Japantown
Neighborhood Intelligence

Japantown is a narrow analysis neighborhood stretching along the north side of Geary Boulevard up to Sutter Street, from Gough Street west to Baker Street. Its core is the cluster of blocks around Post and Buchanan streets anchored by Japan Center, the Peace Plaza and its Peace Pagoda, and the Buchanan Street pedestrian mall, one of the few remaining historic Japantowns in the United States. West of Fillmore Street the area blends into the southern edge of Lower Pacific Heights, which SF Planning maps within this same unit.

Housing is a mix of multi-unit apartment buildings, Victorian and Edwardian flats, and mid-century apartment and condominium buildings, with roughly 2,450 housing units in all. Zoning combines the Japantown Neighborhood Commercial District (NCD) around Japan Center, NC-3 moderate-scale commercial frontage along Geary Boulevard, the Fillmore Street NCT at Fillmore, and RM-3 and RM-4 residential-mixed districts on the side streets, with some RTO-C and RM-1 parcels to the west. Japan Center's shopping malls and the Kabuki theater on Post Street are the neighborhood's main cultural and commercial draws.