San Francisco's Japantown

San Francisco's Japantown

San Francisco home to one of the largest Japanese communities in America, had the distinction of having multiple Japantowns within the city. The earliest Japantowns initially started sometime in the 1890s and were located south of the Market District and within Chinatown. San Francisco served as the main focal point of entry for Japanese coming to mainland America, and the Japanese community there is the oldest in the continental United States. Many Japanese organizations got their start in the city, such as the Buddhist Church, (he first Pure Land Buddhist Church in America), which was founded in 1898. The Nihonmachi, south of Market was located along the back streets of Jessie and Stevenson and consisted primarily of lodgings, bath houses, and pool halls. The earthquake of 1906 devastated these two earlier Japantowns along with most records on them. The South Park Japantown was made up of businesses appealing to newly arrived Japanese and travelers, as it was strategically located between the Southern Pacific Railroad Station and docks used by various Japanese shipping companies. This neighborhood was a starting point for many Japanese who had just arrived in America and offered lodgings, baths, general good stores, and places to eat. While the South Park Japantown came and went, the Western Addition was rapidly growing as the majority of Japanese moved there after the earthquake. This area had been the home for many years to many middle, and upper-class white families. However, the neighborhood also had a distinct Jewish population, who owned many of the buildings in the area. After the 1906 Earthquake many of the Japanese who relocated to the Western Addition would rent their homes and businesses from Jewish landlords. The Japanese had settled between Sutter Street to the North, Geary to the South, Webster to the West and Octavia to the East. By 1910 there were over fifty Japanese-run businesses, and the neighborhood was home to over four thousand Japanese. As the main port of trade between Japan and the United States, the San Francisco Japantown catered to visitors from Japan as well as from other Japantowns in the country. The Western Addition Japantown like most Japantowns at the time was made up of bachelors and contained many hotels, bathhouses, and gambling dens. However, within a few short years after the arrival of the picture brides there is evidence of changing demographic, as a few midwives appeared in the area to offer their services. As the neighborhood began to be populated with Japanese families, many of the children started to attend the two local schools, the Raphael Weill School and Pacific Heights Elementary. Soon after the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1942 raids were conducted on all Japantowns up and down the west coast by the F.B.I. and local police. The Japanese population of San Francisco was required to register at either the Kinmon Gakuen School, the Raphael Weill School, or the YMCA on Buchanan Street. Within a few short weeks the entire Japanese community had to prepare to be evacuated and started to make plans for what to do with their homes, businesses, and belongings. A lot of businesses had to sell their inventory at a loss, and some families had to abandon their homes and items. In April of 1942, the Japanese of San Francisco were required to report to the assembly centers, with many going to Tanforan in San Bruno. Tanforan had previously been a race track that had been converted to house the Japanese temporarily until the internment camps were ready. Because Tanforan had been hastily constructed, the assembly center had poor living conditions and many people had to live out of stables for months until they were sent off to the Topaz Internment Camp. In September of 1942, the first groups arrived at Topaz and would spend the remainder of the war in the camp. They had not broken any laws, nor did they have a fair hearing to voice their opposition. Life in the Topaz camp was difficult, as the weather conditions were harsh, but the Japanese Americans persevered and aided the war effort by donating food and supplies.

Without the Japanese living in the Japantown, many African Americans came to settle in the unoccupied neighborhood. As the war went on many jobs were filled by minorities who came to San Francisco to work in the city’s factories. Having nowhere else to go since they were not allowed to live in white neighborhoods, many people settled in the uninhabited Japantown. During the war the African American population of the city increased by over 43,000, with many living in the Western Edition section of San Francisco.As the war came to an end the Japanese slowly started to return to San Francisco, where they found their neighborhood had drastically changed. Housing was very problematic as many families had lost their homes and had to relocate elsewhere. The local churches and schools along with the War Relocation Authority and other government agencies helped in assisting the Japanese to return to the city and in providing temporary places for people to stay. Finding work proved difficult for many people, as hostility against them persisted for years after the war and a lot of companies refused to hire any Japanese Americans. Many lost their businesses and were unable to start over again and so took on manual labor jobs.

For many years city officials and business interests were looking at ways to clear the Western Addition of what they called “urban blight”. In 1948 a large part of Japantown had been selected for urban redevelopment and with the passage of the National Housing Act of 1949 the city was granted funds and the ability of eminent domain to clear out areas that they determined were overcrowded or run down. The project was divided into two project areas designated A-1, which was the area south of Post Street, and A-2, which consisted of the land north of Post Street. Soon after the city started their plans for redevelopment, many residents’ banded together and held meetings to discuss the dangers of the city’s plans. The Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) protested the plans for redevelopment and argued that the city incorporate the following ideas into the order: non-segregation and non-discrimination in new dwellings, construction of permanent, low-cost public housing, priority given to people displaced from the area to move into newly built units, priority given to small businessmen and professional people in commercial areas to move into new building projects, and full protection of present property owners in selling, plus equal and full opportunity to participate in construction of new units if financially able to do so. However, these demands were ignored and never implemented, as the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency (SFRA) started its plans for the A-1 project and began to buy properties in 1956.

From 1950 to 1960 the SFRA slowly cleared out a large portion of the Western Addition. Those evicted were unable to negotiate and were not given any aid in relocating. Over 8,000 people were kicked out of their homes, and of the 2,014 new homes built by the SFRA only 686 of them were offered at affordable prices. Because of the lack of affordable housing, many Japanese had to relocate elsewhere. Restrictions against where they could live meant many left the city to live in the suburbs. Between 1950 and 1960 the Japanese population of the Western Addition decreased from 5,383 to 3,914. The construction of the Geary Expressway that began in 1961 would act as a divider between the African-American neighborhood and Japantown. During the A-2 phase of redevelopment, over 11,000 homes were torn down to be replaced with only 7,132 units. City and business officials wished to make the Japantown area into a popular tourist destination and invited many high-priced businesses to the neighborhood. The scope of the A-2 project ranged from Bush to Grove Street to Broderick and Van Ness Avenue and encompassed over 270 acres. To counter the protests and outcry from the A-1 project phase, the United Committee for the Japantown Community was formed in 1962, and together with the Nihonmachi Community Development Cooperation were able to save the four blocks between Bush, Sutter, Webster and Laguna streets from being completely demolished.
The local community was also permitted to participate in the creation of the Japanese Cultural and Trade Center. Minoru Yamasaki, an American-born Japanese architect, designed the project while the peace plaza and pagoda were done by Dr. Yoshiro Taniguchi and donated by the people of Osaka, Japan. Work on the center began in 1965 and took three years. When the center opened, it featured such businesses as Hitachi, Nissan, and Mitsubishi as well as the upscale Miyako Hotel, and the Kinokuniya Bookstore. To preserve the aesthetic of the neighborhood, architects Rai Y. Okamoto and Van Bourg/Nakamura were hired by the SFRA to design the Buchanan Mall project which began construction in 1970 and would finish five years later. The project was done to create a cultural landmark for tourists to visit, with fountains, cobble streets, and a large gate signaling the entrance to Japantown. Unfortunately, due to the development of the Japantown Center and Buchanan Mall, the property value of the neighborhood skyrocketed, preventing many previous residents and businesses from staying in the area. As the focus of the neighborhood switched to become a tourist spot, the Japanese community would be further split apart.

Jason Bowman

San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library

San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library

San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library