Destination Nihonmachi: An Arts and Culture Crawl will immerse you in the Japantown of today and yesterday. Join creatives and entrepreneurs in an immersive experience of authenticity and discovery. Experience a night steeped in culture, community and arts with live entertainment and retail vendors. Navigate the streets, explore the neighborhood, and see where the night takes you.
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, A Night in SF Japantown is designed to bring a new audience to Japantown and provide an immersive experience of authenticity and discovery for our Japantown community, and visitors from San Francisco and the greater Bay Area. The night will amplify the stories of our displaced families due to gentrification and Redevelopment evacuations, and support the merchant corridor and entrepreneurs with revenue opportunities.
Harlem of the West Speakeasy
Kabuki Hotel
The Fillmore was once known as the Harlem of the West, a mostly black neighborhood of historic jazz clubs hosting legends Ella Fitzgerald, John Coltrain, Lionel Hampton and Dexter Gordon. Urban renewal of Redevelopment bulldozed and eliminated the entire district overnight in the 1960’s. At Destination Nihonmachi, KOHO honors the arts and culture scene that once and the artists and community members who continue the legacy.
Tokyo City Pop Social Club
KOHO Creative Hub
Co-presented by Love Talkin’
City Pop is a genre of music popular in the 1980’s in Japan is now making its resurgence with “retro visuals, sampled future funk, lo-fi and vaporwave songs.”
Featuring: XL Middleton
KOHO Ichiba
Kinokuniya Mall
KOHO Ichiba, “market” in Japanese, has been carefully curated to represent an eclectic cross-section of AANHPI and Black artists and creators who have ties to the Japantown/Western Addition neighborhood. Local artists infuse their stories of identity in their work to celebrate, appreciate, and honor the diversity of the district.
📣 Calling all creatives! 📣
Whether you create in the areas of fashion, arts, culture, anime, or activism, we want YOU to be part of this celebration of our shared rich heritage and vibrant culture. Vendor applications are now open! We especially encourage applicants of Japanese and/or Black heritage with ties to Japantown or the Western Addition to apply.
Applications are due
Friday, October 16.
Destination Nihonmachi will activate the commercial corridor on Post Street between Laguna and Buchanan Streets and will bring together visitors, the existing Japantown Community, and our Western Addition neighbors to celebrate moving Japantown forward for our next generation.
Destination Nihonmachi is made possible by the following sponsors:
• Avenue Green Light • Enso Hotel • Honey Arts Studio • Japantown Cultural District • Kabuki Hotel • Kinokuniya Books • Kultivate Labs • Masto Foundation • Mayor’s Office of Workforce Development •
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