Place to shop: Japantown, San Francisco, California, United States

Buchanan Street, Japantown

Buchanan Street, Japantown by Todd Lappin

View looking north of the Buchanan Street pedestrian mall in San Francisco's Japantown, taken early on a Sunday morning.

Japantown by Night
Yummy packaging
Buchanan Street, Japantown
the fog rolls over Japantown

About this place:

No, it’s not like Tokyo. And yes, it’s actually a shopping mall. But if you'd like to skip the long flight across the Pacific Ocean, San Francisco’s Japantown offers everything you’d expect to find in the shopping district of a typical city in provincial Japan. Visit the Kinokuniya bookstore to catch up on the latest Japanese manga and magazines, Soko Hardware for Japanese housewares, or Auto Freak to find the accessories you need to look like a drift racer. Hipsters and Otaku-wannabes will want to check out Super7 and Japantown Collectibles, but bargain hunters should head straight to Ichiban Kan. Hungry? Try Japanese-style spaghetti at On the Bridge, sushi at the ultra-cozy Ino Sushi, or snack foods at the Nijiya Japanese supermarket.

Postcards about Japantown:

  • Todd Lappin

    9 November 2007
    From:
    Todd Lappin

    I live in San Francisco, but during the late stages of my wife's pregnancy, air travel was out of the question. Still, we wanted to get away for a weekend, so we packed our bags, locked the front door, and drove 2 miles north to San Francisco's Japantown. We've been to Japantown dozens of times, but our goal was to see if staying there made the Japan-like effect even more convincing.

    We parked the car, checked into the Miyako hotel, and spent the next 24 hours pretending to be in Japan, strolling through Japantown, eating at a few of the restaurants, and shopping in the stores.

    It was remarkably convincing. All the sights, sounds, tastes, and shopping of a mid-sized Japanese city -- without that harsh airfare aftertaste!

1737 Post Street
San Francisco, California, US
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Discovered by Todd Lappin
on 9 November 2007.
1547 views.