San Francisco Tour - JapanTown

Residence to about 12,000 Japanese Americans, San Francisco's Japantown present visitors with an chance to get pleasure from Japanese culture, shops, and eatery. The Japanese have been approaching to San Francisco and the neighboring bay region since the 1860s. Though they initial live in Chinatown and further region south of Market Street, the fire cause by the enormous earthquake of 1906 enforced them from those areas and encouraged them to find homes in a vicinity known as the Western Addition, undamaged by the fire, located west of Union Square.

Further attraction in Japantown is a Japanese peak temple gate, built in 1976 as the representative way in to the Buchanan Mall. The Mall, which is now known as the Osaka Way, is a charming walker street cover with cobblestones and surrounded by houses built in Japanese style. Don't ignore a vacation to the serenity interior and five-story, 100ft (30m) tall Pagoda, the showpiece of Japantown and a excellent photo chance. The pagoda, planned by Japanese designer Yoshiro Taniguchi, was given to Japantown by the populace of Osaka, San Francisco's sister city in Japan. This connection led to yet one more pet name for JapanTown: small Osaka.

Restaurant - mostly Japanese - is ample. You’ll discover nationalized chains like Benihana as well as small "mom and pop" process that propose some of the best Japanese food on the West beach. There are also a number of churches and temples in JapanTown such as the Sokoji-Soto Temple, a Buddhist temple built in 1984. JapanTown has huge assortment of stores, from those offering usual Japanese fare to fancy boutiques and well-priced electronics vendors. Also situated there are a handful of art galleries and a additional of the biggest bookstore chain in Japan, Kinokuniya Bookstore, which sells books written in both English and Japanese.

Since the Japanese stimulated to the area, they begin found not only farmsteads but also stores, eateries and temples. The locality soon become known as Nihonmachi or Japantown .The start of World War II resulted in the internment of most Japanese Americans on the West Coast of the U.S., so much of Japantown was empty during the war years. After WWII ended, many Japanese returned to the neighborhood to resume their lives. As a matter of fact, the overcrowding in the area after the war resulted in redevelopment of the neighborhood and the awarding of an urban renewal grant that allowed for new buildings to be constructed.

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   San Francisco Tour - Chinatown

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