Japan’s Chicano Culture In LA

right here japan angeles because i’m
from japan that i live in los angeles
you harp it pretty good yeah sometimes
feels like the car is about to tip over
can you speak spanish too see kevin
[Music]
you guys thought i was a cop pulling up
let’s go
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japan is all about respect honor
made in japan that’s right trendy maybe
you don’t like it
great views of the city look at that
what do you think of hide coming all the
way from japan
i took something from them like only
good things you know what are the best
things you’ve taken
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good afternoon guys here in southern
california the heart of chicano culture
a culture that’s spread around the world
including countries like australia
brazil
and even japan
today we’re gonna go
down here
a few miles to little tokyo in los
angeles and meet up with some japanese
chicanos ones that have moved here
specifically to be in the heart of the
culture it’s going to be a nice cruise
out to east l.a in a low rider i believe
it’s going to be a man and a woman
so we’ll get two different perspectives
okay let’s do it
[Music]
hello
peter nice meeting you nice to meet you
thanks for meeting up no no nice morning
i’m glad to see you
hide is that how i say your name
a lot of people call me hide but because
my spell is like hid yeah so people call
me hi only close home you know my real
name okay
okay everyone knows that now what uh
where are you from here i’m from japan
you came here specifically for the low
riding exactly
i’m a low riding i’ve been doing like 15
years you know
that’s why talk about the car what do we
got here this is a 1997 lincoln tunker i
got 13 inch you know two inch tack ready
to hopping you hop it pretty good
yeah sometimes
oh wow how low you know look at this guy
what’s that do now for the hydro we’re
ready to fall sleep
how many um japanese taking on chicano
culture in japan are there like
thousands of you guys yeah but now it’s
a little bit like kind of slow but we
still have like a japanese cholo culture
in japan you know yeah my home home is
in japan everybody draws up like a cholo
you know right half pants and the high
sides you know baggy prince everything i
i want to do like a real chicano culture
that’s why i moved here also you know my
big homie he’s uh he’s a japanese right
he used to be yakuza
yakuza yeah he’s a japanese gang member
yes exactly and he got busted like in
california states prisons like 12 years
okay and he became a south south side
and he got deported and i met him in
japan he did like a japan tour
like a chicano he invited a lot of
chicano people you know okay yeah i met
chicano people and that day i didn’t
know that about the chicago nothing you
know i just had the lorraine but i
didn’t know that watch chicano i don’t
know you know
but he introduced me to the chicano
people and then you know they’re all
blessed you know they’re big but they
was cool you know there i i feel like oh
they cool i wanna i wanna go to
california you know that’s why like i’m
here you know big shout out to the
mistake that’s where we go mr k yeah
he’s a he’s a real jeez you know and a
shout out to thai mushi pancho so we’re
in little tokyo yeah we right here in
the central street and between the one
first street and the second street okay
you live down here no i live in the park
do you feel when you’re here you’re in
between japanese culture and chicano
culture what do you what are you like
hanging out with more
well i have like a 90 percent like a
homies you know like i don’t know that a
lot of japanese people i just know the
more mexican here my heart is like
mexican
and japanese
they they teach me how to love the
people
you know that’s why i like homies you
know you got andy is a homie yeah much
better yeah yeah you have a good heart
too you know
okay so here we go this is like the
heart of little tokyo yeah is this the
center of it yeah we got that kosher
that was
when i came here
i stayed uh
my big home introduces his home his name
is mushi pancho okay i stayed at his
house
and at that that time i couldn’t speak
english nothing i just said like hi
hello nice to meet you that’s it how
many years have you been here like five
years wow yeah that’s amazing yeah and
you speak spanish too see like a little
bit yeah
what would pop you out of japan because
japan is like
you have a very strong culture exactly i
love japan yeah we have like so much
love to the people too right okay
but mexican you guys hug we like each
other or you guys say i love you to your
mom dad everybody but japanese we don’t
do that you know okay so chicano’s more
open more warm exactly mexican people
can show their love
you know but japanese always now we we
love
the people but
we stay inside so we don’t show you know
i used to uh
