Sachiko Gee, co-owner of 8-year-old tea shop ChaTo, smiled as she looked out at the throngs of shoppers in the Japan Center mall on a recent Friday afternoon.
“It’s been kind of mind-blowing,” Gee said of the buzz around Japantown. “On the weekdays now, it feels like weekends, and the weekends feel like there’s always some event going on.”
The scene was a far cry from the depths of the pandemic when the mall struggled with a rash of vacancies and closures. Even the long-awaited renovation of Peace Plaza that kicked off in late April failed to stem the steady wave of foot traffic.
Japantown is indeed experiencing a boom: Sales tax revenue in the neighborhood between April and June was 17% higher than in the same period in 2019. It’s a striking anomaly: Japantown and the Presidio were the only two San Francisco neighborhoods to see an increase over that period; in the case of the Tenderloin, sales tax revenue was down 68%.
It’s hard to pinpoint a reason for Japantown’s surge, but theories from business owners range from the neighborhood’s youth-friendly events to its perceived safety. But underneath the optimism is anxiety about the future.
Japantown’s history is marked by disruption and displacement — first during World War II and again during the city’s “urban renewal” projects in the 1960s — so a shadow of doubt darkens the boom time.
“It’s great. We just wonder how long the wave will last,” Gee said. “I just hope Japantown can keep thriving.”
A trendy turnaround
Ever since Chef Jinwoong Lim opened his take-out sushi counter Aji Kiji in early August, the daily stream of customers has bordered on overwhelming. “We sell out in one or two hours,” he said. Hiring enough kitchen workers to fulfill the demand has become a challenge.
His restaurant next door, Bansang, is also trending upward due to locals and tourists swarming the neighborhood. It’s not a bad problem to have in contrast to the doom, gloom, and empty rooms in other parts of San Francisco.
The same is true for many Japantown merchants. The easy public transit connections and distance from downtown’s drug use and misery make the area a top choice for visitors from throughout the region and further afield.
The neighborhood’s history and specialty shops — many of them conveniently packed in interconnected malls — are also a draw, as is a widening range of Asian cuisine, including fine-dining Thai and Korean hotspots like Bansang and Daeho.
“We are getting calls at Japan Center constantly,” said Haley Klein, a broker at real estate firm Maven, which is the leasing agent for the malls. There’s currently only one “true vacancy,” she said, because storefronts without long-term leases are either hosting pop-ups or are occupied on a month-to-month basis.
The full house strikes a contrast with the state of the malls three years ago, when more than 10 businesses closed after struggling to keep up with costs in the aftermath of pandemic shut-downs.
“Japantown is trendy right now,” said Kotaro Sugimoto, owner of the 15-year-old shop Kohshi Master of Scents. Young people flock to the mall’s claw-machine arcade games and for the anime items and collectible figurines sold in several stores, he said. Meanwhile, the neighborhood’s active social media accounts promote events like the recent Godzillafest and an upcoming arts crawl and night market.
Sugimoto’s store carries artisan craftworks, including masks, painted wood figurines, and pottery, as well as incense and oils. The focus on traditional Japanese goods makes the shop a minority in the neighborhood, he said.
He and another owner, Stephen Jordan of the 25-year-old store Sakura Sakura, both said they have benefited from the surge in visitors, but business feels slower than at stores with cheaper goods targeted at teenagers.
Jordan’s store stocks imported finery like embroidered jackets and kimonos, “so we don’t have big discounts,” he said. “We bring things straight from Japan, and the prices are the best we can do; otherwise, it’s not worth it.”
Generational change
Worries that more traditional Japanese retailers haven’t evenly reaped the benefits of the recent crowds have been a topic of conversation in the community, according to Susie Kagami, executive director of the nonprofit Japantown arts organization Koho.
“I think we could be doing a much better job of bringing in authentic Japanese businesses and supporting Japanese-American entrepreneurs,” she said. “For me, there’s a bit of a lack of authentic wares.”
While questions of cultural legitimacy can be fraught, her goal is to support education, community building, and conversations with young Japanese and Japanese Americans about identity and tradition.
There used to be a covenant with the malls that they had to bring in culturally relevant businesses, she said, but it ceased several years ago. Long-time businesses like Mums and Benkyodo Company closed recently as their owners retired, and legacy shops have struggled “because of the increasing costs of doing business and leases,” she added.
Rich Hashimoto, president of the Japantown Merchants Association, said the neighborhood is stronger for having such businesses, and it’s important for them to find ways to thrive. “The merchants that sell traditional items, we tell them to try to change up what you’re selling if you’re not doing well,” he said.
Philip Ashizawa, owner of Soko Hardware, said his shop’s mix of practical cultural goods, like takoyaki pans and donabe, has kept shoppers coming back. His grandparents opened the store in 1925, making it the oldest business left in Japantown, he said. That status means community members visit to ask for his perspectives on the neighborhood and its evolution.
He generally demurs: “Being here day to day, I don’t get to look in the big picture,” he said. “I’m just concentrating on the here and now. But I do feel pressure to keep the store going.”
The experience of Ashizawa’s family is similar to that of many in the neighborhood: His grandparents, who immigrated from Japan, were sent to World War II incarceration camps and had to rebuild when they returned. The family had to rebuild again after brutal redevelopment scattered the community.
The oldest Japantown in America has faced years of upheaval, and merchants fear that the new development — the Peace Plaza renovation, as well as an impending reconstruction project on Osaka Way/Buchanan Mall — could disrupt business again and break the cycle of growth.
“Everyone came out of Covid and have been starting to get back on their feet and seeing their sales increase, and then they’re faced with another ‘Oh, my God’ experience,” said Grace Horikiri, executive director of the Japantown Community Benefit District. “We need to help these businesses survive the next wave of changes.”
One strategy for maintaining the soul of Japantown is to encourage young Japanese Americans to plug into the community and start businesses of their own, Koho’s Kagami said.
Enter 28-year-old Kenny Okagaki, a Japanese American raised in San Francisco, who in April 2022 fulfilled his “childhood dream” of opening a business in Japantown His shop, Chameleon Vintage, sells clothing he thrifts from Japan and around the Bay Area.
“I feel a lot of joy at being a Yonsei business owner in Japantown,” he said using the Japanese term for fourth-generation immigrants.
Okagaki remembers being inspired by the young proprietor of Pika Pika, a now-shuttered photo salon in Japantown, and hopes his shop and other Japanese American businesses — like 3 Pillars — influence other Yonseis to plant roots in the neighborhood.
“Us being able to share our stories, you never know who might be listening, and that could inspire them,” he said. He appreciates that the neighborhood embraces all kinds of people, he added.
“Japantown is for everyone,” he said. “The best way to ensure that the Japantown of today and tomorrow are thriving is to come support us, find the community organizations, join the basketball leagues, attend and volunteer at the festivals. That’s what will ensure the future.”
Correction: The story was updated to reflect the reason Mums and Benkyodo Company gave for closing.