Hotel Kabuki Donates $34,000 to Japantown Foundation

Hotel Kabuki General Manager Alex Prouty presented San Francisco Japantown Foundation Board President Donald Tamaki with a check for $34,000 at our New Year Celebration with Osechi Ryori event on January 9, 2020, held at Hotel Kabuki.

The generous donation continues the foundation’s philanthropic partnership with Hotel Kabuki that started in 2013. The Japantown Foundation receives funds raised through the hotel’s You Can Make a Difference program, which asks guests to donate when they stay at the property.

The donations from Hotel Kabuki – combined with proceeds from our annual New Year Celebration and from our original endowment – enable us to provide annual grants to qualified Japantown community organizations.

The Japantown Foundation board of directors expresses its appreciation to Prouty, who is also a foundation board member, and the staff of Hotel Kabuki for continuing this valuable partnership.

You're Invited to our 2020 New Year’s Celebration with Osechi Ryori!

The San Francisco Japantown Foundation’s annual New Year’s fundraiser once again features Osechi Ryori, the traditional dishes carefully prepared and presented for the New Year to wish for good health, happiness, and prosperity.

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This special dining experience is only possible through the generous assistance of the owners and chefs at Pabu, Yama-Sho, Sanraku, Sushi Ran, DELICA, and Azuma Foods.

Thursday, January 9, 2020 (Facebook Event)
6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Hotel Kabuki in Japantown

See photos from our previous event.

This is the San Francisco Japantown Foundation’s primary fundraiser and allows us to continue providing grants to Japantown and Japanese American-related nonprofit organizations.

About Osechi Ryori

Osechi Ryori refers to a number of unique dishes that are prepared once a year to celebrate the New Year. Many of the items require hours of preparation, and are preserved in ways to make sure that they are delicious to eat throughout the first three days of the year–the traditional way of celebrating the Japanese New Year.

Many of us remember waking up on New Year’s Day to have our bowl of ozoni and then patiently wait as all of the other osechi items were unveiled by our grandparents and great grandparents for us to eat. Being able to eat osechi ryori today, however, is a rarity.

That is one of the reasons the board of the SF Japantown Foundation continues to hold our annual Osechi Ryori event. It allows us to introduce and re-introduce the special food items that are prepared during the New Year that will bring us good luck, good health and prosperity throughout the year.

With the generous assistance of our restaurant partners, we are able to share authentically prepared osechi dishes that are expressly prepared for the event. We sincerely thank our culinary experts for supporting us in carrying on this important culture and tradition.

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Our 2019 New Year's Celebration with Osechi Ryori is sold out!

Our 2019 New Year's Celebration with Osechi Ryori on January 10, 2019, at Hotel Kabuki is sold out! Thank you to our sponsors and guests that made this possible.

2019 New Year's Celebration with Osechi Ryori
Thursday, January 10, 2019
6:00 p.m.
Hotel Kabuki in San Francisco's Japantown
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San Francisco Japantown Foundation 2018 Grants Program to Focus on Cultural Arts and Capital Project Planning

Update 8/25/18: The applications deadline has passed.

The San Francisco Japantown Foundation’s 2018 grants program is now accepting applications for grants related to cultural arts and Japantown capital project planning. Applications are due August 24, 2018.

Applicants for arts grants may request up to $5,000. Applicants for capital project planning grants may request up to $10,000. The Japantown Foundation may award grants in amounts lower than requested based on funding availability.

While the foundation previously provided grants for capital project planning, the focus on cultural arts is new and a change from previous grant-making. The Japantown Foundation board of directors is prioritizing this year’s grants to provide resources to artists, projects, and organizations that promote and preserve Japanese and Japanese American art in both visual and performing arts form.

The foundation this year will not award grants to applicants without a specific focus on Japanese and Japanese American cultural arts, or capital project planning.

Applicants must be a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization, or be fiscally-sponsored by a 501(c)(3) organization, and demonstrate a current and historical relationship with Japantown, or provide services to the San Francisco Japantown community. Previous recipients of Japantown Foundation grants must submit grant reports before being eligible to apply for 2018 funding.

Applications are due August 24, 2018. A committee will review qualified applications and submit recommendations to the foundation board of directors. The board will render final decisions on grants at its meeting in September and awards will be announced in early October 2018.

