The panel is part of programming for the museum\u2019s ongoing remote exhibit, \u201cCruising J-Town: Behind the Wheel of the Nikkei Community,\u201d<\/a> at the Peter and Merle Mullin Gallery in Pasadena\u2019s ArtCenter College of Design. Admission to the exhibit is free, but ticket reservations, which can be made via janm.org<\/a>, are recommended.<\/p>\n George Nakamura\u2019s 1940 \u201cMeteor\u201d hot rod is seen in Cruising J-Town: Behind the Wheel of the Nikkei Community exhibit at ArtCenter College of Design\u2019s Mullin Gallery in Pasadena on Friday, Aug. 29, 2022. The Japanese American National Museum exhibit in partner with ArtCenter honors Japanese American car culture. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n<\/li>\n With Brian Omatsu\u2019s 1951 Mercury Coupe, the \u201cPurple Reign\u201d behind him, Kent Matsuoka, of LA, checks out artifacts in Cruising J-Town: Behind the Wheel of the Nikkei Community exhibit at ArtCenter College of Design\u2019s Mullin Gallery in Pasadena on Friday, Aug. 29, 2022. The Japanese American National Museum exhibit in partner with ArtCenter honors Japanese American car culture. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Tod Kaneko\u2019s 1973 Datsun 510 is seen in Cruising J-Town: Behind the Wheel of the Nikkei Community exhibit at ArtCenter College of Design\u2019s Mullin Gallery in Pasadena on Friday, Aug. 29, 2022. The Japanese American National Museum exhibit in partner with ArtCenter honors Japanese American car culture. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Ann Nomura, of Pasadena, looks over artifacts in Cruising J-Town: Behind the Wheel of the Nikkei Community exhibit at ArtCenter College of Design\u2019s Mullin Gallery in Pasadena on Friday, Aug. 29, 2022. The Japanese American National Museum exhibit in partner with ArtCenter honors Japanese American car culture. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Cruising J-Town: Behind the Wheel of the Nikkei Community exhibit at ArtCenter College of Design\u2019s Mullin Gallery in Pasadena on Friday, Aug. 29, 2022. The Japanese American National Museum exhibit in partner with ArtCenter honors Japanese American car culture. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Mooneyes MOON Disc for hot rods is seen in Cruising J-Town: Behind the Wheel of the Nikkei Community exhibit at ArtCenter College of Design\u2019s Mullin Gallery in Pasadena on Friday, Aug. 29, 2022. The Japanese American National Museum exhibit in partner with ArtCenter honors Japanese American car culture. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Car club jackets and an image from the Nisei Week parade in Los Angeles by Toyo Miyatake is seen at Cruising J-Town: Behind the Wheel of the Nikkei Community exhibit at ArtCenter College of Design\u2019s Mullin Gallery in Pasadena on Friday, Aug. 29, 2022. The Japanese American National Museum exhibit in partner with ArtCenter honors Japanese American car culture. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n<\/li>\n A drifting artifact in Cruising J-Town: Behind the Wheel of the Nikkei Community exhibit at ArtCenter College of Design\u2019s Mullin Gallery in Pasadena is seen on Friday, Aug. 29, 2022. The Japanese American National Museum exhibit in partner with ArtCenter honors Japanese American car culture. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n<\/li>\n A drawing of the Mako Shark by ArtCenter alum Shinoda which became the design for the 1968 Corvette is seen in Cruising J-Town: Behind the Wheel of the Nikkei Community exhibit at ArtCenter College of Design\u2019s Mullin Gallery in Pasadena on Friday, Aug. 29, 2022. The Japanese American National Museum exhibit in partner with ArtCenter honors Japanese American car culture. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Warren Morimoto\u2019s upholstery Singer sewing machine is seen at in Cruising J-Town: Behind the Wheel of the Nikkei Community exhibit at ArtCenter College of Design\u2019s Mullin Gallery in Pasadena on Friday, Aug. 29, 2022. The Japanese American National Museum exhibit in partner with ArtCenter honors Japanese American car culture. Morimoto ran MotoStyle in Long Beach and studied at ArtCenter. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Show Caption<\/p>\n 1 of 10<\/p>\n George Nakamura\u2019s 1940 \u201cMeteor\u201d hot rod is seen in Cruising J-Town: Behind the Wheel of the Nikkei Community exhibit at ArtCenter College of Design\u2019s Mullin Gallery in Pasadena on Friday, Aug. 29, 2022. The Japanese American National Museum exhibit in partner with ArtCenter honors Japanese American car culture. