A Bold New Creative Hub in San Francisco’s Japantown
KOHO is a dynamic, multi-disciplinary, cultural, non-profit arts organization developed for and by artists & creators, in the heart of San Francisco’s Japantown.
KOHO welcomes all visitors near and far, and serves as a beacon for Japanese & Japanese-Americans to return to Japantown to reconnect with authentic culture and community, and preserve and revitalize San Francisco Japantown for many future generations to come.
San Francisco Japantown was formed in its current location in after the 1906 earthquake, and is the oldest and one of only three left in the nation.
Events
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Open House
Sun, 3/10 11a-4p and Tue 3/12 11a-2p! KOHO has the honor of stewarding 1675 Post Street as a community gathering space for the SF Japantown Community in partnership between Japantown Task Force/Japantown Cultural District. Come take a sneak peek and learn more about what we’re up to and provide your thoughts on how this amazing community space should be utilized! A hot curry lunch will be served at noon!
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KOHO Japantown Film Festival
March 16, 2024 - Rain Delay from November, KOHO’s first Film Festival is really happening! This year, it will take place in Japantown on Saturday March 16, 2023 from 12:00 - 5:00 pm on the Peace Plaza.
Three films, all produced by stakeholders in our community, will focus on the Japanese-American experience today; the influences of historical trauma, resilience and strength of generations, and the search for cultural identity in purpose, place and community.
Click Here for More Info
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Benign Neglect
Exhibition Sep 17 -Oct 18, 2023 - Benign Neglect features photographs of sixty bonsai that were cultivated by Issei (first generation) and Kibei (born in the U.S., educated in Japan, and later returned to the U.S.) Japanese Americans. These bonsai were started after the Japanese Americans returned from WWII American concentration camps. Some of the plants were likely started from seeds.
This exhibition and book for purchase documents this rare collection of bonsai before they were dispersed.
NJAHS Military Intelligence ServiceHistoric Learning Center, 640 Mason Street, San Francisco, CA 94129
Exhibition at Presidio, San Francisco September 16th – October 22nd, 2023. Open on weekends from Noon to 5 pm
Conversation and Book Signing w/ Dennis Makishima and Kenny Murakami - September 24, 1:30pm
Click Here for More Info
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BonPOP, Japantown's Community Obon 2023
August 26, 2023 - BonPOP, a reimagined Obon Odori Japantown event, welcomes a local, city-wide and regional audience to immerse themselves in the long-standing Japanese tradition of honoring ancestors through dance, song and rituals accessible to all regardless of religion, faith, ethnicity, and cultural beliefs.
Join KOHO and the Japantown community on August 26, 2023, 6:00 - 8:00 pm under the Pagoda on the iconic Peace Plaza.
Click Here for more information.
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Lavender Cinema Lounge: KŪKULU, Protecting our Sacred Lands and Empowering Our Next Generations
Aug 4, 2023 - An Evening with Activist Pua Case, Mauna Kea Education and Awareness and Run4Salmon.
The evening of indigenous wisdom will include a traveling art exhibition from Hawai’i Island - Kūkulu, The Pillars of Mauna ā Wākea, and two films; Beyond Recognition, and Standing Above the Clouds.
This is an AAPI Collaborative City-wide Film Festival produced by Kultivate labs in partnership with SF Urban Film Festival and FACINE.
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![Yum Yams 2023 Kultivate Labs + KOHO]()
Yum Yams: Ube x Matcha 2023
May 13, 2023 - KOHO partnered with Kultvate Lab’s for their fourth Yum Yams Festival, Ube Meets Matcha, A Festival of Flavors at Kapwa Gardens in San Francisco’s historic SOMA Pilipinas Cultural District. KOHO is ready to activate and infuse the taste, knowledge, and love of Matcha in this delectable experience to celebrate the city’s AAPI Heritage month.
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![KOHO Bon Pop 2022]()
Bon Pop, Japantown's Community Bon Odori 2022
August 6, 2022 - BON POP, a city-wide community Bon Odori event was presented by KOHO and Japantown Cultural District in partnership with Nihonmachi Street Fair and in collaboration with Buddhist Church of San Francisco, Ensohza, Genryu Arts, Ito Yosakoi, the Japanese American Religious Federation (JARF), Nichi Bei Foundation, and the Japan Center Malls. The local community, visitors from the entire Bay Area region, and tourist enjoyed participating in this Japanese tradition of celebrating family ancestors. Bon Pop connected Japanese to their home town, and Japanese-Americans who wish to reconnect with their heritage. Video + Photos
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![KOHO Launch Party 2022]()
KOHO Launch Party 2022
June 23, 2022 - The KOHO Launch Party took place in Japan Center East Mall and celebrated a diverse spectrum of Japanese-American artists, businesses, performers, dancers, DJs, and creative talent in the Bay Area. The open spaces on both floors and the vacant retail suites were filled with over 20 Japanese-American artists and small business entrepreneur vendors. The performances and music activated the energy and narratives of descendants of displaced Japanese-American families and the Japantown community at large. Video + Photos
Economic recovery is vital to Japantown's survival.
