Visiting San Francisco’s Japantown: A Weekend Getaway
Ever dreamed of touring , but don’t have the time or budget? Consider a weekend in San Francisco’s Japantown instead!
San Francisco is a destination in itself, and even residents have trouble finding time to see all the wonderful neighborhoods. Japantown is especially intriguing to visitors who may never travel to Japan itself. It’s one of only a few Japantowns in the United States. It contains restaurants, shopping, areas of historical interest, and much more, all within a few walkable blocks. If you’re looking for a weekend getaway with a Far Eastern flavor, look no further than Nihonmachi – that’s Japanese for ‘Japan Town’.
History
Japantown recently celebrated its 100th anniversary in the summer of 2006. Japanese immigrants have even coming to San Francisco since the 1860s, setting up businesses, banks, newspapers, churches, and community groups as they came. After earlier communities were destroyed in the quake and fire of 1906, the Japanese community began to center in the area where Japantown now stands. Despite anti-immigrant and anti-Asian prejudice, and the terrible anti-Japanese-American backlash during World War II which led to property seizures and internment camps, Japantown has survived and flourished as a cultural center. The National Japanese American Historical Society on Post Street offers exhibits and books about the histories of Japanese people in the , from the Go for Broke regiment to Japanese-American baseball players. The beautiful Peace Pagoda is a memorial and a monument to peaceful Japanese-American relations.
Accommodations
There are two hotels in Japantown itself. Confusingly, both are named Miyako. The Best Western Miyako offers standard American-style hotel amenities for a good value. For a little more luxury, and more of a Japanese flavor, try the Miyako San Francisco, possibly with one of their Japanese-style soaking tubs. Rice-paper screens, Asian dÃ?©cor and luxury amenities will transport you far from the West, and its high-rise tower offers lovely views of the city lights. For the full treatment, try the special Japanese suites with down futons, tatami mats and fully Asian furnishings. The hotel also features its own small Japanese garden, and several meeting rooms. If you’re looking for a place to hold a special function or event, or even a wedding, the Miyako is an excellent choice.
Touring
Japantown is highly pedestrian-friendly, lacking the steep hills of some of San Francisco’s neighborhoods. Handsome Japanese-styled pedestrian overpasses span.
Geary Boulevard
, the south boundary of Japantown. The Peace Pagoda and Peace Plaza, between the two main parts of the Japantown Center, offer lovely views and a place to sit down and watch the crowds for a while. In season, cherry blossoms bloom over the Plaza fountain. North of the Plaza, Buchanan Mall is a pedestrian area designed to resemble a Japanese mountain village, lined with benches and artistic fountains as well as shops and restaurants. To the east is the Miyako Mall and the high-rise tower of the Miyako hotel; west is Kintetsu Mall and the
Kinokinuya
Building
. Don’t forget your camera!
Everything in the area is in easy walking distance, and most of the rest of San Francisco is easily accessible by bus or taxi; you shouldn’t need a rental car.
San Francisco
International
Airport
Has a BART subway train connection to the city, or a taxi will run you about $40; an airport shuttle bus may be cheaper, if you don’t mind a wait. If you come in through Oakland Airport (where flights are sometimes cheaper), take the BART across the bay to San Francisco, then hail a taxi from Civic Center or any downtown stop. The MUNI bus system is a hassle if you’ve got lots of luggage, but for a $1.50 fare, it’ll get you to Japantown cheaply. Take BART to…Montgomery Street station, then walk to the end of Geary Street to take the 38 Geary bus. You’ll see the Peace Pagoda on your right as you approach Japantown; get off at Post Street or Fillmore, depending on your destination.
Spa and Beauty
The Kabuki Hot Springs and Spa offers opportunities for both sexes to soak and be pampered Asian-style. The communal baths are either single-sex alternating, or mixed-sex with bathing suits required, depending on the day of the week; there are also private soaking tubs available. The spa also offers a wide variety of massage, facials, body treatments, and acupuncture. For anything besides the communal baths, it’s a good idea to make an appointment.
Beauty lovers may also wish to check out the Shiseido store and local salons on
Post Street, and even the beauty aisle at Nijiya Market, for imported Japanese beauty finds.
Shopping
The malls, and the local shops on Post Street, offer an amazing variety of Japanese shopping opportunities. Even the seemingly mundane grocery and hardware store are intriguingly different, as the Nijiya Market grocery to the west offers a wide range of Japanese delicacies, and Soko Hardware carries everything from Japanese wooden ‘geta’ sandals to Hello Kitty rice-cookers amongst the more ordinary tools, and may have a fancy electronic Japanese toilet on display.
IchibanKan
is the Japanese equivalent of a dollar store, with items from the ordinary to the wacky.
You’ll find a wide variety of art and gifts both antique and very modern; consider doing your holiday shopping early and pick up really unique items! Real silk kimono can be pricey, but well worth admiring; a cotton yukata, the summer-weight cotton kimono, is more affordable and makes a charming and comfortable bathrobe. There’s a kimono shop in the north mall, and another on the ‘bridge’ over Webster Street has another. There’s lots of other clothing options, from imported modern Asian fashions to remodeled antique kimonos; Sakura Sakura, near the Peace Plaza entrance, has a lovely variety on offer. Nearby is a pearl importer, and jewelry and accessories are scattered throughout the shops as well.
Fine Japanese tea and iron-forged tea pots, sake sets, rice bowls, sushi plates (which make great bridge plates, by the way, for the bridge players on your shopping list – they’re just the right size!) and other fine tableware are available at several shops, and chefs may want to explore specialty Asian items from knives to sushi presses or fancy kitchen appliances – check out Sanko Cooking Supplies on Buchanan, and try the Soko Hardware basement for bargain rice cookers and Hello Kitty wafflemakers. Pretty chopsticks or chopstick rests make great stocking stuffers!
