Tokyo Meets South Central: The First Japanese Race

Oliver Wang is a professor of sociology at CSU-Long Beach and author of Cruising J-Town: Japanese American Car Culture In Los Angeles (Angel City Press) and curator of the companion exhibition for the Japanese American National Museum, Cruising J-Town: Behind the Wheel of the Nikkei Community (2025). Dr. Wang is previously the author of Legions of Boom: Filipino American Mobile DJ Crews of the San Francisco Bay Area (Duke Univ. Press, 2015). 

Oliver is a regular writer on music, arts and culture for outlets including NPR's All Things Considered, the Los Angeles Review of Books, Los Angeles Times, and KCET’s Artbound. He has co-hosted the podcasts Pop Rocket and Heat Rocks and is currently developing a new podcast on the songs of Asian America.