Konbanwa:
I just read on Yomiuri Online that the Japantown in San Francisco, California, could eventually fade out, now that Kintetsu has sold some hotels and shopping centers in the area. This comes after several Japanese firms moved out of the area. One person told Yomiuri's Yukiko Furusawa that an aging population and aging facilities were another reason for the Japantown's decline.
Oddly enough, the New York metropolitan area (where I live) has never had any sort of "Japantown," and yet Japanese cultural events still happen here. I see young Japanese folks visit the markets, video stores, cafeツ´s, et.al. that cater to them, and those businesses seem to do well.
Is it possible that not bothering with a "Japantown" zone is key to things going as well as they seem to be in Manhattan and elsewhere in New York? Is it possible that not doing the "ghetto" makes the difference?
Yoroshiku onegai shimasu,
Philip David
2006.06.17-18
I just read on Yomiuri Online that the Japantown in San Francisco, California, could eventually fade out, now that Kintetsu has sold some hotels and shopping centers in the area. This comes after several Japanese firms moved out of the area. One person told Yomiuri's Yukiko Furusawa that an aging population and aging facilities were another reason for the Japantown's decline.
Oddly enough, the New York metropolitan area (where I live) has never had any sort of "Japantown," and yet Japanese cultural events still happen here. I see young Japanese folks visit the markets, video stores, cafeツ´s, et.al. that cater to them, and those businesses seem to do well.
Is it possible that not bothering with a "Japantown" zone is key to things going as well as they seem to be in Manhattan and elsewhere in New York? Is it possible that not doing the "ghetto" makes the difference?
Yoroshiku onegai shimasu,
Philip David
2006.06.17-18