Japanese American import cars — and those who work to build, drive, drift or race them — have long been synonymous with Southern California car culture.

A panel on Saturday, August 30 will explore the world of import tuners and the roots of the import car scene, held at the Japanese American National Museum’s Democracy Center in downtown Los Angeles.

The panel is part of programming for the museum’s ongoing remote exhibit, “Cruising J-Town: Behind the Wheel of the Nikkei Community,” at the Peter and Merle Mullin Gallery in Pasadena’s ArtCenter College of Design. Admission to the exhibit is free, but ticket reservations, which can be made via janm.org , are recommended.

George Nakamura’s 1940 “Meteor” hot rod is seen in Cruising J-Town: Behind the Wheel of the Nikkei Community exhi

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