Week 5: Business & Economic Development

For our topic of business, we got to spend the week working with Kathy Sakamoto, the Executive Director of the Japanese Business Association and owner of Sak n’ Sak. Working with Kathy we had the opportunity to find out what a busy job she has dealing with all the different aspects of the business world here in Japantown. One of the things we learned about from Kathy was what a Business Improvement District, or BID is. BIDs work with the beautification, safety, marketing, as a government liaison, with community support and coordination. We also had our daily workout everyday by helping Kathy clean up her office by moving filing cabinets, bookshelves, and organization. It was really interesting to see all the important documents that she had and the stories that go along with the various projects and events that she has worked on. Thank you Kathy for treating us to lunch this whole week!!!

In addition to working with Kathy we also had the chance to interview Helen Hayashi who is part of the San Jose Downtown Association and the membership outreach coordinator. Helen is very involved in the community including being a founding member of the JCCSJ, empowering woman of the YWCA, and a city council member for the Evergreen Valley district. She was also a part of the 1978 campaign for Norman Mineta. One of thing we talked about with Helen was “How do we define what Japanese American is?” The issue arose when they were discussing the implementation of a gateway or traditional Japanese “tori” on Taylor Street here in San Jose Japantown. They ended up deciding against that idea because San Jose’s Japantown is a Japanese American place not traditionally Japanese. Instead we have the plum blossom icon that represents J-town here. It can be found on the banners that line the streets throughout Japantown, giving our community more of a JA feel.

We also met with Arlene Damron who owns the Nichi Bei Bussan, a retail business that has remained in her family for over 100 years!!! It started with her Grandpa Tatsuno in 1902 who owned a shop in San Francisco. It was there where the immigrants would come in dressed in their kimonos and leave wearing western clothes. In 1948 they opened in San Jose’s Japantown and started as NB department store, standing for “name brands.” They specialized in short sizes for all of us Japanese Americans. Today it has transformed to vintage sales on consignment, traditional Japanese clothing and accessories, home décor, fabrics, martial arts equipment, books, and various Japanese American goods.With the ups and downs of the economy Arlene tells us that it is hard at times. Being a family business she feels that the future of Japantown will be with blended families, hers being multiracial itself. In order to sustain it, we must respond to what the customers want and adapt on that, while remaining a unique place to visit and shop.

On Thursday we had another intern day up in San Francisco. We met with Bob Hamaguchi of the Japantown Task Force and a major head in the Better Neighborhoods plan. We helped him get some idea of the youths’ perspective in this project as he asked us questions on his survey, which we discussed as a group. We also had a tour of San Francisco Japantown led by our very own NJAHS interns Stephen and Devin. One of really interesting spot that we got to see was the building that still had the spray painted words “Japs Keep Out.”

They say that the homeowners didn’t know that it was there when the first bought the house. Although the writing is faint, it still reminds us of the hatred and racism that Japanese Americans faced during the war.

We also stopped by at New People, a retro looking new café, cinema, shop, and art gallery.

Maybe this could be one of the new hangout places that we, as future leaders of the JA community wanted to put in for those of our generation…

Lastly for our intern day we had a workshop with Aya about communication and teamwork. We used a lego building activity that forced us to work together and efficiently to get the job done. We ended the day with a practice run of the Yaki Onigiri that we are making for the street fair next month and some good ole intern bonding over at Sundance Kitchen.

Our third interview this week was with Heidi Shigematsu of Famers’ Insurance Group. She lives and works here in Jtown and has the cutest little son ever. Living in Japantown she finds that there are many connections within the residential neighborhood, however her customer base comes from everywhere. Heidi emphasized the sense of community she finds while both living and working in Japantown, especially for her son Trenton who will be able to experience growing up in this community setting. As well as being a business owner, Heidi is very involved in the Kiwanis Club, Christmas in the Park, Japanese American Chamber of Commerce, and a Farmers Market Volunteer. One word of advice that she gave for future business owners is to gather customers through networking, which will help to grow your business. Networking has definitely been one of the major skills that all of us interns have been working on this summer. After visiting Heidi we stopped off at Sak n’ Sak, the tote bag business that Kathy runs with Lydia Uchida-Sakai, Yosh’s daughter. At Sak n’ Sak they recycle the old Jtown banners and make them into bags, purses, clutches, etc. They have even made their first appearance at the San Jose Mineta Airport. We talked to Lydia a little bit about the business as well as what it is like to be Yosh Uchida’s daughter.

For me this subject this week was intriguing, being a business major, I had the chance to learn firsthand what it is like to run a business in the Nikkei Community. I have found that although many of the businesses here in San Jose Jtown are family operated, we are getting to the generation where maybe there is no one willing to take on the family business. In order to sustain this feel of community based and family oriented Japantown I think that these businesses are vital to keep around. They may have to adapt to the changing outside community and people but I believe we should strive to keep this feeling of a family run town and character.