Japantown Cultural District: Economic Revitalization Through Arts & Culture
To advance strategy efforts in the area of arts, culture, and economic development and revitalization, KOHO strives to continue the long standing traditions of Japantown while designing authentic experiences that reflect our cultural narratives past and present, and attract new audiences to fuel economic revitalization.
KOHO will host curated programs that showcase and develop the talent and skills of Japanese-American creatives and AAPI allies and will activate empty storefronts and public spaces with pop-ups, art exhibitions, panel discussions, and professional development and creative workshops that amplify Japantown’s 117 year old history and narratives of today.
Due to two waves of displacement- first the forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans during WWII, followed by evictions in the Redevelopment era in the 1960s-70s- many of our Japanese-American community no longer live in Japantown, seeing a boundary shrinkage from 40 blocks in the 1940s to now 9 blocks, with the most recognizable landmarks now our Peace Plaza Pagoda and the Japan Center Malls. KOHO will be a gathering place for the return of Japanese-Americans to Japantown.
KOHO Origin Story
The synergy of KOHO’s founding team is dynamic and diverse. Working in parallel with the branding team, Plinth Agency, we will share progress and infuse themes and ideas that resonate and encourage discussion about intergenerational cultural issues, perceptions, of Japanese-American, Japanese, and American mixed-race experience from the community.
Workshops will engage participants through the creative process to develop a container to hold the many iterations of what it means ‘to create’ in the context of the Japanese and Japanese-American culture, be it music, visual art, dance, or performance art.
The origin of an arts hub was imagined by the community in 2013, and identified as a key strategy of the Japantown Cultural Heritage and Economic Sustainability Strategy (JCHESS) report. This report was the result of three years of town-hall community meetings culminating in a 5-year economic preservation and development plan officially endorsed by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, Planning Commission, and Historic Preservation Commission.
KOHO was created as a program of the Japantown Cultural District (JCD), who is funded by the Mayor’s office of Housing and Community Development to address cultural heritage preservation and work with City agencies “to celebrate and strengthen the unique cultural identities of San Francisco’s neighborhoods; to preserve and promote diverse communities cultural assets and to ensure that residents and institutions thrive and, to formalize partnerships between the City and communities.”
In 2021, the JCD conducted a series of focus groups to hear from our Japantown intergenerational artist community of what a Co-Creative Hub would look like today. The results informed the creation of KOHO with a new logo and website launch by the end of that year.
KOHO is a Japanese word defined as Public Relations or Mountain Peak depending upon which kanji is chosen. Both definitions fit the mission of KOHO. As mountain peak, KOHO serves as a beacon for the return of our displaced families. As Public Relations, KOHO shares widely Japantown’s history and narratives of the past, present and hopes for the future, to instill pride within our community and attract new audiences.
On June 23, 2022, the KOHO Launch Party featured over 20 Japanese-American vendors, artists and entertainers and attracted 1200+ participants, many who claimed pride and ownership of a new sense of belonging in our Japantown community. Due to the program’s success, the Japantown Task Force/Japantown Cultural District Board of Directors voted to officially release governance of KOHO to allow the program to become an independent organization. In April 2023, KOHO became a fiscally-sponsored organization under Kultivate Labs.
A Voice for the People and Strength of Community
Celebrating the ever evolving creative spirit of our Japanese and Japanese-American community, KOHO gives voice to our immigrant ancestors, the strength and resilience of those who endured the incarceration experience of World War II, the residents and businesses displaced during the Redevelopment era in the 1960s-80s, and the narratives of our multi-ethnic, intergenerational community of today, many who are longing for a deeper connection to their heritage, to place, purpose and pride.
In Honor of our Heritage
KOHO honors the Japanese & Japanese American communities with the strength & resilience of our ancestors; through creative placekeeping and fostering an inter-generational, mutli-ethnic, mix medium artist gathering space. We welcome all who relate to the Japanese and Japanese-American experience. We hope to bring back the future generations of Japanese-Americans.
