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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 bu ....

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