All Events
KOHO’s Holiday Artist + Maker Marketplace December 7+8
KOHO Creative Hub, 22 Peace Plaza, 2nd floor (above Daiso)
Japantown Townhall: Redevelopment & the Certificate of Preference Program
On November 18, 2024 join KOHO, the New Community Leadership Foundation (NCLF), Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development (MOHCD), and the Office of Community and Investment and Infrastructure (OCII), and Lynx Insights for an evening of sharing about how Urban Renewal effected the Japantown and Western Addition areas. Hear stories from our community, the work lead by NCLF and the investigators looking for the families who were displaced, and the City agencies with an update of the Certificate of Preference Program as it lives today.
11/18/24
6-8pm
KOHO Creative Hub, 22 Peace Plaza, 2nd floor (above Daiso)
6:00p Light dinner for those who rsvp
6:30-8:00p Program
Destination Nihonmachi
Destination Nihonmachi: A Night in SF Japantown is designed to revitalize Japantown by providing the merchant corridor and entrepreneurs with revenue opportunities and offering an immersive experience of authenticity and discovery for our Japantown community, our displaced families, and visitors from San Francisco and the greater Bay Area.
The event will activate the commercial corridor on Post Street between Laguna and Buchanan Streets with retail vendors, live entertainment, and will bring together visitors, the existing Japantown Community, and our Western Addition neighbors to celebrate moving Japantown forward for our next generation.
Nihon-jin machi “Japan people’s town” was how early Japanese residents named their cultural community from 1920 - 1942. The first Japanese immigrants settled in the South of Market near Stevenson and Jesse Streets, and were forced to relocate after the 1906 Earthquake to the Western Addition area. In its new location, “Nihonmachi” Japantown came alive as a dense culturally vibrant urban 40-block neighborhood with services, commercial and social institutions to support a community where Japanese people could fully express their cultural identity as Japanese in America. The Western Addition was an ethnic enclave of immigrant minority communities where the boundaries of neighborhoods blurred, bringing together the rich diversity of cultures that San Francisco is known for today.
Destination Nihonmachi will immerse you in the Japantown of today, as if it were a main transit stop on a Shinkansen train line in Japan - a destination of a district steeped in culture, community and arts. Navigate the streets, explore the neighborhood, and see where the night takes you.
BonPOP 2024
KOHO and Gardens of Golden Gate Park are excited to present the third annual KOHO BonPop community Bon Odori festival, taking place this year on Saturday, August 31 at the Celebration Garden in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.
A Love Letter to J-Town: Stories of Resilience
KOHO, REALSOUL, Ryan Takemiya, and the National Japanese American Historical Society (NJAHS) invite you to our storytelling event, “A Love Letter to J-Town: Stories of Resilience.”
Through the different storytellers and vendors, we aim to educate people about redevelopment and gentrification in San Francisco Japantown.
This event is a platform for community members, artists, and organizations to share their perspectives and foster connection. By coming together, we can deepen our understanding, and collectively work towards a thriving Japantown for generations to come.
Vendors start from 3-5PM and the storytelling event takes place from 5-7pm.
seiji oda @ the Hub
Sat Jun 29 6-10p
KOHO Co-Creative Hub
1675 Post St. 2nd fl
SF Japantown
Vendors, bites, and sounds by seiji oda
Oakland native seiji oda combines lo-fi soundscapes with his Bay Area hyphy roots to create a unique niche that is both positive and peaceful. Currently on tour on the west coast, the "gentle gigg general" is closing out his journey in San Francisco's Japantown.
May sell out, so click and grab your tix today!
KOHO Japantown Film Festival
The three films in KOHO’s first film festival will focus on the Japanese American experience today:
Reparations by Jon Osaki, Executive Director of the Japanese Community Youth Council (JCYC), award-winning filmmaker and social justice activist.
Benkyodo, The Last Manju Shop in JTown, produced by eryn kimura, features the 115 year old family owned Japanese mochi confectioner which closed its doors in 2022.
Like the Cherry Blossoms, produced by Greg Villoria speaks to the feeling of belonging in an ever evolving cultural community.
Shop at our KOHO vendor marketplace featuring crafts and goods from Japanese, Japanese American, and AAPI creatives.
Open House (Tuesday 3/12)
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 at one of our two open houses:
Sunday, Mar 10 - 11am - 4pm
Tuesday, Mar 12 - 11am - 2pm
Open House (Sunday 3/10)
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 at one of our two open houses:
Sunday, Mar 10 - 11am - 4pm
Tuesday, Mar 12 - 11am - 2pm
Benign Neglect
BENIGN NEGLECT
Historic Japanese American Bonsai
Benign Neglect: Historical Japanese American Bonsai
2023
San Francisco, California
Benign Neglect features sixty bonsai photographs 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.
Dennis Makishima, a bonsai and aesthetic pruning master, inherited the bonsai after the initial creators of the bonsai passed away. He took care of them for over thirty years, trying to honor the style envisioned by the original practitioners. By the time Dennis received these historic bonsai, many were in poor condition. He dealt with dead branches, forms that were far from ideal, and some that were just barely alive. Dennis resuscitated them and called them “old fashion style” in contrast to the “contemporary style,” which is more common today.
Aside from the living descendants of the Issei and Kibei generations, the 60-70 year old bonsai are likely all that remain alive from that period. In 2022, Dennis retired and donated his entire bonsai collection. The bonsai have likely dispersed all over the state and country, flourishing, just like so many other aspects of Japanese American culture.
Exhibition at Presidio, San Francisco
September 16th – October 22nd, 2023
Open on weekends from Noon to 5 pm
General Admission is $10, Veterans and children under 12 are freeVery limited parking; consider arriving via Muni 30
Conversation and Book Signing
w/ Dennis Makishima and Kenny Murakami
September 24, 1:30pm
Military Intelligence Service Historic Learning Center
640 Mason Street, San Francisco, CA 94129
Tickets (free): https://www.eventbrite.com/e/benign-neglect-tickets-698183203757
pass: takeshi
BonPOP, Japantown's Community Obon 2023
BonPOP, a reimagined Obon Odori Japantown event, features a vibrant blend of taiko drumming, live folk music, and Bon Odori dancing showcasing the rich heritage and talent of our local Japantown artists, and cultural practitioners.
Join KOHO and the Japantown community under the Pagoda on the iconic Peace Plaza.
Lavender Cinema Lounge: KŪKULU, Protecting our Sacred Lands and Empowering Our Next Generations
An evening of indigenous wisdom with Activist Pua Case, Mauna Kea Education and Awareness, and Run4Salmon 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.