Does San Francisco have an active Japanese community?

[akana]

I would like to move somewhere with a good, active community of Japanese people, ideally including both immigrants, like myself, and Japanese Americans born in the city. Does San Francisco have such a community where I can reach out for some familiar cultural experiences while getting used to life in America?

[Kat_White]

I just got back from 2 and a half years in San Francisco and yes there is a good Japanese community - the city has a district called Japan Town which is the main concentration of Japanese stores, restaurants etc, and also has an annual cherry blossom festival. There are meetup groups and other Japanese cultural events as well, including a 2-day J-Pop festival.

[Petie_Pizarro]

Absolutely! While the area is quite small, we have a Japantown that stretches a few blocks and includes a mall, park, restaurants, and of course Karaoke

http://sfjapantown.org/

[Matthew_Wiseman]

Hey Akana, so San Francisco is about 1.47% Japanese (11,500 people) that means you will definitely find other Japanese people but for the most part Chinese (19.97%) make up the biggest Asian group. There is a pretty sizable JapanTown and Japanese food is pretty popular (ramen, sushi, curry,etc) so you won't have trouble finding food that reminds you of home. You might look into the Japan society of Northern California, Japanese cultural and community center and the Japanese American association of Northern California as a way to network and find other Japanese Americans and immigrants. I will say ( as a bit of a disclaimer) being an LA transplant to the SF Bay Area that I think the Japanese community in Los Angeles is larger and more active. がんばろう

[Carl_Farish]

Yes there is a sizeable Japanese population in San Francisco, and in fact there is one of the largest Japantowns in America (I believe), where a mostly Japanese crowd can be found. Japantown also hosts a number of Japanese parades each year as well.

[Joe_McMahon]

There's also a Japantown in San Jose; I am not as familiar with it, but they are an active community - there's a great cultural festival each year.