contracted jobs and are looking for a game.

“They play table tennis, so the first thing they do is look up my name on the Internet and come out and play,” Lim said. “It’s usually associated with the prevailing industries.”

About six years ago, Brentwood Baptist Church began its Chinese ministry. The program started with about four families but now attracts roughly 50 people to its services. The pastor, Yunhan Gwo, was hired six months ago and moved from Indiana for the job.

“When I came, they first told me they don’t know where (the Chinese population) come from,” Gwo said. “They just come out of nowhere.”

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20120415/WILLIAMSON01/304150027/Asian-population-rise-Williamson-County