CRUISING J-TOWN EXHIBITION IN CALIFORNIA

“Cruising J-Town: Behind the Wheel of the Nikkei Community” chronicles the people and stories behind how Japanese Americans have played vital roles in countless car scenes throughout the region.

Be it a humble gardener’s truck or a customized hot rod, a stout family sedan or a professional racer, look closely and you will find generations of Nikkei steering their personal, family, and professional stories via their relationship to car culture. Curated by cultural scholar and writer, Dr. Oliver Wang, the exhibition will feature rare photographs, car-related ephemera, and the oral history testimonies of dozens of Nikkei car enthusiasts, racers, mechanics, journalists, industry professionals, and many others.

The exhibition is being presented as part of JANM on the Go from July 31 – November 12, 2025 at the ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena. To learn more, visit https://janm.org/CruisingJTown

There are some great stories associated with the exhibition and Chelsea Shi-Chao Liu has shared some of them, including that of Mooneyes USA and how two Japanese enthusiasts carried on the name and built it into a nationally recognised brand. It’s worth a read – head to https://discovernikkei.org/en/journal/author/liu-chelsea/