Nikkei Japanese American Car Clubs
By Ian Cooper-Smith
The history of Japanese American influence on American car culture dates as far back as the early 20th century when Fred Fujioka and George Kawamoto came together to found F&K Garage in Little Tokyo. By the late 1930s, a prominent number of Second-Generation Japanese Americans or “Niseis” became involved in the hot rod racing scene. Glendale’s Okamura brothers would famously go on to have their winning hot rod displayed at the 1948 Hot Rod Expo. However, before the Okamura brothers could make a name for themselves and influence a decade of American car culture, Japanese Americans had their loyalty questioned in one of the most infamous and shameful displays of xenophobia in this nations history. Following the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed executive order 9066 granting the secretary of war and his commanders the power to apprehend any citizens suspected of espionage. While the edict did not specifically mention race, Japanese-Americans were almost exclusively targeted for internment across the Pacific Coast. Between 1942 and 1945 a total of ten camps were opened, holding approximately 120,000 Japanese Americans in California, Arizona, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and Arkansas. Many Niseis Japanese Americans would go on to serve in the 442nd Infantry Regiment, the most decorated U.S. military combat unit in military history, while their families remained in concentration camps.
By the war's end, many Japanese American families who were imprisoned in internment camps eventually resettled in Southern California, often as farmers. As a result, many Third-Generation Japanese Americans, referred to as “Nikkei,” grew up around farm equipment and were familiar with mechanical maintenance and repair. Following in the footsteps of their Niseis predecessors, hundreds of Third-Generation Japanese Americans, organized dozens of car clubs in Southern California during the Postwar Era. These car clubs not only offered a creative outlet for mostly working class Japanese-American teens, but owning cars that they further customized and made their own, often came to embody the very freedom that was denied to their families a decade prior. Post-war car culture, a uniquely American development, additionally offered Nikkei communities a means of asserting their American identity following an era in which their families' allegiance was questioned. Nikkei car clubs often had unique, tongue-in-cheek names that referenced their Japanese heritage such as “the Shoguns”, “Kame”, which translates to turtle in Japanese, “Gohan” which means rice ball, “Mikado” or emperor, and more. Nikkei teens often customized family cars such as 1955 Ford half-tons or 1950s Chevy’s. The car clubs soon transformed into broader social clubs as club members often built cars together, went to car races, and drove to YBA (Young Buddhist Association) dances across Southern California. In the 1970s the tradition of Japanese-American car clubs continued as the annual Nisei Week Festival in Little Tokyo became the perfect platform for Japanese American car enthusiasts to showcase their custom cars, trucks, and motorcycles. The cruises continued well into the mid 80s, before they were shut down by Los Angeles law enforcement. The cruises later returned in the early 2000’s under “the Showoff” car show centered around import car racing and customization.
Images:
Nikkei Car Clubs 1 courtesy of http://www.discovernikkei.org/en/journal/2018/3/12/nikkei-car-clubs/- Members of the Mikado Car Club show off their cars in the parking lot of the Evergreen Hostel on Evergreen Avenue, ca. 1960. Gift of Richard Sugi, Japanese American National Museum, 2002.68.1.
Nikkei Car Clubs 2 courtesy of http://www.discovernikkei.org/en/journal/2018/3/12/nikkei-car-clubs/-
The plaque for The Shogans, another Gardena/Torrance area club. Photo by Oliver Wang.
Sources:
Khokha, Sasha. “From Internment Camps to Souped-Up Chevys: The Rise of Nikkei Car Clubs.” KQED, 17 Apr. 2018, www.kqed.org/news/11662128/from-internment-camps-to-souped-up-chevys-the-rise-of-nikkei-car-clubs.
12 Mar 2018. “Nikkei Car Clubs.” Discover Nikkei, www.discovernikkei.org/en/journal/2018/3/12/nikkei-car-clubs/.
https://www.janm.org/events/2021-08-21/little-tokyo-drift-nisei-week-car-culture