Japantown, San Jose, CA

Japantown is one of only three historic Japantowns left in the United States, alongside San Francisco's and Los Angeles's Little Tokyo, and it may be the most intact as a working neighborhood. It grew up in the 1890s beside San Jose's old Chinatown, Heinlenville, as Japanese immigrants built boardinghouses, churches and shops, and it survived the rupture of World War II, when residents were forcibly removed to incarceration camps in 1942 under Executive Order 9066 and began returning only in 1945. Food is the daily draw, and most of it sits within a few blocks of Jackson. Shuei-Do Manju Shop on Jackson makes its manju by hand, Kumako Ramen serves New York-style ramen and Japanese curries, and Gombei does udon, teriyaki and donburi. Okayama, on North 6th Street, has been family-owned for decades and remains a standby for a Japanese meal. For coffee, Roy's Station Coffee & Teas pours Verve coffee and tea out of a converted Mobil gas station on Jackson, and part of its power comes from solar panels. Homes are mostly older bungalows and small houses wrapped around the business blocks, and the San Jose Buddhist Church Betsuin and Wesley United Methodist still hold services a short walk apart, with the Japanese American Museum telling the neighborhood's story nearby. There is very little housing here and almost nothing new, so the choice of homes at any given time is thin. Groceries are close, and most of the shopping can happen on foot. Nijiya Market on Jackson carries Asian groceries and grab-and-go meals, and Santo Market on East Taylor sells poke bowls and manju. Backesto Park at the north end is the place for a walk, and Ryland Park on North 1st Street adds a public pool and a dog park. Blue and Green line trains stop at Japantown/Ayer station, and downtown is a short ride or walk south. The rarity and history keep it desirable, and the limited housing supply keeps entry tight, which is the honest tradeoff: there simply is not much of it, mostly older bungalows wrapped around the business district, and what comes up trades on that scarcity. But for buyers who want to live inside a real piece of Japanese American history with a functioning cultural main street at the doorstep, there is nowhere else in San Jose, or nearly anywhere else, quite like it.