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Residents, Takahashi Foundation urge restoration of Ruth Asawa installation in Osaka Way
Summary
Public commenters at the March 3 Arts Commission meeting asked the city to preserve Ruth Asawa’s Osaka Way installation in Japantown, saying planned redesigns that call the site "Buchanan Mall" risk removing Japanese‑era design elements; the Takahashi Foundation offered $1 million toward restoration.
At the March 3 meeting of the San Francisco Arts Commission, public commenters urged the commission and city staff to preserve and restore a long‑standing Ruth Asawa public art installation in the Osaka Way / Buchanan Mall area of Japantown.
Masako Takahashi, speaking for the Takahashi Foundation, told commissioners the installation — which includes origami‑style fountains and sculpted benches by Asawa — has not had functioning fountains for decades and is being redesigned under a city project that calls the site Buchanan Mall. She said the redesign removes Japanese flourishes and risks erasing the site’s cultural identity. Takahashi said the foundation is offering $1,000,000 toward restoration and asked the city to restore the fountains, flatten cobblestones for wheelchair access and preserve Asawa’s original design elements.
Takahashi said the area has been known locally as Osaka Way and was originally designed to mark and support the identity of Japantown, and that renaming and large concrete planters in recent concept photos would obstruct pedestrian flow and alter the installation’s character. She urged staff and commissioners to review plans and restore the fountains and sculptural elements rather than replace them.
Commissioners did not take formal action on the public comments during the meeting; the remarks were recorded as part of the general public‑comment period and during the Civic Design Review public comment portion. No staff report was presented at the meeting that committed City funding or a design change in response to the comments, though the director’s report referenced a city budget to return some fountains to working order.
No vote or formal referral was recorded on the record concerning Osaka Way; speakers asked the commission to direct staff to follow up with the project team and to preserve culturally specific design elements in any redesign.
