Cherry Blossom Festival blooms big again in Japantown
The first weekend of this year’s Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival had Japantown tickled pink all weekend, and the festival continues next weekend, with the return of the famed parade that has not happened since 2019.
43-year-old Japantown restaurant Cafe Mums has closed permanently
A Japantown staple for the hot pot dish shabu shabu suddenly closed this weekend, as the 43-year-old Cafe Mums, also known as Mums – Home of Shabu Shabu, had its final day in business at Sutter and Buchanan Streets on Sunday.
Japantown YMCA closed indefinitely after fire did ‘extensive damage’ on Sunday
A Sunday afternoon one-alarm fire spread to both the first and second floors of the Buchanan YMCA in Japantown, and the facility that serves mostly seniors will remain closed until further notice.
Fermentation Lab set to open a second restaurant in Japantown later this year
Fermentation Lab, the San Francisco gastropub that’s beloved for its pickled foods and occasional strong brews, will expand from its 6,000-square-foot mid-Market location and open another eatery in Japantown soon.
New Kappo-style restaurant in Japantown, Yuji, offers seating for just nine guests each evening
A new restaurant with seating for just nine diners has opened under the radar in San Francisco’s Japantown offering Kappo-style dining at just one seating per night, for only nine guests at a time.
New upscale Indian restaurant coming to Lower Fillmore
A new, still nameless, high-end Indian concept from Taj Campton Place chef Srijith Gopinathan and business partner Ayesha Thapar — who also opened the acclaimed Ettan in Palo Alto together — is coming to the former Dosa space.
Community pushback succeeds in slowing city effort to convert Japantown hotel into homeless housing
One of only two hotels in Japantown, the Kimpton Buchanan Hotel, has been identified as one of four properties around SF that the city hopes to purchase by the end of the year to turn into permanent homeless housing, but neighbors are pushing back.