Japantown, San Francisco, California

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The commercial district along Geary Boulevard is bookended by the Japan Center pagoda and the AMC Kabuki 8 movie theater complex.

An interior plaza in the Japan Center mall.

Looking across Post Street north on Buchanan Street.

The five-tiered Peace Pagoda made of concrete.

Japantown (also known as "Nihonmachi" (ja: 日本町), "Little Osaka," and "J Town") comprises about six square city blocks in the Western Addition in San Francisco. The area is home to a large number of Japanese (and some Korean and Chinese) restaurants, supermarkets, indoor shopping malls, hotels, banks and other shops, including one of the few U.S. branches of the large Kinokuniya bookstore chain. The main thoroughfare is Post Street. Its focal point is Japan Center (opened in 1968), the site of three Japanese oriented shopping centers and the Peace Pagoda. The Peace Pagoda is a five-tiered concrete stupa designed by Japanese architect Yoshiro Taniguchi and presented to San Francisco by the people of Osaka, Japan.

1 History
2 Recent history and controversy
3 Annual street festivals/fairs
4 Other annual community events
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] History

San Francisco has the largest Japantown in California, although it is only a shadow of what it once was before World War II. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. government took Japanese Americans into custody and interned them in concentration camps, while many large sections of the neighborhood remained vacant. The void was quickly filled by thousands of African Americans who had left the South to find wartime industrial jobs in California. Following the war, some Japanese Americans returned, followed by new Japanese immigrants as well as investment from the Japanese Government and Japanese companies. The city made efforts to rejuvenate the neighborhood; as a result of the massive redevelopment initiated by Justin Herman in the Western Addition in the 1960s through the 1980s, large numbers of African Americans were pushed west towards the Fillmore District, east towards the Tenderloin, or south towards Hunters Point where the majority of the city's African American population resides today.

[edit] Recent history and controversy

On February 9, 2006, the Nichi Bei Times reported in its weekly English edition newspaper that Kintetsu of America Enterprises was selling all of its property in Japantown.[1] The San Francisco Chronicle the next day published its own article about the sale of the Japantown properties.[2]. Concerns were raised by the local community that such a sale could erode the area's cultural character, since preservation of the neighborhood's identity was a top priority. On February 21, 2006, a gathering took place at the Issei Memorial Hall in the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California, where over 200 community members, Mayor Gavin Newsom and other community leaders met to learn more about the sale and to hear public concerns over the sale.[3] [4]. Also, a Special Use District designation was suggested as a legislative tool for San Francisco to preserve the neighborhood.[5]

After the public meetings, community leaders insisted that the properties be sold first to those within the Japanese American community, since property had already been taken away by the city through redevelopment. The law firm of Minami, Lew & Tamaki LLP (authorized to find potential buyers) was tasked with finding a select few bidders who could live up to the promise by Kintetsu to preserve the cultural identity of the neighbhorhood.

The wide concern generated by local citizens and frequent visitors to the neighborhood resulted in the creation of the "Save Japantown" campaign by Aaron Kitashima, a graduating senior of Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University and grandson to the late "Godmother of Japantown" Ms. Tsuyako "Sox" Kitashima (one of the major leaders of the Japanese American redress movement).[6] An online petition was created shortly after the news article about the sale was first released by the Nichi Bei Times.[7] The high volume of signatures gathered within such a short time frame garnered media attention at the local, national and international levels.[8] [9] [10] [11] [12] On March 14, 2006, a rally led by Public Defender Jeff Adachi was held at San Francisco's City Hall, and the petition of 16,235 signatures was officially submitted to Mayor Gavin Newsom.[13] [14]

On March 23, 2006, the Sundance corporation purchased the Kabuki 8 screen theater. Because Sundance gave assurances that the theater would continue hosting annual cultural celebrations, the purchase was approved by leaders and members of the community.[15]. Also, 3D investments agreed to a set of covenants which guaranteed the preservation of Japantown's identity, before they took ownership of the remaining Japantown properties.[16] [17]

On May 4, 2006, a community meeting was held to discuss legislation for the Special Use District designation. While nearly all within the community agreed that it would benefit the neighborhood's preservation, controversy erupted when members of the Japantown Merchants Association read a public statement saying that they would not support the legislation.[18] Jeff Adachi argued that the legislation was a "no brainer". On May 16, 2006, the Japantown Task Force voted 8-0 in support of the legislation while the Merchants Association stood by its original decision to not support it [19]. On May 25, 2006, the Nichi Bei Times reported that the Merchants Association decided to change its stance and support the legislation.[20]. On the same day of this article's publication, a meeting was held in the legislative chambers of San Francisco's City Hall where the legislation was discussed and received the recommendation of the panel members.

Currently, the legislation still needs to go under committee and Board of Supervisors review.

[edit] Annual street festivals/fairs

San Francisco Japantown celebrates every year two major festivals:

The Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival (held for two weekends every April).[21]
The Nihonmachi Street Fair (held one weekend in the month of August).[22]

[edit] Other annual community events

Day of Remembrance to remember the success of the Japanese American Redress movement and Executive Order 9066, also known as the Japanese American Internment camps.[23]
Annual Church Bazaars (fundraisers) - held by the Konko Church, Buddhist Church, and Christ United Church.