kick it with homies they’re like all the
homies right right right or when they
get like a drunk uh-huh they always hug
me and they kiss to the
head you know the house like what the
[ __ ] you guys like gangster but you know
they show love to me they’ve accepted
you here yeah exactly like they didn’t
look at you as the outsider from japan
they weren’t yeah but like it depends
like i know that homies but street is a
different like if i down the street
in the ghetto homie ask me like where
from myself they tried to be like a
jumping moon you know gotcha yeah but i
said you know i’m from japan so
what do they say no they say like oh
you’re from japan like you know they’re
trippy but you know street is a little
bit different look everything
japanese restaurant
right yeah but i heard that ona is a
korean now you know here they said a
little tokyo but i had a lot of the
owner is a korean you know some of the
real like a japanese restaurant because
like they got the japanese employee but
some of them what do we got here
japanese market and then we’re gonna get
some like mochi mochi japanese rice cake
made in japan that’s right
that’s my [ __ ] try andy maybe you don’t
like it
[Laughter]
mochi is this good mochi
what food
do i like it oh yeah of course
you come from good food yeah fresh sushi
you know fresh fresh like
the fish you know but he left already
and he left yeah that means he doesn’t
like it
he’s like excuse right now
[Laughter]
i got it right here okay you’re
definitely in here yeah and this one
japan angeles because i’m from japan
that i live in los angeles you know the
law rider coyote and this one why the
officer in japanese who’s coming here
right here in my homegirl mira
and aj
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now back to the video she’s more chicano
than me
really how long how long have you been
chicana
yeah how long have you embraced it for
do you think since when i was high
school so
when i was so 17 years old
no first actually i liked the more black
music dupont
you liked the black music you said yeah
right so i moved here first mexican in
there you know brock is always
right
a little different style but both you
came here for the you love the hip-hop
yeah and the wrap yeah
but then after being here you came over
to the chicano mexican people and they
were really nice yeah and uh i see a lot
of it all right it’s
mexican raw rider and i like
them
you know more like a donk style no i
like the more mexican stuff so i’m more
go oh you’re going to cruise with us
what’s in here
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took the t-shirts yeah i think a whole
thing right here someone took the
t-shirts yeah just now
yeah
i don’t even know
yeah he’s owning it you’re in the
lowriders
no i’m a power i do racing thank you
oh
i got you see
back in the day you know hot rod is like
a speed then low rider is like a
looks you know shiny pain so you’re into
these cars yeah
this is a 2027 right there oh wow
wow oh look at all the great detail in
here back bumper
such a cool shop but you know there’s a
lot of japanese people building uh you
know hobros and stuff and now he’s a
role rider too you know how do you think
the japanese love these these cultures
so much it was a wee lab of us
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i’ll leave the link for this shop in the
description
i love you guys speaking japanese
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all right guys out for a cruise
what are you doing there
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feels like the car’s about to tip
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over have some tight oh yeah people are
loving it
[Music]
some screams
like i said in the last video or two
videos ago it’s not
cruising
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okay it’s mixed reviews some people love
it
the drivers don’t
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that’s three-wheeling right tire is
handling just barely
[Music]
i think you have the most extreme
car i’ve seen
out of all of them now we’re going to go
eastern standard
get some marisca
freewheel on the turn right now
oh yeah
there we go
they’re loving it it’s almost like a a
ride at a fun fair you know
oh this is how it works huh yeah all
these batteries yeah buttons
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i gotta say the low rider is like a
puppy
that’s my
analogy it’s like a puppy because it
makes everyone smile
for help for real people laughing lorena
in california sometimes i fix my homies
car
when they get trouble i fix my home is
her you know
ready to go
you said always something wrong yeah
always every weekend we go cruising and
the next week the next day we fix lolo
that’s the price you pay for
exactly living the

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00:14:14,959 –> 1193:02:47,295
