A tour of San Jose’s Japantown

San Jose Japantown community member Jim Nagareda, a former Japanese American Museum of San Jose executive director, took people on a tour of San Jose’s Japantown in a video edited by J-Town Community TV for the San Jose Betsuin Buddhist Church. They explored the different businesses and places that make up the ethnic enclave, which […]

Countering misinformation on COVID-19 boosters among parents and seniors

More than one million people in the U.S. have died due to COVID-19. And yet, as of Nov. 16, only 32.4% of eligible seniors in California have been vaccinated and received their bivalent booster, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Website. As of Nov. 16, 12.9% of Asian Americans have received the […]

Vibrant murals on display at San Jose Japantown’s new apartment complex

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Several painted murals appear along the exterior walls of the new Exhibit at J-Town apartment complex in San Jose’s Japantown. Derek Allen, the apartment complex’s lead developer, operator and owner, said Empire Seven Studios, a local art gallery, curated artists, including Roan Victor, Amy Sol and Andrew Schoultz. “The murals act […]

Santo Market serves up poké bowls, mochi and more in San Jose’s Japantown

  SAN JOSE, Calif. — Santo Market, located on the corner of North Sixth Street and East Taylor Street in San Jose’s Japantown, is more than a Japanese American and Asian American grocery store. The market, which first opened in 1946 on Jackson Street before moving to its current location in 1957, sells a variety […]

San Jose’s Japantown keeps optimistic outlook going into new year

San Jose Japantown leaders have expressed restrained hope for 2022. The ethnic enclave continues to navigate the pandemic as a long-delayed mixed-use apartment complex project moves forward. “The business climate in Japantown remains slower than pre-pandemic, but our businesses continue to do well in spite of adversity,” Tamiko Rast, president of the Japantown Business Association, […]

Walking tour uses augmented reality to tell San Jose’s Japantown history

It was 4:30 p.m., on a Thursday in November. As the sky was dimming, the tour of Japantown San Jose began. A group of 10 began walking along N. Fifth Street where the San Jose Buddhist Church sits. They looked up at their smartphones in the air and gazed into the two-dimensional space projected on […]

The Bay Area’s Japantowns adjust to the new normal

With California’s June 15 economic reopening, businesses across the San Francisco Bay Area have gained a new sense of normalcy. The recovery process has varied according to individual businesses, even among the region’s two Japantowns. A Mixed Bag of Results in San Francisco’s Japantown When Gov. Gavin Newsom announced bars could reopen May 6 with […]

JA community responds to anti-Asian hate

Though the Japanese American community has so far been spared from the brunt of the rise of anti-Asian hate currently making headlines across the United States, many Nikkei are nevertheless concerned. “There are a lot of people who are very worried about it. They’re scared,” retired San Jose Police Department Lt. Rich Saito, told the […]

San Jose names J-Town Park

The San Jose City Council voted unanimously Sept. 1 to name a new park in San Jose’s Japantown Heinlenville Park, after John Heinlen, a German immigrant who opposed the anti-Asian racism Chinese immigrants suffered in the late 19th century. Heinlen went on to become a key contributor in establishing the ethnic enclave’s Chinatown. Nicolle Burnham, […]

In the midst of the global pandemic, waiting game continues for Bay Area J-Towns

Two historic ethnic enclaves in the Greater Bay Area are among the communities that began May having learned that they must endure another month of shelter-in-place amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Since temporarily shuttering most businesses March 17, only a few essential businesses, mostly restaurants, continue to operate in San Francisco and San Jose’s Japantowns […]

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