Download the grants application at http://japantownfoundation.org/grants. The application contains more details and requirements. For questions about the grants program, contact foundation board member Diane Matsuda at 415-305-5438 or dianematsuda@hotmail.com.

About the San Francisco Japantown Foundation Grants Program

Grants from the San Francisco Japantown Foundation are made possible through the original endowments by Kintetsu Enterprises of America, Jack Hirose, Hats and Amey Aizawa, Union Bank, and Minami Tamaki LLP. We also use proceeds from our annual Osechi Ryori New Year’s celebration fundraiser, supported by generous sponsors and guests.

Another significant portion of the funds available for these grants comes from our philanthropic partnership with Hotel Kabuki. The Japantown Foundation receives funds raised through the hotel’s You Can Make a Difference program, which asks guests to make a donation when they stay at the property. The Japantown Foundation expresses our appreciation to the Hotel Kabuki and to General Manager J.P. Oliver for continuing this valuable partnership. J.P. is also a member of our foundation board.

Since 2007, the Foundation has provided more than $700,000 in funding to the community.

Join the Japantown Foundation’s email list to be notified about grants program updates.

Hatsuro and Amey Aizawa Family Trust Donates $200,000 to San Francisco Japantown Foundation

A family trust established by Hatsuro “Hats” and Amey Aizawa donated $200,000 to the San Francisco Japantown Foundation.

Hats was a founding board member of the SF Japantown Foundation. He and Amey were among the original major donors that helped establish the organization more than ten years ago. Hats passed away in 2013 and Amey in 2017.

“The Aizawas served for many years as leaders, volunteers, and philanthropists in the Japantown and the Japanese American communities,” said Donald K. Tamaki, board president of the SF Japantown Foundation. “We're grateful that the Aizawas were founding donors to our foundation, and appreciative that Hats was a founding board member. Their generosity and love for Japantown will always be remembered and celebrated.”

Donate to the San Francisco Japantown Foundation today in honor of the Aizawas and the incredible legacy they left to Japantown and the Japanese American community.

Amey and Hats - Community Leaders, Philanthropists

Amey was born and raised in Delano (now Visalia), California, the oldest of four children. She lived in the Central Valley until she and her family were forcibly removed and incarcerated at the Fresno Detention Center and then at the Jerome, Arkansas, Concentration Camp during World War II.

She completed her Bachelor of Arts Degree at the University of Tulsa and moved back to California with Hats in the late 1940s. Although Amey had a license to teach in the California school system, she chose to help her husband start and maintain his successful graphic design business in San Francisco for many decades.

Hats was born in San Francisco's Japantown on Post Street between Laguna and Buchanan Streets and lived there until he and his family were forcibly removed and incarcerated at the Tanforan Detention Center and then later at the Topaz Concentration Camp.

Before the incarceration, Hats was attending Lowell High School. He completed his formal education upon his return to San Francisco after the war, earning a B.A. in Fine Arts at UC Berkeley.

Hats was one of the first Japanese Americans to open a successful graphic design business, Aizawa and Furuta, which operated for more than 45 years.

He served as one of the founding members of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce of Northern California as well as being appointed as the first Japanese American to serve for several terms as a Commissioner and then as Trustee for the Asian Art Museum from 1988 to 2008. Hats served 25 years on the Japan Society of Northern California Board of Directors and was a member of the San Francisco-Osaka Sister City Committee.

In recognition of Hats Aizawa’s many contributions, the Consulate General of Japan in San Francisco presented him with the Foreign Minister’s Commendation in 2008. In 2011, the Consulate General of Japan in San Francisco conferred on Hats the Order of Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Rays, one of the Japanese government’s highest honors.

About the 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 the Aizawas, Kintetsu Enterprises of America, Jack Hirose, Union Bank, and Minami Tamaki LLP. The foundation also raises funds from its annual Osechi Ryori New Year’s Celebration Fundraiser and receives donations through a philanthropic partnership with Hotel Kabuki and the hotel’s You Can Make a Difference program, which asks guests to donate when they stay at the property.

Since 2007, the Foundation has provided more than $700,000 in funding to the community.