the lifestyle
we’re right back in boyle heights
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it’s really fun it’s a lot of love
people honking waving
pj seems to know a lot of people in town
and then the occasional middle finger
so andy and i went here yesterday
for vientos
and some of the best seafood
i’ve ever had
in east l.a or a lot of l.a this is the
best food places like this with razor
wire
above
two tables
little parking lot
and a homeless encampment across the
street
but the food is unbelievably good
[Music]
do you guys want drinks
um
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and i told her to bring it today
73 monte carlo yeah i have chain
steering wheel the heart
shape
heart shaped chain steering wheel oh wow
right down to the ground look at that
and
dropping it dropping it
but low rider behind
they fixed all the time and the heady
you know
oh yeah behind the scenes exactly yeah
yeah yeah yeah you look like yeah that’s
bad
but behind we struggle
you know you never know less stress here
than japan yeah and everybody like uh
doesn’t care what everybody’s doing
maybe in japan everybody care each other
so much
oh okay okay oh and especially
if i have tattoo nobody hired me to get
a job people think more yakuza like
mafia that means like
you’re a criminal or a bad boy you know
they’re gonna judge you you can’t go to
like a hot spring okay you know
yeah some beach yeah they don’t want you
know the beach beach have the size
yeah they judge you you feel a lot more
freedom
here yeah okay okay like especially a
city like l.a like nobody
i can wear everything
jeans
you guys wear baggy pants and as long as
we’re all cool with each other it’s cool
right
i love that we got fish tacos
guys we’re going to do low rider fine
dining yep go ahead right here
okay
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what’s in this cheese and then also uh
shrimp and then that’s uh tostada what
is it
well yes
uh octopus
really like no
you know
no i like
honest be honest
it’s hard to impress a japanese person
with seafood
solid
pretty good mm-hmm is that the toughest
part for you about the us is the food
culture
no i love mexican don’t get me wrong you
know i love mexico but i can’t eat that
every day sorry
[Laughter]
you guys got to try these show them how
to load it up though oh
let’s go pedro
this is what you gotta do so andy and i
came here yesterday so that’s why i
wanted to come back you pour it
inside yeah yeah
so it’s messy
you just fill it up
like that
and then when you eat it
you gotta go it’s gonna fall on the
ground
yeah
nice
i knew we’d break
through i know i had these yesterday i
was in love with them
i’m very picky but that one’s super bomb
you’re gonna try it that was a farmer
andy what is it it’s shrimp it’s chopped
yeah and cheese in there too shrimp
cheese avocado
there’s like a starch in there like rice
it’s potato
okay
such a good combo salute
thank you guys
excellent food
excellent
thank you
okay guys go here mariscos
and i’m only gonna promote something i
really love
solid solid food
let me let me show you guys what this is
because i don’t think the camera shows
the angle properly
here we go
just sort of coming out of there
wow all the way
and you see some sparks in there
under there
not really
a low rider program
japan you don’t have homeless like the
homelessness yeah we have abandoned
so what’s the difference with
relationships in in japan versus here
like uh if you know like a real like a
mexican mexican ladies yeah i feel dead
japanese very close like japanese even
like my lady right now yeah she’s a
japanese japanese more than me so you
have like um a lot of respect in the
culture both cultures
look at that one yeah that was a badass
have to be home like early you know
maybe 8 p.m yeah
like
no boyfriend until
what age
yeah
biting
the same too
okay okay gotcha he’s kinda yeah so you
feel like
culturally it’s
in that way it’s sort of similar yeah i
always take something good from mexican
people because they know how to love
people what are you doing just just
cruising around
and now maybe we go to maya street by
the uh in the boiler heights
and a lot of japanese or the
the vegeta here and they kick it with
mexican and then mexicans say hey
oh my gosh
and they feel like oh
you know like you’re so nice braver bro
but you know like some of them may be
true they they tell you the truth but
some of them are just saying you know
right yeah that’s like a big difference
you know so in japan when someone says
your house is my house they 100 mean it
100
like a we we’re gonna have a like a
response like a responsibility for that
what you say you know i ain’t tripping
no more but
when i move to here first time i feel
like all people now feel like loyalty
nothing you know because they just say
yeah you say like 9 p.m are you talking
about them like
americans
