Exploring community through a video game

There’s now a fun and easy way to visit Japantown, and you can do it from the comfort of your own home without having to wear a set of silly $3,500 VR goggles to do it. “J-Town: A Visual Novel” delves into the present state of the Japanese American experience, particularly for those involved in […]

A Soyful Experience: The 11th Northern California Soy and Tofu Festival

An energetic crowd, an eclectic collection of vendors, a variety of entertainers and, most importantly, a rare sunny but not so windy day on the San Francisco Peace Plaza blessed the 11th Northern California Soy and Tofu Festival June 3 with a packed crowd of soy aficionados. The second Soy and Tofu Festival since the […]

‘Celebrating activism and community’ is theme of 50-year CANE anniversary on Aug. 19

Anti-eviction protests by Japantown activists and residents to be commemorated In 1975 and 1976 in San Francisco, members of the Committee Against Nihonmachi Eviction (CANE) — tired of seeing residents and small businesses being ignored and disrespected by the Redevelopment Agency (RDA) — staged sit-ins at the Mayor’s office and at the RDA office in […]

Alameda library commemorates Japantown that once was

ALAMEDA, Calif. — The crowd was overflowing out of the Alameda Free Library’s Stafford Community Room May 17 for “Overflowing With Hope: The Hidden History of Japanese Americans in Alameda.” The exhibition documenting the now-gone but not forgotten Alameda’s Japantown reflected on the community’s three-year efforts to preserve its history for a future generation. “The […]

Hannah KC Mukai crowned 2023 Cherry Blossom queen

Though the annual Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival moved its Queen Program out of Japantown to the Cowell Theater at the Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture April 8, the event maintained its focus on crowning the next queen and court who will represent Northern California’s Japanese American community for the next year. The […]

Committee presents 12 notables for history mural as community debates

The San Francisco chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League held its fifth public meeting Jan. 30 on the proposed history mural at the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California in San Francisco’s Japantown. Advisory committee members announced a slate of 12 people that they suggested the chapter board consider depicting on the […]

S.F. J-Town security guard murdered

A community mourns Gavin Aaron Boston, a 40-year-old security guard shot dead Jan. 4 outside the Kinokuniya Building under the Webster Street Bridge in San Francisco’s Japantown. The murder has shaken the local community despite the prompt arrest of two minors in relation to the slaying. Boston, who had started working in Japantown last November, […]

S.F. J-Town mural team narrows down nominees for depiction amid criticisms

As the San Francisco chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League works to further its plans for a mural commemorating the history of the city’s Japantown, community members gathered for the fourth installment in a series of meetings. The latest community meeting, focusing on the selection process of notable figures from the ethnic enclave to […]

SF: 17-year-old arrested in Muni attack that injured elderly woman

Police have arrested a 17-year-old boy who allegedly kicked an elderly woman as he was getting off a Muni bus last month in San Francisco’s Japantown. Video of the incident showed the 79-year-old woman boarding the 38 Line coach at Geary Boulevard and Laguna Street at about 11:20 a.m. on Dec. 3, and the suspect […]

6 treated for possible overdoses on Christmas Day at Japantown home

Emergency crews treated six people on Christmas Day for possible drug overdoses at a home in San Francisco’s Japantown neighborhood. Firefighters responded at 2:30 p.m. Dec. 25 to a home in the 1700 block of Post Street, according to San Francisco Fire Capt. Jonathan Baxter. Five people found at the home were hospitalized — two […]