Japanese presense at all in Sacramento? Or good Asian presense? (Los Angeles: middle-class, apartments)

[bigdave01]

Elk Grove is sort of so-so. Its very new and has a lot of nice homes, its also pretty diverse for a suburb. It just has some minor crime moving in from south sac. I think it will probably be a ghetto in a few years.

[NorCal Dude]

Elk Grove is far from a ghetto, heck its a different world from Florin and south sac for that matter. Most of the schools are relatively decent too and have similar API rankings as schools in dublin or livermore. There are a few parts that are hit or miss though.

[sacramento916]

Elk Grove is a great place to raise a family. It is a world away from South Sac. Although there are parts of Elk Grove which are affected by crime drifting in from South Sac, many areas of Elk Grove will retain their value and quality due to the highly rated school district (the best schools you will find in any neighborhood under $400,000 median), and the desirable neighborhoods there.

Sacramento has a large Asian presence, though obviously not as big as the bay area. However, for links to Japanese culture, most of the Japanese presence in Sacramento are Japanese Americans who have lived here for generations. You will find very few Japanese who are immigrants from Japan.

On Stockton Blvd, there is a large Vietnamese and Chinese Vietnamese presence. On Freeport, a lot of Chinese and Japanese. On Folsom, there are many Korean establishments. On Mack, there are Filipino areas.

There are also large communities of Southeast Asians here such as Hmong, Laotians, etc.

[john durian]

Hm, I lived in South Sacramento (Florin area), East Sacramento (Rancho Cordova area), North Sacramento (Antelope area), and Davis, CA.

From my personal experience going/living through these areas, you can find many different asian subpopulations. Here's what I experience going through elementary/middle school in East Sacramento, 2 years of high school in South Sacramento, 1 year of high school in North Sacramento, and college in Davis, CA.

South Sacramento: Hmong, Mien, Vietnamese, Chinese

East Sacramento: Vietnamese, Chinese, some Koreans

North Sacramento: Japanese, Chinese, very few Vietnamese

Davis, CA: Vietnamese, Chinese, some Japanese, some Korean

I have no clue where the Koreans hide out at, but they seem to be concentrated in the Folsom area as some others have stated. The Japanese in South Sacramento are hidden very very well but there are 4 Japanese Churches/Temples in the Sacramento Region (I think they tend to live in the uppity areas of Roseville, Rocklin, and Antelope).

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by john durian

... but there are 4 Japanese Churches/Temples in the Sacramento Region...

Including a Japanese Buddhist Temple downtown! Also a number of Japanese restaurants.

[mr bolo]

most asians in Sacramento are Southeast asian [Vietnam, Lao, Hmong]

the SF bay area probably has more Chinese, Japanese, Koreans



Japanese are invisible in Sacramento

[wburg]

I think mr bolo doesn't visit the same parts of town that I see--plenty of Chinese and Japanese around here, and have been for a long time.

[musicsaverdude]

Genki all, sorry to bump this older thread but it was linked to from a helpful Reddit thread so thought I’d post here. If anybody has 2 min to spare, could I trouble somebody to post an update if this thread is still accurate? I’m Filipino born and raised in SF who has lived in Japan for a short while, married to a native Chinese girl with a 2 year old toddler so I’ve been sleeping with the enemy, jk. In all seriousness though, I am concerned with a lot of the recent attacks on Asians (whether it’s media hyped or not) and figure the probability % of my family experiencing any hate will be less in a neighborhood where it’s more concentrated vs if we’re the only ones. Currently living in LA

So from what I gathered in the old posts, Greenhaven and Pocket is one area full of Nihonjin but you might have some murderers there? Elk Grove as well but you get crime from South Sac? The remaining Nihonjin are hanging out in Folsom and Roseville (isn’t there a prison in that area?) Lastly for some good ol Korean food, Rosemont would be the spot (but I don’t see any Gallerias or H Marts?)

