20-year-old Japantown restaurant Takara to close due to rent dispute

In late September, Turner and other Japan Center tenants received a letter from 3D Investments demanding immediate payment of all back rent and other fees, despite the fact that the mall had been closed for the first three months of the pandemic, leaving businesses unable to operate. Many have worried that unless these Japan Center businesses are given some relief, this situation could spell the end of Japantown as we know it.

“Of the 44 [Japantown and Chinatown] tenants we represent, the losses range from $3,000 to $17,000 per month. It’s awful,” Allan Low of Perkins Coie law firm told SFGATE in a December story about Japantown. “My fear is these businesses may not survive the economic calamity that comes from this pandemic.”

Takara may be the first of many to close. But fortunately, there’s one tidbit of good news here: owner Turner won’t be going far. Recently, she bought nearby omakase spot Kiss Seafood at 1700 Laguna St. She plans to bring over her cooks from Takara, as well as much of the old menu, from tempura to bento boxes.