San Francisco Japantown Foundation

The San Francisco Japantown Foundation’s mission is to support cultural, community and educational activities for San Francisco Japantown. Its vision is to preserve and honor Japantown’s history by fostering and providing funding for activities that reflect the Japanese American heritage, and to engage Japanese of all generations and all experiences.

The Foundation was formed in December 2006 through generous endowments by Kintetsu Enterprises of America, Jack Hirose, Hats and Amey Aizawa, Union Bank, and Minami Tamaki LLP. Since 2007, the Foundation has provided more than $700,000 in funding to the community.

The Foundation identifies, and supports assets (historic, social, cultural, economic, and artistic) that benefit the Japantown community. It also advocates for entrepreneurial and creative programs that serve Japantown’s residents, visitors, businesses, congregations, community and cultural organizations by mobilizing and encouraging new contributions, and by facilitating innovative investments and initiatives.

The Foundation invests in Japantown as a geographic and cultural anchor for diverse and changing Japanese American, Japanese, and broader communities in the San Francisco Bay Area. Acting as a resource to bring new philanthropic funding to the Japantown community as a whole, the Foundation partners with businesses and corporations by serving as their repository of contributions to the Japantown community. The Foundation also supports and encourages ways to introduce and re-introduce Japanese and Japanese Americans to Japantown organizations and institutions.