Eric Nakamura is a

Japanese American are Americans of Japanese ancestry. Japanese Americans were among the three largest Asian American ethnic communities during the 20th century; but, according to the 2000 census, they have declined in number to constitute the sixth largest Asi ...

magazine publisher, gallerist, and entrepreneur. He is the co-founder of

Giant Robot In science fiction, or mechs are giant robots or machines controlled by people, typically depicted as humanoid walking vehicles. The term was first used in Japanese (language), Japanese after shortening the English loanword or , but the mean ...

, owner of the Giant Robot store and GR2 Gallery, and curator of the Giant Robot Biennales and other museum exhibitions.Vivien Hao

, ''AsianWeek'', November 19, 2007. Retrieved September 13, 2015.

Early life and education

Publisher Nakamura grew up in the

Sawtelle, Los Angeles Sawtelle is a district in the Westside (Los Angeles County), Westside of the city of Los Angeles, California, partially within the West Los Angeles subregion. It was established in 1899 and named after a manager of the Pacific Land Company wh ...

area. He attended Palisades High School and later

Santa Monica College Santa Monica College (SMC) is a Public university, public, community college in Santa Monica, California. Founded as a Junior college#United States, junior college in 1929, SMC enrolls over 30,000 students in more than 90 fields of study. Althoug ...

, where he'd work with the ''

Palisadian-Post The ''Palisadian-Post'' is a weekly subscription newspaper serving Pacific Palisades, California, published each Thursday by the Pacific Palisades Post. The company also publishes 90272 Magazine and the weekly newspaper ''The Shopper'', also kn ...

'' as their only photographer. Nakamura attended

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

, graduating in 1993 with a degree in East Asian Studies.Ryoko Onishi

''Rafu Shimpo'', December 11, 2012. Retrieved September 13, 2015.

Career

After graduation, Nakamura worked at ''

VideoGames & Computer Entertainment ''VideoGames & Computer Entertainment'' (abbreviated as ''VG&CE'') was an American magazine dedicated to covering video games on computers, home consoles and arcades. It was published by LFP, Inc. from the late 1980s until the mid-1990s. Offe ...

'' shortly before starting Giant Robot. In 1994, he founded Giant Robot, which began as a self-published magazine and grew into a widely circulated bi-monthly magazine about Asian pop culture. In 2001, he opened the first Giant Robot store in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. The magazine ceased publication in February 2011, but Nakamura continued publication through the curation of several Giant Robot Biennales at the

Japanese American National Museum The is located in Los Angeles, California, and dedicated to preserving the history and culture of Japanese Americans. Founded in 1992, it is located in the Little Tokyo area near downtown. The museum is an affiliate within the Smithsonian Affil ...

and the SuperAwesome: Art and Giant Robot exhibition at the Oakland Museum of California Art. Nakamura opened Asian fusion restaurant ''gr/eats'' in 2005. It had an almost seven year run in Sawtelle, Los Angeles, right by their physical ''Giant Robot'' store.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nakamura, Eric Asian-American culture American people of Japanese descent American magazine publishers (people) Year of birth missing (living people) Living people University of California, Los Angeles alumni