Chicano culture is deep-seated root in family values. Chicanos an exploration between the similarities and differences between Chicano culture in America and Japan, and how the scene is not all about gang culture, but about Familia.

Japan sits off the eastern edge of Asia — an archipelago of nearly 7,000 islands, with most of life concentrated on the main island of Honshū. It is a country of dense megacities and quiet mountain towns, from Tokyo and Yokohama in the Kantō region to Osaka, Kobe and Nagoya further west in Kansai. It is about as far from East L.A. as a culture can travel — which is what makes the story so remarkable.

Since the 1980s a devoted Chicano subculture has taken root there. In neighborhoods around Tokyo and Osaka you will find lowrider clubs, oldies nights, pressed khakis, hairnets and hydraulics — every detail studied and honored. Magazines like Lowrider Japan and long-running clubs built a scene that rivals the American original in craft and pure devotion.

What draws them is not the gang mythology Hollywood exports — it is the Familia. Respect for elders, loyalty, and the belief that where you come from is something to carry with pride. In that, Japanese Chicanos and the Latinos who built the culture speak the same language: family first, roots forever.