Anime lovers must see Japantown Video in Kintetsu, and the kids (or kids at heart) will enjoy the several model shops in the mall, which offer a wide selection of miniature giant robots and city-stomping monsters, as wall as radio cars and other toys. There’s also the Hello Kitty store for more girlish tastes. Anime fans should also visit the incomparable Kinokinuya bookstore, on the upper level of the southern end of Kintetsu Mall. While most of the offerings are in Japanese, manga comic fans will find much to delight them, and anyone interested in Japanese culture can spend hours browsing the Japanese and English stacks. Whether you’re interested in ancient Buddhist temple gardens or cutting-edge Japanese music and fashions, want to learn to speak or read Japanese, or want more information on the fascinating history, culture, and literature of Japan, Kinokinuya Bookstore is a must-see.
Artists who haven’t already spent their inspiration budget here may want to check out the stationery store across from Kinokinuya for unique papers and craft materials, and ink and brushes for Japanese calligraphy, as well as fine Japanese-engineered ink pens beloved of manga-makers and other artists. Students may decide they’d like to stand out from the crowd with Japanese-style or anime-sticker-covered school supplies this year, and pens in every imaginable shade of color and glitter ink.
Genji Antiques in the Miyako Mall offers beautiful, if expensive, Japanese furniture and housewares, and a nearby shop sells huge, curiously carved gemstones and rocks that are worth seeing. More affordable Japanese home dÃ?©cor is available from other shops at the southern end of the mall, if you want a shoji screen, some paper lanterns, futons or Japanese textile accessories. The garden shop at the mall’s south end offers bonsai tools and accessories if you want your own Japanese garden. There are too many handicrafts and unique items for me to possibly do them justice here; rest assured that even jaded shoppers – or bored non-shoppers – will find things to do and see in these shops!
Culture
Locals lament the passing of Japantown Bowl, but there’s still the Kabuki 8 theater, which shows first-run movies as well as hosting Asian and local film festivals. The Ikebana Society has a storefront display in Kintetsu mall, and sometimes have demonstrations and offer lessons in the ancient Japanese art of flower-arranging. The San Francisco Taiko drum society have an office selling CDs and videos of their fantastic drum performances on the Webster St bridge, if you don’t get to catch a performance. Japantown’s many cultural festivals will give you a closer look at many Japanese arts.
Restaurants
Japanese food isn’t just sushi, and the dozens of Japanese restaurants in the area all have something a little different to offer. Look at the menus as you stroll during the day, and find something to tempt you, especially in the ‘food court’ area of Kintetsu Mall. For lunch or snacks, try On the Bridge (the Webster bridge), a lunch-counter sort of place offering traditional Japanese foods at low prices, and there’s Benkyo-do for hot dogs and quick snacks on Buchanan as well. If you’re feeling a little less brave, or just want to watch a chef juggle shrimp and build volcanoes out of onions while your food gets cooked before your eyes on a hot table, there’s always Benihana. Try their lunch specials for a good price value; go at dinnertime if you want to see the slickest chefs.
Sushi lovers should consider Isobune, one of the earliest sushi-boat places, where chefs place the fresh sushi on ‘boats’ which float past you, and you take what you want – the waitress will tally your meal by the color of your stacked plates. Traditionalists may like Fuku Sushi in Kinokinuya, which has a full tatami room and gourmet selections. Noodle lovers should head for Mifune in Kintetsu, or Suzu in Kinokinuya. Iroha, in Buchanan Mall, has noodles and a wider selection to tempt non-noodle eaters. Try Japanese barbecue at Juban, “Japanese pizza” at Izumiya, and deep-fried specialties at Kushi Tsuru. Sanppo,
Sapporo
-ya and
Osaka
-ya offer a wide range if your party can’t agree on what to try!
For dessert, if the restaurant hasn’t tempted you with its own offerings, head for one of the crepe shops in the mall, where you can get a fancy French-style crepe with fruit, Nutella or whipped cream, or perhaps a more exotic scoop of green tea. Try Sophie’s Crepes in Kinokinuya, or Belly Good in Kintetsu; or any of the cafes or coffee shops in Kintetsu especially, will have ice cream and desserts. The cafÃ?© nearest the Peace Plaza sells ice cream and chocolates, as well as a selection of Asian candies.
If you get a little tired of Japanese food somehow, the local Denny’s can provide a Western breakfast, and Pasta Pomodoro and a Burger King are just down Post street. The Safeway across Geary Street can also provide you with Western-style food and other needs, and there’s a few more fast food restaurants in its complex as well. But why not try something Japanese? There’s so many varieties!
A real Japanese weekend wouldn’t be complete without karaoke. Try Club Nishiki, Kabuki Lounge, Limelight or Romeo 5 for cocktails and karaoke. Try cold sake varieties, sake cocktails, or pick up a bottle of sake, plum wine or something more exotic at the Nijiya Market for quiet drinks back in your hotel room. Non-alcoholic drinkers may like to try unfamiliar juices and soft drinks from Nijiya Market or the cafes and shops, from iced coffee in a can to bubble tea.
Festivals
For a real taste of Japan, consider visiting Japantown during one of the many cultural festivals on offer. The Cherry Blossom Festival is probably the best-known to Americans, and one of the most popular. It’s important to book in advance for these times, but the excitement of Japantown’s street festivals is worth it. Cherry Blossom is generally weekends of mid and late April; other festivals include the Nihonmachi Street Fair in August, the Buddhist festival of Obon in late July, and the Japantown Anime Fair in December.
But there’s always something special to see and do in Japantown!
