Benkyodo: The Last Manju Shop in J-Town and Atomic Café at JANM rafu.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from rafu.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
From Fugetsu-Do in Los Angeles to Nisshodo in Honolulu, century-old wagashi confectionary stores continue to provide mochi, manju, and a taste of community.
Japantown leaders call for vandalized cherry blossom trees to be replaced
Published article
SAN FRANCISCO - A week after cherry blossom trees in San Francisco s Japantown were found vandalized, Supervisor Dean Preston and leaders from the city s Japanese community on Tuesday called for the trees to be replaced.
On Jan. 5, the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California took to Facebook to report that two trees outside their office, located in the 1800 block of Sutter Street, had been completely stripped of their branches, with just the trees trunks left standing.
Surveillance footage shows the vandals destroying the tree over a period of three days, starting on New Year s Day, when the JCCCNC was closed. Police have said they re investigating the vandalism.
San Francisco s Japantown battles to survive
Ariana Bindman
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Japantown, San Francisco.eyfoto / Getty Images
2020 feels like the year of fallen icons. From the 83-year-old Coca Cola sign on Fifth and Bryant to the amber-lit O’Farrell Theatre strip club, COVID-19 has robbed San Francisco of its many historic institutions. Now, following the permanent closure of more than 2,000 businesses in the San Francisco and Oakland metro areas, Japantown’s family-owned shops and restaurants are fighting to survive the pandemic’s iron grip.
In Japantown, small businesses represent more than just commerce they symbolize economic agency and reflect cultural identity. “It’s self-determination for immigrants and folks of color,” says Eryn Kimura, a fifth-generation Japanese and Chinese American resident. From her great-great-grandmother’s Valencia Street laundromat in the 1870s to her brother’s 21st-century “print club,” her family’s businesses created s