The Brief Japan Video & Media announced it will close at the end of the month. The business has sold Japanese and Korean TV, movies, anime and merchandise for over 40 years. Owner Takeshi Onishi has organized multiple cultural events over the course of the store’s lifetime, including the first Japan Center Anime Fair in 2010.

Japan Video & Media, a San Francisco business that, over the last forty years, has become a Japantown institution, announced it will be closing its doors for good at the end of the month.

Owner Takeshi Onishi made it his mission to bring Japanese culture to the Bay Area, both through his business and through organizing events, including the Summer Festival, the Cherry Blossom Parade’s first Anime Costume Parade and the first Japan Center Anime Fair in 2010.

He announced the impending closure through a note posted to the store’s front window.

“We have managed to overcome many difficulties, changing market trend, recession and pandemic,” the notice reads. “However, the time has come. We are closing the store at the end of May… . We have served over a million people. We could not have done it without our loyal customers and our dedicated staff. We are grateful for each and every one of you.”

A long history

The backstory:

Japan Video opened on Sept. 1, 1984, and has operated out of its current location at 1137 Post Street since 1988. The store was named a Legacy Business in 2020.

The store’s application for the Legacy Business program states that Onishi’s goal was to “open a store that introduced and promoted Japanese culture, making it accessible to Americans, and allowed anyone the ability to learn the Japanese language.”

The business specialized in Japanese and Korean TV shows, films and anime, and carried a wide range of merchandise, including T-shirts, scrolls, posters, plush dolls, bags and collector’s items.

The business has advertised a closing sale, with discounts on most of its merchandise — except for a large stuffed Totoro figure that the shop has become known for. Photos of the business show the four-foot-tall plushie carrying a price tag of $7 million.