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“What makes this really emotional for the community is, it’s not the first time large parcels of land were taken out of our control,” Osaki said. So it came as no real surprise that when Kintetsu announced in December it would sell off the hotels and malls that anchor the neighborhood. Hashimoto notes a 60 percent decline in business over the past three years alone. “They’re individual tourists, and even then, they’d rather go to other attractions, like Alcatraz.” “They don’t come by the busloads anymore,” said Rosalyn Tonai, executive director of the National Japanese American Historical Society.
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But it has nearly fallen off the map since major traffic routes into the area were closed and aging buildings made it less appealing in a city brimming with must-see attractions. With its modernist pagoda and pedestrian thoroughfare lined with noodle and sushi restaurants, Japantown was once a big tourist destination. “And that’s one of the things 3D is willing to do – buy the property and invest $10 million, $20 million renovating it.”
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“It needs a lot of work,” said Richard Hashimoto, president of the Japantown Merchants Association. Others say 3D’s ownership presents an opportunity to revitalize the area’s dated architecture. “Absolutely it could have a devastating effect on the community,” said Paul Osaki, executive director of Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California. The fear in the Japanese-American community is that 3D could push out family-run businesses in favor of big-box retailers and write the final chapter in the neighborhood’s slow decline. A representative did not return calls for comment. The excitement surrounding the festivities was quickly overshadowed by news that three-quarters of the real estate in the historic San Francisco neighborhood, which grew from the ashes of the 1906 earthquake, had been sold amid weak revenue and lagging tourism.īeverly Hills-based 3D Investments, which agreed earlier this year to buy two hotels and two malls from Osaka, Japan-based Kintetsu Enterprises of America, has not publicly disclosed its plans. SAN FRANCISCO – As organizers prepared for the centennial of the nation’s oldest Japanese-American community, some worried that Japantown’s birthday bash could become its memorial service.