Larry Shinoda with his Chopsticks Special IV, mid-1950s, Los Angeles. Japanese American National Museum, Gift of the Larry Shinoda Family, 2003.124.49
Cruising J-Town Finale and Curator Tour | Sunday, December 14, 2025 from 12 p.m.–5 p.m. PST at Peter and Merle Mullin Gallery, ArtCenter College of Design, 1111 South Arroyo Parkway, Pasadena, CA 91105
Celebrate the Japanese American community in Southern California car culture with the finale and last curator tour for JANM’s exhibition, Cruising J-Town: Behind the Wheel of the Nikkei Community.
Join the drop-in tour with exhibition curator Oliver Wang at 12 p.m. and stay for other special events including short documentary film screenings and more! FREE, no reservations required.
SCREENING: Craft of Speed—A Documentary About Mooneyes | Tuesday, December 2, 2025 from 7 p.m.–9:30 p.m. PST at Japanese American National Museum, Democracy Center, 100 North Central Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90012
Dive into the thirty-year story of MOONEYES with this documentary about two Japanese and Japanese American hot rodders who saved the iconic American speed parts company, built the brand MOONEYES, and popularized hot rod culture in Asia.
Following the screening is a conversation with Craft of Speed producer, writer, and director Ming Lai, MOONEYES USA President Chico Kodama, and curator of Cruising J-Town, Oliver Wang.
ABOUT THE FILM: As Asian and Asian American pioneers in their industry, Shige Suganuma and Chico Kodama battled against racism and xenophobia and ultimately created a global following. Now, Shige is expanding hot rod culture despite declining interest in hot rods, and Chico is handcrafting a new race car to try to break a second land speed record at Bonneville Salt Flats.
Get Tickets: https://www.janm.org/events/2025-12-02/screening-craft-speed-documentary-about-mooneyes
Los Angeles (July 1, 2025) – The Japanese American National Museum (JANM), in partnership with ArtCenter College of Design, will present Cruising J-Town: Behind the Wheel of the Nikkei Community as part of JANM on the Go.
On view from July 31–November 12 (Extended to December 14), 2025 in the Peter and Merle Mullin Gallery located at ArtCenter’s south campus in Pasadena, the exhibition celebrates Southern California’s love affair with the automobile through the eyes of Japanese Americans.
Exploring the community’s influence on car culture in the United States over the past century, the exhibition will feature more than 100 objects, including rare photographs and home movies; memorabilia from car clubs, service stations, race car drivers, and collectors; concept car designs; plus five classic cars that embody the exhibition’s themes of speed, style, work, and community.
Curated by writer and scholar Dr. Oliver Wang, Cruising J-Town chronicles the people and stories behind the vital roles that Japanese Americans have played in countless car scenes, from hot rods and fish trucks to the import tuner craze and drift racing. The exhibition draws on the oral history testimonies of over 100 Nikkei car enthusiasts, racers, mechanics, designers, industry professionals, and many others.
“Japanese Americans have long been a part of Southern California’s car culture. From a humble gardener’s truck to a customized hot rod or a stout family sedan to a professional race car, generations of Nikkei have been behind the wheel and under the hood, working at the gas pumps, and designing concept cars,” said Wang. “Cruising J-Town broadens our understanding and appreciation of Southern California car scenes by exploring the many ways that Japanese Americans have participated and innovated within them. It also asks visitors to consider how Japanese Americans used cars and trucks not only to make a living but to assert their belonging and make their presence known.”
The exhibition is anchored by five classic cars; George Nakamura’s “Meteor” hot rod from the early 1940s; Brian Omatsu’s custom 1951 Mercury coupe known as the “Purple Reign”; a 1956 Ford F-100 pickup truck once owned by West L.A. gardener Yoshio Shimazu and newly restored by his son, Kirk Shimazu; Tod Kaneko’s 1973 Datsun 510, one of the models that launched the import car craze; and a hot pink 1989 Nissan 240SX from professional drift racer Nadine Sachiko Toyoda-Hsu, founder of the Drifting Pretty team.
The exhibition also looks at the central role that cars and trucks played in the working lives of Japanese Americans. Nikkei gardeners’ prominence in the local economy was made possible by their trucks, and fish truck drivers, or sakanaya, brought fresh fish and hard-to-find Japanese foods to the postwar suburbs six days a week.
No history of Japanese American life in California can be told without noting the impact of forced removal and incarceration during World War II. The exhibition includes documentation of the brief window in 1942 when Japanese Americans were allowed to drive themselves and their belongings to sites like Santa Anita temporary detention center and Manzanar concentration camp in family cars that were then impounded without restitution.
JANM plans an array of public programs both at ArtCenter and on JANM’s campus in Little Tokyo. JANM will host a panel discussion about Southern California Nikkei fish trucks on Saturday, August 30, 2025 and another panel discussion about the import car scene on Saturday, October 25, 2025. JANM will also host a series of Cars and Coffee events through the run of the exhibition. More information on these and other programs will be available on janm.org/events.