If I can’t find anything, I might have to go to Plano TX as they’ve got 3 Ranch 99s, 2 H Marts, a Mitsuwa, several Chinatowns and it’s cheap as hell compared to overpriced CA but my friends and family are all in CA and wife loves the weather so I’m giving it one last shot. Thanks in advance everybody!

[wburg]

Wow, bringing back a 10 year old thread from the dead, that's some serious necromancy! There are some fairly legendary Korean restaurants in Rosemont and Rancho Cordova (I hear great things about Modurang, Oz Korean, and the Red Alcove inside KP International Market), and there's still a very significant Asian presence in the southern half of the city of Sacramento itself, from downtown and Southside down into Land Park, the Pocket and Greenhaven, Stockton Boulevard etcetera. Since this thread was first created, we've seen some increase in profile for Sacramento's Southeast Asian community, with the establishment of a "Little Saigon" district along Stockton Boulevard (there's a 99 Ranch there, but there are a lot of other Asian markets too) where the Sacramento city limits meet the unincorporated county, and last year Sacramento voters from District 8 elected Mai Vang, a Sacramento native of Hmong descent, to City Council; she's becoming a powerhouse for advocacy of her district and is a really nice person too. Over the past decade, the California Museum on O Street created several exhibits about Japanese-American history, including "Kokoro," a collection of photos documenting our lost Japantown from the period between internment and redevelopment, and there's a new exhibit, "Gambatte 21," a collection of photos of internment survivors by Paul Kitagaki Jr: https://www.californiamuseum.org/gambatte-21


And that's in addition to a whole lot of other cultural institutions and places of import associated with our Japanese and Chinese communities--Oto's Market, Osaka-ya (one of only 3 or 4 traditional Japanese manju shops left in northern California), Frank Fat's (a legacy Chinese restaurant dating back to 1939), and the listing of a VFW hall established for Nisei veterans of World War II and Korea in the National Register of Historic Places! I'm not as familiar with sites & businesses associated with the Filipino community but there are people I can ask if you want to know the best places for lumpia & pancit; if you're on Instagram, there's a "southsacramento" account that can tell you about that sort of thing and more; they're really into the local food scene and South Sacramento is like an international food paradise.



Regarding attacks and hate crimes: I think especially in Sacramento proper you're likely to be as safe as anywhere else in the state; can't really speak for the safety level of Plano TX but if you love CA you might prefer it here--although our "California weather" is just a wee bit different from California weather in San Francisco (it's supposed to hit 110 degrees this week!)

[musicsaverdude]

Haha thanks wburg! Necromancy lol that was a good one. Well I appreciate all the details and updates on the different areas. Especially the Korean food as that is one of the things I’d miss about LA, the great and plentiful Korean food here. Also thanks for the Land Park tip as somebody else had also recommended that area although a quick search on Redfin shows a few million dollar listings Granted they’re nice houses but even the regular looking houses are going for $600-$700k when you can easily get a comparable one for half the price in Plano (sorry for bringing up the TX comparison but as you mentioned 100 degree + heat, made me think I’m gonna be sweating a lot in the future no matter where I go.)

Quick follow up questions if you happen to have 2 min to spare again? It’s funny you mentioned the Ranch 99 but I did notice that location but wasn’t sure if that was considered South Sac where it can get a little “hood” (apologies in advance to anybody who takes offense from that as I didn’t mean it that way but as someone who spent a lot of time growing up in hood areas, I’d prefer to not have my kid experience and be exposed to some of the negative things I encountered)

Regarding Oakmont and Rancho Cordova, other than the Korean restaurants, is there a decent sized Korean population there? I guess at the end of the day, I don’t want my kid to be the lone Asian kid riding his skateboard and kids calling him Corona Boy or some stupid teasing. Similar if one of my Caucasian friends were to tell me they want to move to the heart of Hawaii in say Oahu, I might tell them to do extra research on which neighborhood as sadly kids can be cruel.

Thanks again for your time and help! Much appreciated!