sfjapantown100.org

Prior to San Francisco’s 1906 earthquake, four Japanese enclaves were located in the Western Addition, South Park, South of Market and Chinatown areas.  After the earthquake and fire, Japantown re-established itself in the Western Addition, where its core remains today.  (South Park survived until the 1930s.)  San Francisco's Japantown is the first and oldest of its kind on the continental USA and was established when the first wave of Japanese immigrants arrived in San Francisco in the 1880s.  With the consolidation of the community came more Japanese businesses, shops, churches, schools, restaurants, hotels and other organizations, which grew in the Western Addition and further supported the growth of the community.  The neighborhood took on a very Japanese character and before long became a miniature Ginza known as Nihonmachi, or Japantown.