San Francisco Japantown Task Force

DATA SHEET

Place: Japantown Merchant’s Association

Address: 1759 Buchanan St., Second Floor

Visual Description:

The Japantown Merchant’s Association is a non-private organization based in Japantown that encourages business traffic within the area and provides a variety of services for business owners. The Japantown Merchants Association is a coalition of more than 90 different businesses and community-based organizations located within Japantown, with each member assigned a set of annual dues to keep the organization running. The association is comprised of three separate committees, all of which represent its core operations – the Dues Committee, which reviews the rules and insures that people are up to date with their fees; the Events Committee, which coordinates and funds events like the Cherry Blossom Festival (see right picture) and Aki Matsuri to encourage business traffic to Japantown; and the Security Committee, which is responsible for dealing with safety issues and protecting businesses from vandalism and robbery. The Merchants Association in partnership with the Japantown Task Force, Inc. also supports a litter-hawk machine (see left picture) as part of a neighborhood clean-up program, and sponsors various other local programs that are vital to the community.

History:

The Japantown Merchant’s Association was founded and registered as a non-profit organization in 1968, shortly after the opening of the Japan Center and the very first Cherry Blossom Festival in 1967. Initially, the organization featured 13 charter members, but quickly grew to represent nearly 200 businesses within Japantown. Many of the initial members were part of a new wave of Japanese immigrants known as the Shin-issei, most of whom owned small businesses within Japantown. As a result, most of the Merchants Association’s meetings were initially held in Japanese. However, in response to a growing number of non-Japanese speaking businesses in the area, meetings were soon delivered in both Japanese and English, a bilingual tradition that still exists to this day.

Significance:

Social, cultural

Recognition of Significance:

KQED Local Community Hero Award ’03 for Tak Matsuba’s community service through the Japantown Merchant’s Association

Sources:

Tak Matsuba, Exec. V.P., Merchant’s Association; Rich Hashimoto, President, Merchant’s Association

Other Comments:

Prepared By: Tak Matsuba Date Prepared: 10/6/04