Renovations to Peace Plaza in Japantown will make a series of improvements to the space that were put together by the Japanese American community in a series of meetings.
Courtesy San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department
Japantown Peace Plaza, pictured set up for restaurant takeout service during the COVID-19 pandemic on Sept. 16, 2020, is set to undergo renovations seven years in the making. “This is one of the first times that a major development project like this was completely driven by the community,” Jon Osaki, executive director of the Japanese Youth Community Council, told The Examiner.
Renovations to Peace Plaza in Japantown will make a series of improvements to the space that were put together by the Japanese American community in a series of meetings.
Courtesy San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department
Japantown’s Peace Plaza is getting a makeover with new paving, landscaping, seating and other improvements in an attempt to create a space honoring ill-treated Japanese Americans.
The improvements were first conceived by community organizers nearly seven years ago. The City’s Recreation and Parks Department and the Japantown Peace Plaza Committee will oversee the plaza’s upgrades.
Local leaders and organizers in Japantown said the project is an opportunity to address the historical mistreatment of Japanese Americans in San Francisco as well as a long-term investment in Japantown’s future success, particularly as the neighborhood bounces back from economic hardships brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The history of this community is we’ve been told where we live, where we can’t live, what we can do with the area that we live in, what’s good for us,” said Jon Osaki, executive director of the Japanese Youth Community Council and co-chair for the Japantown Peace Plaza Committee.
“This is one of the first times that a major development project like this was completely driven by the community,” he said.
Japantown supporters first began meeting in early 2017 to address water leaks in the plaza’s garage, along with other deferred maintenance and needed repairs brought on by extensive, long-term wear and tear.
“It’s really our only public space where we can gather large groups of people for a whole variety of different types of community events,’’ Osaki said.
Japantown Peace Plaza, pictured set up for restaurant takeout service during the COVID-19 pandemic on Sept. 16, 2020, is set to undergo renovations seven years in the making. “This is one of the first times that a major development project like this was completely driven by the community,” Jon Osaki, executive director of the Japanese Youth Community Council, told The Examiner.
Kevin N. Hume/The Examiner, File
Emily Murase, executive director of the Japantown Task Force, a nonprofit organization working to preserve the area, said Japanese Americans in San Francisco suffered two great displacements — the first during World War II, when they were sent to internment camps, and the second during the late 1960s, when the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency imposed a plan that drove large numbers of families out of the area.
The City bulldozed the area that the mall now occupies, wiping out what Murase described as 40 blocks of a self-contained economy. The plaza was later built.
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“When that design was put in in the late 1960s, it wasn’t a community-driven design,” Murase said.
Planners hoped to rectify the mistake this time by hiring a community-design consultant who applied cultural elements to the space, such as through landscaping, calligraphy and architecture.
Organizers also wanted the plaza to be attractive for visitors while increasing green space for nearby neighborhoods.
Avenue Greenlight, a nonprofit that helps secure grants for community organizations, funded new wayfinding maps for the plaza. Maryo Moganna, president of the nonprofit, said they will help locals and visitors easily navigate the neighborhood while also highlighting different parts of the area.
“It is the largest investment San Francisco has made into the area since redevelopment forcibly evicted our community out of this space,” Osaki said.
Rec and Park officials said that the renovation will “breathe new life” into the plaza, while also maintaining its ability to host cultural celebrations, community events and other gatherings. Construction begins this spring and the project is expected to be completed in late 2025 or early 2026.
“Once it is completed, it is going to be the first time the community has a type of open space that it has envisioned for our Japantown,” Osaki said.
For Murase, the project comes at a critical time when the existence of historical ethnic enclaves throughout the country are at risk of disappearing.
She recently spoke at an event in Philadelphia, where local Chinatown advocates were trying to preserve the area from construction of a proposed basketball arena. Opponents to the project have expressed worries that Chinatown residents would be pushed out of the area, similar to when the construction of Capital One Arena in Washington D.C. sent real-estate prices skyrocketing, effectively pushing out long-time residents.
“I was able to be on a panel at a national convening to say, ‘Well in San Francisco, we actually value, celebrate and invest in cultural districts,’” Murase said.
“That’s really pretty unique in San Francisco,” she said. “That, we’re very grateful for.”
