On August 21, 2021, veterans of the Nisei Week cruises and organizers of the Showoff discussed the history and legacy of nikkei car culture in Los Angeles in a conversation moderated by Oliver Wang with Janet Fujimoto, Tod Kaneko, Brian Karasawa, and Ken Miyoshi.
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開催予定の展覧会
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Nikkei Car Clubs
The history of Japanese Americans in Los Angeles car culture dates back at least as early as the 1910s when Fred Fujioka teamed up with George Kawamoto to found F&K Garage in Little Tokyo.
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Cruising Nisei
If you arrived after dark to the Nisei Week carnival back in the 1980s, you likely would have encountered the following scene: a seemingly endless parade of cars, trucks, and motorcycles circling the streets, blaring music, revving engines, burning rubber.
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On the Road with the Atomettes
One summer in the early 1950s, a small group of young Nikkei women from the Sawtelle neighborhood of West Los Angeles squeezed into a Chevy Bel Air. They were bound for Northern California and as part of their planning, the group picked one route in particular.
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Hikotaro Yamada—The Mystery Veteran Rediscovered
Who is the US Navy veteran getting out of his car in 1942 at the Santa Anita temporary detention center, incarcerated by his own government? Follow Cruising J-town curator Oliver Wang’s journey to put a name to a face and recover the identity of Hikotaro Yamada.
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Remembering the L.A. Retail Fish Association
The Los Angeles Japanese Fish Peddlers Association, formed in the early 1960s by Nikkei fish truck operators delivered fresh seafood, mochi, rice, tofu, candies, and other Japanese treats to the doors of Nikkei families across the Southland.
Little Tokyo Drift
Little Tokyo Drift: Nisei Week Car Culture
Little Tokyo Drift: Nisei Week Car Culture