Far East L.A.

Far East L.A. is a four-episode series that explores the cultural cross-pollination between the Chicano/a/x and Japanese American residents of two Los Angeles neighborhoods, Boyle Heights and Little Tokyo. They have created an ecosystem that draws from their layered identities and histories.

In the first episode, Doreen Nakama and Adam Martínez, creators of the street food pop-up 'East Los Musubi,' are introduced, and the story of Doreen’s grandparents’ relationship is explored. The episode also features Gajin Fujita, a popular graffiti artist grappling with his identity as a child of Japanese immigrants. The second episode focuses on prodigy Maceo Hernandez, who traveled from East L.A. to Japan to pursue his passion for Taiko drumming while adapting to life with a disability, and MoNa, a rap artist-singer from Kyoto who symbolizes a “glocal” (globally local) identity that straddles a fine line between appreciation and appropriation. The third episode highlights grassroots efforts by J-Town Action & Solidarity to preserve the heritage of Little Tokyo and Boyle Heights and resist cultural erasure. Michelle Hanabusa, a Japanese entrepreneur whose clothing brand combines street fashion and activism to combat anti-Asian attacks, is also featured. In the final episode, the artwork of Japanese Mexican American tattoo artist Shizu Saldamando and her mentor, Salomón Huerta, is explored. The series concludes by showcasing members of Ozomatli, a Chicano/a/x Japanese American band whose first major gig in Little Tokyo launched their internationally celebrated career.

Far East L.A. follows these residents as they fuse cultures and form new worlds spanning music, art, food, grassroots organizing, and politics.