“While I had been initially curious to learn more about Asian American car scenes all across the US, I quickly began to focus on other Nikkei car club members from the 1950s and early ’60s. It was fascinating to learn about their activities—cruising, racing, customizing, and souping up their cars and trucks—and how this culture was at the center of their social lives…”
Upcoming Exhibition
Explore the world of cars and trucks as powerful vehicles for personal expression, collective identity, and social mobility. Read stories and watch videos that share stories related to the exhibition. Check back as we add more content throughout the run of the exhibition (July 31 through November 12, 2025).
- CRUISING J-TOWN: SIDE TRIPS—Articles and testimonials related to the personal, family, and community stories and histories that the exhibition and book cover. Throughout the run of the exhibition, new stories will be published on Discover Nikkei every week or so that explore the long, rich history of the Southern California Nikkei community and the different ways in which they’ve engaged the world of cars and trucks.
- MORE STORIES—Additional related stories from curator Oliver Wang and others.
- VIDEOS—Watch public programs related to the exhibition.
Letter From the Curator of Cruising J-Town: Behind the Wheel of the Nikkei Community
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Cruising J-Town: Side Trips
The Pioneer: Art Kudo’s Toyota of Gardena
When Art Kudo took a chance and opened a Toyota dealership in the 1960s, nobody could have imagined it becoming the Nikkei hub it’s remembered as now.
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More Stories
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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Little Tokyo Drift
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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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