SF sightseeing - Japantown

There are only three Japantown's left in the US now. San Francisco's is the largest and oldest surviving one. The others are in Los Angeles and San Jose.

Japanese began moving to the Japantown area in the Western Addition neighbourhood after their homes were destroyed in the 1906 earthquake. Most had been living in areas near Chinatown or south of Market Street.

Western Addition was west of Van Ness Avenue, which was the fire break, so the fire that destroyed a large part of San Francisco never reached the Japantown neighbourhood.

The Japanese population was one of the largest outside of Japan by the time World War II began.

The biggest atrocity for the Japanese Americans happened in the name of National Security as all West Coast residents of Japanese ancestry were ordered by the military to "evacuate" their homes and submit to government custody.
On May 20, 1942, the last of the City's 5,280 Japanese American residents boarded buses, leaving their homes, community and friends for an uncertain exile.

The neighbourhood was filled in with African-Americans working in the wartime industry.

After the war, some Japanese moved back, but most relocated to other parts of the Bay Area and Southern California, or out of state

Today, most of the Bay Area Japanese live elsewhere, but many come to Japantown to eat and shop, and they've done an impressive job of recreating a Japanese look and feel to this small area of San Francisco.Read more