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Japan Center Review

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Japan Center

Address: Bordered by Geary Blvd. and Fillmore, Post, and Laguna Sts., Japantown, San Francisco, CA | Map It
Phone: 415/922-6776

Category: Stores/Malls
Location: Japantown

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Fodor's Review:

The noted American architect Minoru Yamasaki created this 5-acre complex, which opened in 1968. Architecturally the development hasn't aged well, and its Peace Plaza, where seasonal festivals are held, is an unwelcoming sea of cement. The Japan Center includes the shop- and restaurant-filled Kintetsu and Kinokuniya buildings; the excellent Kabuki Springs & Spa; the Miyako Hotel; and the Kabuki 8 multiplex cinema, purchased in 2006 by Robert Redford's Sundance corporation.

The Kinokuniya Bookstores, in the Kinokuniya Building, has an extensive selection of Japanese-language books, manga (graphic novels), and English-language translations and books on Japanese topics. On the bridge connecting the center's two buildings, check out Shige Antiques for yukata (lightweight cotton kimonos) for kids and lovely silk kimonos, and Asakichi and its tiny incense shop for tinkling wind chimes and display-worthy tea kettles. Continue into the Kintetsu Building for a selection of Japanese restaurants.

Between the Miyako Mall and Kintetsu Building are the five-tier, 100-foot-tall Peace Pagoda and the Peace Plaza. The pagoda, which draws on the 1,200-year-old tradition of miniature round pagodas dedicated to eternal peace, was designed in the late 1960s by Yoshiro Taniguchi to convey the "friendship and goodwill" of the Japanese people to the people of the United States. The plaza itself is a shadeless, unwelcoming stretch of cement with little seating.

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