What originally started off as a simple get together for car enthusiasts has blossomed into Shukai, a full-on cultural automotive event that aims to attract attendees to visit one of America's three remaining historical Japantowns, this one taking place in San Jose, California. Headliners, an apparel shop based in this particular Japantown, is the mastermind behind this and, together with Vankulture and wheelsnmeals, are continuously looking to NorCal car enthusiasts for their participation to help grow the event.
But what does Shukai actually mean? In Japanese, it literally translates to "meeting" or "gathering," but it's a very old term that's not commonly used in Japan these days, except by underground organizations to describe their get-togethers. The show's organizers adopted it since it's largely the main groups within the local car community that are meeting for a common cause.
More than anything, the name Shukai is a way of connecting varying generations of Japanese, both here and back in the motherland.
"I wanted to represent my culture," says Cary Inayoshi, owner of wheelsnmeals. "I went back and forth with my friends in Japan to choose a suitable name [for the show]. They agreed that Shukai would be okay since nobody here really knows what it is. But the funny thing is that after we started, other small "shukai" type events have been popping up around Japan."
In fact, they've also said that until they started using the term Shukai, there were no other associations to cars with it before starting the event four years ago. Sounds like their gatherings/meetings are onto something good...
(Photos: Courtesy of Import Image)
See more from the 4th Annual Shukai San Jose Japantown in the photo gallery below.