A stroll through Japantown, or Nihonmachi, in San Francisco, CA. Everything photographed below exists in or near to the area known as Japan Center in the Western Addition District of San Francisco. Quick history: in the 1870s, folks from San Fran started to move into the area. Then, the area was mostly unharmed by the earthquake and subsequent fire in 1906, so even more folks (especially Japanese) ended up there. Land was scarce. Businesses needed space, so owners started to raise property to house commercial space under their living quarters. This was the beginning of Japantown. From the website sfjapantown.org, “Today, nearly 12,000 Japanese Americans live in San Francisco and approximately 80,000 live in the greater Bay Area.” On this half-day tour, join us as we discover some of Japantown’s brilliant foods, toys, paper foldings, fascinating grocery signs, a wooden Vader helmet, and much more.