Fishmonger Kitaichi Sakai founded Uoki K. Sakai Co. market in a city that was just rebuilding after the devastating 1906 earthquake.
For more than 105 years, the grocery survived - from the Sakai family's internment during World War II to the migration of Japanese-Americans to the suburbs. But this year, the realities of running a family business, coupled with the economic aftershocks of this year's earthquake and tsunami in Japan, led to the closure of this pillar of Japantown.
The Sakai market will close its Post Street doors at 5 p.m. Saturday, according to a sign handwritten in English and Japanese that was taped near the front door earlier this month.
"We're losing a landmark," Richard Hashimoto, president of the Japantown Merchants Association, said of the specialty food shop that packs aisles with sake, natto, nori, takenoko and daikon.
(sfexaminer.com)
Fishmonger Kitaichi Sakai founded Uoki K. Sakai Co. market in a city that was just rebuilding after the devastating 1906 earthquake.
For more than 105 years, the grocery survived - from the Sakai family's internment during World War II to the migration of Japanese-Americans to the suburbs. But this year, the realities of running a family business, coupled with the economic aftershocks of this year's earthquake and tsunami in Japan, led to the closure of this pillar of Japantown.
The Sakai market will close its Post Street doors at 5 p.m. Saturday, according to a sign handwritten in English and Japanese that was taped near the front door earlier this month.
"We're losing a landmark," Richard Hashimoto, president of the Japantown Merchants Association, said of the specialty food shop that packs aisles with sake, natto, nori, takenoko and daikon.
(sfexaminer.com)