cuisine (and some Korean and Chinese) restaurants, supermarkets, indoor shopping malls, hotels, banks, and other shops, including one of the few U.S. branches of the large Kinokuniya bookstore chain. Most of these businesses are located in the commercial Japan Center of the neighborhood, in a large shopping mall built in the 1960s as part of urban renewal efforts and is run by Japanese retailer Kintetsu. Festivals San Francisco's Japantown celebrates two major festivals every year: The Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival (held for two weekends every April), and the Nihonmachi Street Fair, held one weekend in the month of August. The Cherry Blossom Festival takes place over the course of two weekends. During the first weekend, the Northern California Cherry Blossom Queen Program takes place at the Kabuki Theatre, where women of Japanese/Japanese-American descent are chosen to represent, learn about, and serve their community. During the Sunday parade, the queen and princesses are presented on a float. Government and infrastructure The San Francisco Police Department Northern Station serves Japantown. Education The area is within the San Francisco Unified School District. Rosa Parks Elementary School is located near Japantown. It houses the Japanese Bilingual Bicultural Program (JBBP). In the winter of 2005 Rosa Parks had 233 students, which filled less than half of the school. That winter, SFUSD proposed closing the school and merging it with another elementary school. Parents protested in favor of keeping the school open. SFUSD moved the Japanese Bilingual Bicultural Program into Rosa Parks. As of November 2006, almost half of the students in the regular Rosa Parks program are African-American and one-third of the students in the JBBP program are Japanese. See also 49-Mile Scenic Drive History of the Japanese in San Francisco Japanese American internment Japanese American National Library Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California Japantown — for other Japanese neighborhoods Kinmon Gakuen Neighborhoods of San Francisco References Further reading External links Discover San Francisco Japantown Map of San Francisco Japantown San Francisco Japantown Guide Japantown Task Force, Inc. Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California Google Maps view of the Peace Pagoda SFcityguides.org: free walking tours of Japantown Nihonmachi Street Fair Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival Japanese-American culture in San Francisco Japantowns in the United States Neighborhoods in San Francisco Western Addition, San Francisco Cherry blossom festivals Ethnic enclaves in California