SEATTLE — Crowds took to the streets of Seattle's Japantown Saturday, as part of the neighborhood's annual block party. It's the first time the neighborhood has hosted the event since the pandemic started in 2019.
"Hai! Japantown," the annual block party in the historic neighborhood, is back again and going by its own beat.
"Today is about bringing all of the different generations to feast together, to celebrate together, to dance together," said Joël Barraquiel Tan, the executive director of the Wing Luke Museum.
The Wing Luke Museum is one of the many entities that helped organize this week-long celebration that organizers believe will bring thousands of visitors.
"Ensure that our Japantown businesses and galleries and all the good folks and families that makeup Japantown and our CID are front and center and the rest of Seattle," said Tan.
It's been a tough couple of years for many businesses throughout Seattle’s Chinatown-International District.
“Boards are up, but the people behind and the businesses behind it still very active and just to not assume because there are plywood boards protecting windows that we are not an active and thriving community," said Binko Chiong-Bisbee, the co-founder, Kobo Gallery & Shop.
Despite, some obstacles, businesses are still optimistic for the future, and believe having this annual block party back, is the first step to getting back on the right beat.
"We're here to stay, we're not leaving and we're not giving up and if anything this festival helps dispel some of the negativity and we want the City of Seattle to come down and get to know us,” said Chiong-Bisbee.