Shiawase

Maybe I’ll just teach you guys Japanese every time I post!  Shiawase means happy in Japanese.

Nisei Week
This past weekend I skipped down to Little Tokyo in LA for the 70th Annual Nisei Week Festival.  If not for the fun booths and taiko…I go for the annual Import Showoff car show.  Every year for probably the last 6 years I’ve entered my car in the show (and took a trophy home) and set-up a Drifting Pretty booth.  This year was the first year I did neither.  It was nice to stroll along the aisles of show cars and get caught almost every 3 minutes catching up with old friends/mutual car lovers that I’ve known for the past 10 years.  I can’t believe its been that long since I started cool gal car thing.  I didn’t push the Drifting Pretty gals to attend…I didn’t need to…a few showed up and I happened to run into them at the show!   Embracing not just drifting, but anything in the auto enthusiast culture is A+ in my book.

Car shows are usually not my cup of tea, but the Nisei Week import showoff is the exception.  You’ll find a lot of entrants that only enter their cars once a year and show up with these nostalgic cars that aren’t necessarily the trend of the moment, but are near and dear to the hearts of the people who can appreciate that type of car.  Our friend even brought his 1986 Corolla there and displayed his car along side his teammates from his racing crew that has been no more for years…but circled back together just for this event.

We also strolled to Bowls who was having their grand re-opening at their new space right near Daikokuya in the heart of Jtown.  The sweet guy boutique offers cute accessories for Ruckuses (and even sells Ruckuses), men & women’s apparel and footwear. Its a hip boutique that makes you want to hang out and buy cool stuff all day.  The owner I met years ago of course through my drifting fame lol.  Its awesome to see friends succeed at something in addition to the car thing.  Cheers to Brandon!

Nisei Week Photo Gallery

The Next Food Network Star
Another blast from my drifting stardom past… Aarti.  I met her when she was a producer for a media piece that was done on Drifting Pretty back in 2003.  We’ve kept touch all these years and she started a food blog then cooking show on youtube…to now…winning her own show on the Food Network!

Her show will be about infusing Indian flavors in everyday foods.  Check out her interview here on LAist.  And more importantly, set your DVR to tape her new show Aarti Party at 12pm on Sundays starting this Sunday!!!

3 Responses to “Shiawase”

  1. KevDogg says:

    Elise is adorable!

  2. Benson says:

    LOVE that gray 240z!!!!!!

    *DROOL*

  3. jun / AMS01 says:

    hey nadine!! you did sucker me but actually didnt mind since i was “posing” on my car. shoulda had steve and jennys umbrella!! lol thanks for taking the pic and putting up a great shout out to us!!

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