Japantown, San Francisco

Japantown
—  Neighborhood of San Francisco  —
Japan Center Peace Pagoda and the Sundance Kabuki 8 movie theater complex makeup the center of San Francisco's Japantown.
Nickname(s): Nihonmachi, Little Osaka, J-Town, Funayville
Japantown Location within Central San Francisco
Coordinates: 37°47′06″N 122°25′47″W / 37.7851°N 122.4298°W / 37.7851; -122.4298
Government
– Board of Supervisors	Ross Mirkarimi
– State Assembly	Tom Ammiano (D)
– State Senate	Mark Leno (D)
– U.S. House	Nancy Pelosi (D)
Area[1]
– Total	0.1 km2 (0.045 sq mi)
– Land	0.1 km2 (0.045 sq mi)
Population (2008)[1]
– Total	460
– Density	3,947.9/km2 (10,225/sq mi)
ZIP Code	94115
Area code(s)	415

Japantown (日本町, Nihonmachi^?) (also known as Little Osaka, Funayville, or J Town) comprises about six square city blocks in San Francisco, California, USA. San Francisco's Japantown is the largest and oldest such enclave in the United States.^[2]

Location

The main thoroughfare is Post Street, between Laguna Street and Webster Street. Its focal point is the Japan Center (opened in 1968),^[3] the site of three Japanese-oriented shopping centers and the Peace Pagoda, a five-tiered concrete stupa designed by Japanese architect Yoshiro Taniguchi and presented to San Francisco by the people of Osaka, Japan.

History

Japantown residents being relocated to an Internment Camp during World War 2

Built and settled as part of the Western Addition neighborhood in the 19th and early 20th century, Japanese immigrants began moving into the area following the 1906 Earthquake.^[4] (Before 1906, San Francisco had two Japantowns, one on the outskirts of Chinatown, the other in the South of Market area. After 1906, San Francisco's main Japantown was in the Western Addition, with a smaller one in the South Park area.^[5]) By World War II, the neighborhood was one of the largest such enclaves of Japanese outside of Japan, as it took an appearance similar to the Ginza district in Tokyo.^[4]

After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the neighborhood experienced kristallnacht type attacks on residences and businesses. In February 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 that forced all Japanese of birth or descent in the United States interned. By 1943 many large sections of the neighborhood remained vacant due to the forced internment. The void was quickly filled by thousands of African Americans who had left the South to find wartime industrial jobs in California as part of the Great Migration. Following the war, some Japanese Americans returned, followed by new Japanese immigrants as well as investment from the Japanese Government and Japanese companies, many did not return to the neighborhood and instead settled in other parts of the city, or out to the suburbs altogether. This was further exacerbated by the city's efforts to rejuvenate the neighborhood initiated by Justin Herman in the Western Addition in the 1960s through the 1980s.^[6]

In 1957, San Francisco entered in a sister city relationship with the city of Osaka, hence the nickname "Little Osaka". Osaka is San Francisco's oldest sister city.^[7] In commemoration of the 50th anniversary of this relationship, one block of Buchanan Street, in Japantown, was renamed Osaka Way on 8 September 2007.^[8]

Looking across Post Street north on Buchanan Street in Japantown.

The five-tiered Peace Pagoda made of concrete.

Attractions and characteristics

The area is home to 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. Most of these businesses are located in the commercial center of the neighborhood which is a large shopping mall built in the 1960s as part of urban renewal efforts and is run by Japanese retailer Kintetsu.

San Francisco's Japantown celebrates two major festivals every year: The Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival (held for two weekends every April),^[9] and the Nihonmachi Street Fair, held one weekend in the month of August.^[10]

See also

San Francisco Bay Area portal

• Japantown for other Japanese neighborhoods
• Japanese American internment
• Neighborhoods of San Francisco
• 49-Mile Scenic Drive
• Japanese American National Library
• Kinmon Gakuen

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Japantown neighborhood in San Francisco, California (CA), 94115 subdivision profile - real estate, apartments, condos, homes, community, population, jobs, income, streets
2. ^ "San Francisco Japantown 100th Anniversary - History of San Francisco's Japantown". Japantown Merchants Association. http://sfjapantown100.org/. Retrieved 16 December 2007. 
3. ^ View archival newsfilm featuring the official opening ceremony of the Japan Center, from March 1968: http://diva.sfsu.edu/collections/sfbatv/bundles/190393.
4. ^ ^{a b} Japantown San Francisco: About Japantown
5. ^ Japanese Task Force Inc., Images of San Francisco's Japantown (2005) pp. 7, 9
6. ^ Jofuku, Linda (31 August 2005). "Preserving Japantown is about people, not just property". The San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/08/31/EDGLIEF3BE1.DTL. 
7. ^ "SF-Osaka Sister City Association: 50th Anniversary 2007 - Events". SF-Osaka Sister City Association. http://www.sf-osaka.org/Pages/events_50Anniversary.html. Retrieved 18 December 2007. 
8. ^ "Osaka Way Unveiling Ceremony". Consulate-General of Japan in San Francisco. http://www.cgjsf.org/archives/PR_e/pr_07_0908.htm. Retrieved 18 December 2007. 
9. ^ Welcome to Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival Website
10. ^ Welcome to the Nihonmachi Street Fair

External links

• http://www.sfjapantown.org/
• San Francisco/Japantown travel guide from Wikitravel
• Google Maps street view of the Peace Pagoda.
• Japantown Task Force, Inc.
• Free walking tours of Japantown
• Fatlace Japantown

Coordinates: 37°47′06″N 122°25′47″W / 37.7851°N 122.4298°W / 37.7851; -122.4298