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n Expand<\/a><\/p>\n The exhibit, running through November 12<\/a>, explores the Japanese American car community in Los Angeles, featuring key players in the scene and car lovers alike. It highlights popular models from hot rods and lowriders, to drift cars and vintage classics, and tells the stories of how Asians and Asian Americans expanded the world of imports in the region.<\/p>\n \u201cYoung Asian Americans and Japanese Americans have been at the forefront of championing and legitimizing Japanese imports as popular contemporary cars, within contemporary car culture,\u201d said scholar and author Oliver Wang, who will be moderating Saturday\u2019s panel. Wang curated the \u201cCruising J-Town\u201d exhibition and wrote its companion book<\/a> featuring essays and images inspired by the stories and histories found in the display. He had been working on the project for nearly a decade.<\/p>\n \u201cAsian Americans have been such a major part, especially in L.A., of the evolution of car culture within the fabric of American culture and society, and yet this is not deeply acknowledged,\u201d Wang said.<\/p>\n The exhibit and Wang\u2019s book illustrate the history and central role both cars and trucks played in the working lives of Japanese-Americans throughout Los Angeles. Through archival photographs, film and memorabilia, it tells the stories of Nikkei \u2014 referring to Japanese emigrants and their descendants \u2014 gardeners\u2019 prominence in the local economy, made possible by their work trucks, and fish truck drivers called sakanaya, who brought fresh fish and Japanese goods to the postwar suburbs six days a week. It explores different periods of Japanese American history, from L.A.\u2019s Nikkei car culture history, to WWII, post-war car culture and contemporary movements.<\/p>\n \u201cCruising J-Town\u201d also features five classic cars: George Nakamura\u2019s 1940s \u201cMeteor\u201d hot rod; Brian Omatsu\u2019s custom 1951 Mercury coupe known as the \u201cPurple Reign;\u201d a 1956 Ford F150 pickup truck owned by Kirk Shimazu; Tod Kaneko\u2019s 1973 Datsun 510, one of the models that launched the import car craze; and a hot pink 1989 Nissan 240SX from professional drift racing driver Nadine Sachiko Toyoda-Hsu.<\/p>\n Iconic L.A. car culture locations \u2014 such as the original Ascot Speedway in South L.A., F&K Garage in Little Tokyo, sites of the Mojave dry lake racing scene, Lion\u2019s Drag Strip, and the Irwindale Speedway \u2014 are highlighted as well.<\/p>\n At Saturday\u2019s event, panelists will explore how Japanese Americans helped to \u201clegitimize\u201d Japanese import cars<\/a> to be seen as more \u201csexy and reliable, popular outside of being utilitarian,\u201d throughout the last four decades, Wang said. Speakers with deep knowledge of import history from the 1970s and on will explore its wide spectrum \u2014 from Nikkei community racing and San Gabriel Valley Asians who popularized the Honda Civic and Acura Integra, to the way once-overlooked imports \u2014 from manufacturers like Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Acura and Subaru \u2014 have transformed into hot sellers with a huge fanbase.<\/p>\n The panel also features Terry Yamaguchi, one of the founders of the Japanese Classic Car Show<\/a>, which celebrates its 20th anniversary in October.<\/p>\n Panelist Roy Nakano, editor of LACar.com<\/a>, has personal family and friends\u2019 stories featured in the \u201cCruising\u201d exhibit. Nakano was excited to tell the story of Doug Endo, who was believed to have owned and built the first tuned Datsun 510<\/a> in Gardena, regarded as \u201cthe incubator\u201d of that model\u2019s street tuner community.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are so many ancillary programs and events that have allowed an opportunity for different segments of the Japanese American car culture to come together \u2014 sometimes meeting each other for the first time,\u201d Nakano said. \u201cThe \u2018Cruising J-Town\u2019 project has really served as a wonderful way for the broad car culture community to meet each other and come together.\u201d<\/p>\n Agreed Wang, \u201cAsian Americans drive \u2014 pun intended \u2014 this movement, making the import scene what we know today. I hope it might motivate other people and institutions to do similar projects about the ways Asian Americans have been shaped by and laid down their own influence on different areas of popular culture; in the realm of cars, film, music, food, you name it. There are so many blind spots that could have a spotlight on them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
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