Eric Nakamura

Eric Nakamura is co-founder and publisher of Giant Robot magazine. He is a Sansei (third generation Japanese American) from Los Angeles, California who grew up in a typical Japanese American household. He attended Japanese school on Saturdays where he learned the basic traditions of Japanese culture. It also played a large role in his identification as Japanese American.

After graduating from University of California at Los Angeles in East Asian Studies, Nakamura worked at Larry Flynt Publications. While working there, he had an idea for publishing a magazine focused on Asian pop culture in the U.S. In 1994, Nakamura and co-founder Martin Wong photocopied and stapled the first edition of Giant Robot. What began as a zine with a distribution of 240 copies has grown into a full-fledged magazine with an increasingly international fan base.

Nakamura has built on the success of Giant Robot with stores in Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco selling imported art goods from Japan. The stores exhibit artwork from local up-and-coming artists. There’s also a restaurant called gr/eats.

In addition to his work with Giant Robot, Nakamura also made a film called Sunsets and is involved in other projects. For his creative cultural contributions in the United States, he was honored the Award of Excellence by the Japanese American National Museum in 2006. (October 26, 2006)