americans or chicano americans
or everybody they’d be better than
everybody
living here yeah
yeah who live here that you know that’s
not disrespect but that’s here is like
like uh different in japan yeah yeah
yeah yeah yeah differently
i think california is the worst for that
too in the united states i think it’s
just i think i think warm that’s why
you’re like you know like a weather
maybe yeah
but if you were in say the midwest yeah
i think the those those words are much
more powerful there oh really i’m
generalized but yes that’s how i like i
think so because we grew up like this
you know if you say like you have to do
it yeah i’m the same way man my favorite
one of my reasons i moved here yeah one
of the
[Music]
yeah i got a whole bag from him
so what is this guys this is just like a
street art graffiti place or what yeah
there’s a lot of people doing like a
photo shoot around here
when i move a lot of movies over there
rawrider is under the bridge we get
together okay
give us a spot so i always come down
myself
okay guys we’re down at uh i guess a
famous photo play sandy yeah that’s a
cool hangout
oh great views of the city look at that
exactly what it is one of the best
beautiful
i took something from them like i could
only good things you know what are the
best things you’ve taken obviously you
said the love the openness what else
like loyalty and the respect
i feel like they respect a lot you know
you know i’m not from here so i don’t
know exactly but maybe new new
generation mexicans are different you
know
n words like you know they try to be
like a
different race you’re more old school
exactly i like like oh geez and they’re
like a real like mexican people you know
yeah yeah they they they they know like
a lot of respect everything that’s why i
feel very comfortable even i grew up in
japan like that i grew up with love
respect where you are right now
so guys the video is not over
we just got a call where are we going
we’re gonna go to a clubhouse like a
lowrider community clubhouse it’s
underground yes yeah nobody knows like a
secret spot secret spot yeah all right
what happened
you guys thought i was a cop pulling up
i look like one i need a i’m not a cop
t-shirt
yeah it’s nice to meet you
thank you he’s a filipino
[Laughter]
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yeah together and then we arguing all
the time
that’s that’s how much you like someone
right
so what do you guys think of this guy he
came all the way from japan to
get into low rise
[Laughter]
from fried rice from japan
fry rice
he’s my boy though he’s a good person
he’s been a good person to me dog we’ve
brought this [ __ ] remember i went with
you
right now yeah
guys tell us where we’re at this is the
private bar yeah it’s only by invite you
gotta know a good homie
so private bar only nobody knows about
it except the inside yeah what do you
buy and it looks like a normal bar
mellows thank you just memories
you know everybody in here has been
known each other for years
or you know they’re just good people you
know you guys are all into cars oh yeah
low riding low riding everyone’s low
riding yes sir so what do you what do
you think of hyde coming all the way
from japan
[Music]
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for this you know move from japan that’s
unbelievable that’s crazy but you know
he’s a good guy and he helps out a lot
too man with a lot of yeah
you got to fall into a group with the
people that you vibe with so like you
know like earlier you know they were
making jokes and everything yeah so some
people aren’t that aren’t that playful
they can they take things very seriously
right right so but with us like like i
said you know chicano culture a lot of
us you know we have we have a sense of
humor so you gotta have that kind of
little sense yeah i love it or else
you’re always gonna be serious you’re
always gonna be mad and you don’t want
to be mad all the time you want to have
a good time you know and hit but but him
and trips they got a special
relationship
with each other all year all day
every day he’ll probably barely be
waking up and he’s already giving him
[ __ ] that’s what i’ve loved the most
about chicano culture is the
connectivity
guys link below
everybody you know
thank you for bringing us in
andy right here andy’s the photographer
check out his link below he also sells
these awesome hats
and other clothing
and then you got some merch too so we
got you need clothes you need hats check
that three la three la yeah okay
instagram link down below and then jay’s
a photographer also amazing photographer
really captures the street life right
street life
east l.a
thanks guys for coming along appreciate
it
and uh here’s a final closing shot
los angeles sun going into the pacific
until the next one
until the next one
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