About
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 $1,000,000 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. The Foundations’s major projects include:
1) Culture/Osechi Ryori – A traditional Japanese New Year celebration held every year at the Kabuki Hotel.
2) Peace Plaza Movement – Working with the Japantown Task Force to repair and protect the community’s only open space.
3) Grants Program – Identifying and supporting important Japantown community organizations.
SUPPORT OUR EFFORTS
Donate to the Japantown Foundation. Grants and donations to the Foundation are tax-deductible to the extent provided by law and will be used to fund grants that benefit the Japantown community, its residents, businesses and visitors.
Board of Directors
Allen Okamoto, President
Jon Osaki, Vice President
Sean Tamura-Sato, Secretary
Mary Ishisaki, Treasurer
Donald K. Tamaki • Junichiro Ikeda • Aya Ino • Diane Matsuda • Lindsay Nakano • Kathy Nelsen • Amit Patel • Misako Sack • Shinichi Seino
In Memory: Jack Hirose, Hats Aizawa, and Bob Hamaguchi served as foundation board members and played critical roles in advancing the Japantown Foundation. They have passed on, but their contributions to our organization and to the community will always be remembered.
Founding Board Members (2006-2007)
Donald K. Tamaki, Board President
Hats Aizawa • Richard Hashimoto • Jack Hirose • Keith Kamisugi • Eiji Miwa • Sandy Mori • Allen Okamoto • Hiroshi Tomita • Kazuyoshi Yamaguchi, Deputy Consul General of Japan (Advisory Member)