Booking fee
The booking fee includes the costs of booking your tickets such as charges for payment processing. It also covers the provision of our customer care center for processing your order, and all charges imposed by our suppliers.
* This tour requires at least one of the following per booking: Adult, Senior
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.
See more
VoiceMap Application
Offline access to audio, maps, and geodata
Lifetime access to 'Food, History and Resistance in Japantown' tour
Smartphone
Transportation
Food/drinks
Tickets or entrance fees to any museums or other attractions en route
Departure Point
1737 Post St, San Francisco, CA 94115, Verenigde Staten
Under the red torii gate at Sutter and Buchanan Streets. Before arrival, install the VoiceMap app and use the code provided on your ticket. This is a self-guided audio tour that you can start, pause, or restart any time and complete at your own pace. Directions to the starting point are in the app.
Japantown, San Francisco, California, United States 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, San Francisco, California, United States 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, San Francisco, California, United States 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.
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
This experience is non-refundable and cannot be changed for any reason. If you cancel or ask for an amendment, the amount you paid will not be refunded.
Casey_M
07 Jun 2025
It’s perfectly paced, and there were times when you could pause and explore the spots she covered more in-depth.
Sharlene_H
29 Jul 2024
I know my grandparents, my father (he was 6) and his younger brother lived in San Francisco before they were interned, first at Tanforan horse track and then Topaz, Utah.
I know Japantown is no where near as large as it was before WWII so the odds that I walked anywhere where my grandparents would have are slim, save perhaps the gate next to the Japanese Language School. Apparently through this gate was a location where Japanese reported for internment. I couldn't help but wonder if this was the one place where my family also stood those many decades ago.
The author/narrator of the two did an excellent job. All of the sites she spoke about are still in existence. It was almost surreal to be standing in so many places of history, surrounded by many people who were oblivious as to the life and lives that preceded their own presence.
This tour was fascinating. I highly recommend it for anyone.
Lydie L
28 Mar 2022
Accueil très chaleureux avec des serveurs parlant français. Portions généreuses dans des tapas très originales et excellentes
We always double-check the availability with our local partners for each booking. Even though this is usually a swift process, it can take up to 24 hours. Once this process is completed you will receive your voucher or ticket by email. If our local partner is not able to confirm your booking we will offer you the best possible alternative. If the new date and/or time doesn’t fit your itinerary, we will reimburse the full amount paid.
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