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Food, History, and Resistance: A Self-Guided Audio Tour of San Francisco's Japantown

Food, History, and Resistance: A Self-Guided Audio Tour of San Francisco's Japantown

Overview

Explore San Francisco's historic Japantown at your own pace on this self-guided audio tour. Japanese-American local Kristin Eriko Posner will guide you through the neighborhood, sharing little-known stories on how history shaped the food, culture, and landscape of the oldest Japantown in the U.S. This geo-tagged audio tour is best between 10:30am - 3:30pm on Wednesday-Saturdays, when all of the businesses on the tour are open. However, it can be taken at any time, on any day. Most stops are open until 6pm.

The tour is ready whenever you are and the audio plays automatically at exactly the right time and place using your smartphone's GPS and the VoiceMap mobile app, which also works offline.

City: San Francisco

Mon 09 Jun

Other dates

You can choose the date already on the booking website

Starting at $8.99

Make a reservation

Mon 09 Jun

Starting at $8.99

Make a reservation

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What's Included

VoiceMap Application

Offline access to audio, maps, and geodata

Lifetime access to 'Food, History and Resistance in Japantown' tour

Additional Info

Wheelchair accessible
Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
Service animals allowed
Public transportation options are available nearby
Infants are required to sit on an adult’s lap
Suitable for all physical fitness levels

What To Expect

Japantown

While there are many great restaurants, there’s just so much more to Japantown than ramen and sushi. There are stories here that so many don’t know - stories you might never know unless you were part of the community.

Benkyodo

Benkyodo is one of only three traditional Japanese manju makers remaining in the US. The others are in each of the other two remaining Japantowns in Los Angeles and San Jose. Manju is a traditional Japanese confection, traditionally filled with sweet bean paste and wrapped with mochi, a glutinous rice that is pounded down into a sticky, gooey, delicious mass.

Fillmore Street

Bop City at 1712 Fillmore Street became the place to play after hours. Anyone who was anyone in jazz played here: John Coltrane, Billie Holiday, Miles Davis and Duke Ellington to name a few. In the 1940’s San Francisco’s black community grew immensely and Fillmore Street was dubbed the Harlem of the West.

Cancellation Policy

All sales are final. No refund is available for cancellations.

Traveler Photos

Reviews (8)

ben_meatball

Aug 2019

I loved being guided around the neighborhood with this app! You can do it at your own pace. The stories on the tour were really immersive. I’m a local, and saw so many cool spots that gave me a new perspective on Japantown.

396asn

Jul 2019

A wonderful audio tour if you’re visiting or are a member of the local community. Kristin’s soothing and gentle voice is the perfect guide through Japantown. With so much history to be shared and exciting spots to discover, Kristin captures this perfectly as you can see all of the spots where the unique history of San Francisco’s Japantown took place. This tour will guide you through the rich stories of families that have lived there for generations, and points out key locations and moments of this community. Kristin also incorporates some wonderful food spots on this tour which makes it all the more enjoyable! I highly recommend this tour for anyone who is visiting or interested in one of the remaining cultural communities of the city!