San Francisco's Japantown one of three that still exist in the U.S.; Grace Horikiri keeping it alive

A San Francisco native and this week's Jefferson award winner is helping keep alive the city's historic Japantown, one of only three left in the U.S. Sharon Chin reports.
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[@4U6U57]

No way there's only three Japantowns in the US, I've been to three: SF, SJ, and Little Tokyo in LA. *Looks up Japantowns on Wikipedia* Oh damn, those really are the only ones, huh. Crazy.

[@bruh5136]

Yes, you missing another jtown called Sawtelle Japantown aka little Osaka. All jtown should be name by Japan prefectures.

[@brendanboon6548]

Just left a similar comment up above - but 'Historic Japantown' as a title refers to ethnic enclaves that came about in the early 1900's where Japanese folks would gather & live. Sawtelle was added to this list in 2015. There are other enclaves that have sort of 'returned' in recent years, such as Sacramento & Seattle, as well as many unofficial Japanese enclaves like San Mateo, Costa Mesa, St Marks or Greenpoint in NY, Porter in Boston.

[@JORDMAN1001]

Don't forget Seattle Japantown.

[@fuji4202]

Thank You 🙏🏻 Grace

[@exalkalibor924]

Love love love jtown. Place to chill plus..the sunrise there is lovely. Trees breeze and playgrounds nearby. Jtown and fishermans wharf lovely places.

[@yoshinumberone]

I love visiting Japantown

[@trekkeruss]

I grew up in the Bay Area in the 60's and early 70's. Even though our family is Chinese, my father had a lot of Japanese friends, and when the Japan Center was opened in 1968, we used to go there all the time. As a boy, I always liked looking at the ship or crane models (my memory is a bit fuzzy) at I guess what was the Mitsubishi showroom.

[@AutumnalMountains]

I love there are Japantowns in the US! And she's so involved. Well done. ❤ I'm Australian-Japanese having grown up in Melbourne, Australia. There's a Chinatown in Melbourne and Sydney, but after Covid I there's heaps less people.

[@riorocky3360]

But , I finding not much food, snack, lot more business not Japanese , rather Chinese owners, workers now. hardly to find people speak Japanese. So, I feel it is hard to keep the culture if Japanese American not coming back to Japan town themselves.

[@kbjis]

Nah, Jtown is pretty Japanese. Look at the ramen stores, the book store, etc. all originated from Japan.

[@iplayfoofee3547]

@@kbjis most of the business in J town at SF are chinese own, but yes they try to sell Japanese and Japanese-like products to keep the image of Japan going.

[@plantsplantz2116]

Not all chinese theres also Korean owned

[@DxModel219]

@jessicasmith5728I would say yes and no… New Japanese Immigrants who are wealthier will not invest or immigrate to the US just because the Yen is historically weak vs the Dollar now. But I would say it’s a great time for the younger Japanese just starting off to immigrate and work here… The dollar exchange rate is +40% to the yen

[@asanthadenz]

JTOWN - made in china

[@pondcypressstudio]

How cool! I’d love to visit one day!

[@DoneWithEvrything]

I’ve never visited a Japan Town. Not even Litttle Tokyo. I really wanna visit one day.

[@kaorusanchez4166]

Congratulations! ❤

[@nihonbabe]

Arigato Grace-san!!!!!❤️

[@shokubutsugaku_hi]

お疲れ様でした

[@OneManOnFire]

I only wish the SF japantown mall was better and bigger.

[@Midori_Hoshi]

Arigatou, Grace Horikiri.

[@GabrielSouza-rh4ee]

Nice! I hope they can keep culture and traditions. AS someone from São Paulo- Brazil, this Jtown is much more simple when compared with our Japanese Town, the neighborhood called Liberdade- Brazil is the country with the largest japanese community (immigrants+descendants) I recommend searching for it. Watching the video I didn't see too much influence of Japan in this little town area... Liberdade neighborhood is full of japanese elements and it is always croweded of people 'cause there's always street fairs, many japanese markets, asian beauty products stores, feltivals, museum of immigration, events of pop japanese culture, karaoke and japanese schools. The neighborhood is very livable even tough the government don't take too much care of it.

[@matthew_natividad]

I wish I went there when I lived near by

[@seniorskateboarder5958]

Good for us! Hooray San Francisco!

[@directdirector]

I caught Covid at JTown. 😅 still love going there though.

[@harlanjackson6112]

So the 3 remaining Japantowns in the US are LA, San Jose and San Francisco. Guess the Japantown in Seattle didn't make the cut.

[@MrKenneffdupriest]

It's more than 51% homeless so it's no longer Japantown. It's Zombie Apocalypse Town.

[@harlanjackson6112]

@@MrKenneffdupriest If you're talking about Seattle, the google maps street view of the area doesn't look that bad. Just very few Japanese businesses. They're calling it the International District and Chinatown. Maybe the Zombie Apocalypse is in a different area of Seattle.

[@SUpersaiyajinjerkbag]

what about honolulu?

[@Drownedinblood]

It's seen as part of the international district. Its not very big.

[@ENScottish]

日本人の観光客は円安であまり来てないはずだから地元の観光客で賄っとるんやろな

[@hussienalsafi1149]

🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰☺️

[@runnerfromjupiter]

🇯🇵 🤙

[@knkweb]

XG revitalizes Japanese culture once more! As a popular Japanese pop group, XG truly captures the essence of Japanese culture. And we can't overlook One Ok Rock, hailed as the premier Japanese rock band. As someone of half Japanese descent, I take pride in witnessing the growing recognition of Japanese artists and culture.

