The News News Archives Bringing Spirit to the Spirit of Japantown Festival
Bringing Spirit to the Spirit of Japantown Festival
By Brandi-Ann Uyemura
SAN JOSE—Three times was definitely a charm for the Spirit of Japantown festival held on Sept. 26. The event, hosted by the Japantown Community Congress of San Jose, came together on North Fifth and Jackson streets with the theme “Sharing the Spirit” to unify the community and promote Japantown. Whereas last year brought rain and 12,000 people, this year warm weather and new vendors drew in their biggest crowd yet with an estimated 16,000 visitors.
The Spirit of Japantown featured everything from martial arts demonstrations to performances by festival headliner San Jose Taiko. While entertainment, traditional Japanese exhibits like Ikebana and woodblock printing and food such as kettle corn and char siu bau were enough to feed the appetites of curious festivalgoers, it was the blend of cultures, ethnicities and sense of community that set it apart from the rest.
Part of the festival’s unique flavor can be attributed to its almost 100 vendors. One of them was Sensei Harunaka Hoshino, Japanese teacher of martial arts, sword history and restoration. His booth located in the Buddhist Church Betsuin annex displayed and appraised antique Japanese swords ranging from 65 to 200 years old and valued at up to $100,000.
The Chinese Historical Society of America was also there to disseminate information about Japantown San Jose’s history as a once thriving Chinatown. A volunteer for the organization Don Chan said, “The Spirit of Japantown festival is an opportunity for the general public to know about its history. Most people don’t know about the relationship between Japanese and Chinese. This history needs to be maintained.” According to the Japanese American Museum of San Jose website, the consequence of a burgeoning agricultural industry in Santa Clara Valley attracted a wave of Issei in the year 1890. This first generation of Japanese immigrants lived side by side the Chinese in the area, which was then known as Chinatown. Ten years later in 1900, Nihonmachi or Japantown was born.
Preserving the history is vital to the community especially since Japantown San Jose celebrating its 119th birthday this year, is one of only three left in the US.
This is a heartfelt desire shared by Japantown small business owners like Jeanne Katsuro who calls herself the “brainchild” behind the festival. Katsuro together with executive director of the Japantown Business Association a nd chair of this year’s event Kathy Sakamoto worked together to come up with a plan to keep the community alive.
“We started it six years ago because we found out that it was the last of three in the United States. When I thought that there was a chance we would lose Japantown, my heart sank. We were the smallest one so we knew that the next to disappear would be San Jose if we didn’t do something. We had this idea to bring everyone together to promote Japantown in the hope that we could preserve it,” Katsuro said.
Six years and thousands of visitors later, the community is reaping the benefits of their hard work with the assistance of organizations like the Japantown Community Congress of San Jose (JCCsj).
The free event has not only attracted new visitors but has also brought business back to the community. The organization’s president Tamon Norimoto said that surprisingly, “The Japantown business tax revenue on sales has increased while other business districts have decreased.”
For Katsuro, the festival has helped to change the atmosphere of the community. “Japantown has started to revitalize! It has become a cooler, hipper place. There are more people patronizing the businesses.”
Visitors may come to the Spirit of Japantown to experience the food or entertainment like Andrew and Michelle Haws who said, “Most of the reason we come is for Taiko.” But the reason they stay could also be a personal one.
As U.S. Congressman Mike Honda who spoke at the event said, “People just need a gathering place, a reason to come experience the culture. Not just to promote the character and history of Japantown but the kind of place to have for generations to come.”