[@4MJedLWY2c]

Japantown remains one of the better neighborhoods in San Francisco; I'm thankful to those who have kept the area alive. However, the Japanese influence is increasingly diminished. Not that it's wrong for the area to flourish in its own way, but if the neighborhood wishes to value its cultural root and identity, it needs to constantly remind itself as to why it's called Japantown. It's sad that when Chinatown continues to thrive as its own, Japan with so much cultural soft power than China does such a poor job presenting itself. It's quite interesting why all the Chinatowns continue to flourish but the Japantowns choose to vanish and die.

[@hnguyen5656]

It's because there is a continuing large stream of new immigrants from China, but nothing comparable to that from Japan. Without new immigrants, these types of neighborhoods die out since second- and third generation immigrants assimilate. It's also why Little Italy in Manhattan is just a tourist trap and facade. Italian Americans had since assimilated and moved to the suburbs ..

[@thelastdefenderofcamelot5623]

@@hnguyen5656 You're right, you can't control what immigrants you want. Even if Chinatown dies it won't bring back Chinese businesses no matter how much you try to advocate it. You'll end up having non-Chinese businesses. Like Vancouver for example, Chinatown shrunk by 50%. Japantown died. Indian and other fusion style restaurants started popping up. I'm not against it but there are some things that are out of our control.

[@4MJedLWY2c]

@@hnguyen5656 This is true. It's a dilemma for immigrants. I think assimilation, when done successfully, is great for them and the host nation, but that's obviously done at the expense of their cultural heritage. Chinese do assimilate well in general, but some do also keep their culture alive due to the influx of new immigrants as you mention.

[@user-uj5kn6co5q]

Prior to the war Japan town was very large and encompassed a large area. A lot of the loss of has to do with interment camps during WWII. The second generation wanted to distance themselves from a Japanese culture and be as American as possible due to the humiliation of being singled out, up rooted and forced to live in concentration camps even though they were American citizens. People moved away to the suburbs as they had lost their homes, businesses and possessions. In the 50's and 60's the whole area where the mall is and hotel was an empty lot. There were a few Japanese businesses. The whole area was rundown.

[@Jianju69]

Grace FuriKuri??

[@thelastdefenderofcamelot5623]

I laughed at that. No Japanese has a surname Furikuri lol. Oh i get it. Fooly Cooly!

[@HanginInSF]

Think how many more Japanese we would have in SF if they weren't put in concentration camps during WW2. Our loss.

[@SecretMountainTroll]

Its a mall...

[@sethland]

Understand the history. It was full of Victorian storefronts. But Japanese internment displaced the community. After WWII, they lost the property so much of the community settled wherever they could, scattered. Area was considered a blight in the 50’s so they cleared a wide area and put up a mall to serve the community that remained and the rest is public housing. It’s fortunate to exist at all with the advocacy of the community.

[@user-rh8fl8qz2z]

"Japan Town " is just a MALL. Theres no actual residential neighborhood. FYI - Japanese are the MOST INTEGRATED of people of COLOR - hence their HIGHEST RATE OF SUCCESS! We learn ENGLISH. WE join the MILITARY. WE dont hide behind our culture or huddle together in suspicion of FELLOW AMERICANS. WE STAY OUT OF TROUBLE AND PRISON! We observe principles of SUCCESS and embrace them. If we FAIL...its our OWN fault...NOT culture, racism or politics.

[@genuineappeal3458]

Germans were the most educated people in Europe, and America had to bomb and occupy them. Japan had the greatest industry and culture in the East, and America decided to nuke them and occupy them. Now the world suffers poverty and misery everywhere caused by the petrodollar.

[@kenadrian27]

Maybe make it an Asian town instead? Seems like a lot of space for just one ethnicity, and half the restaurants are already Korean anyway. Could use more Thai and Vientnamese cuisines. Chinatown makes sense because of the large population.

[@desu5070]

The report was mainly about how there are only 3 remaining and theyre trying to keep keep this one. It sounds like a bad idea to get rid of one of the three

[@kenadrian27]

@@desu5070 I'm not saying get rid of it. I'm saying to rebrand it to better make use of the space and reflect actual demographics.

[@stephenbachmann1171]

Then you are getting rid of it because it’s not a Japantown any more. Do you think there’s no difference between Chinese and Japanese people?

[@kenadrian27]

@@stephenbachmann1171 I said Chinatown makes sense because there's a bug chinese population in sf. Of course I'm aware there's a difference. I'm suggesting the other ethnicities, because they are lower in population, can share an Asian Town. The Japanese American population is a small minority in Asian Americans in the US, and is decreasing. Japantown has a bunch of Korean restaurants and bars anyway, and Taiwanese and Chinese shops are also opening there so the name doesn't make sense much now anyway. Opening the doors to other Asian countries like Vietnam and Thailand will bring much needed revitalization to that area.

[@desu5070]

@@kenadrian27 You are saying get rid of it, if you replace everything with a different culture, starting with the name, you are getting rid of it

[@lilaznkid4ever]

Don't forget Pearl Harbor 😢

[@thelastdefenderofcamelot5623]

This sort of Japanese hate goes far back beyond Pearl Harbor. Your justification of hate goes far back when Xavier tried to overthrow the Japanese government.

[@beanbon666]

That's where i get all my japan girls

[@stephenbachmann1171]

Says the incel.

[@latinwaterpoloperez]

Love these orientals