Is Greenpoint a potential new Little Tokyo?
A recent visitor to Acre, one of the many Japanese restaurants in Greenpoint, described its fare as “true Japanese food.” Yuvraj Khanna for The New York Times
Picture this. Four Japanese women drove to Greenpoint, Brooklyn on a cold Tuesday afternoon in January to have lunch at Acre, a cafe and shop, where they were served bento boxes and green tea. They were heading to 50 Norman, a new warehouse nearby that housed three Japanese businesses. All of the women were immigrants who had driven in from New Jersey on the advice of their friend, Chieko Koie, who was interested in visiting the warehouse after seeing it on Instagram.
One of the first places the women visited was Dashi Okume at 50 Norman, which specializes in dashi soup base made from dried fish, seaweed, and mushrooms. Dashi is an essential ingredient in Japanese cuisine, and this business offers various dashi powder blends and dried ingredients for customers to create their own. For Japanese individuals, dashi represents a piece of home in Brooklyn.
Food offerings at Dashi Okume, specializing in various forms of the soup base, dashi. Yuvraj Khanna for The New York Times
The group also visited Cibone, a shop and gallery that sells curated goods made by Japanese artists and designers. They discovered high-priced items like $170 steel clippers from Ono and a $45 handwoven wire mesh tea strainer from Kyoto. After exploring Cibone, the women planned to visit other Japanese places in the area, including a grocery store, a tea salon, and a sake shop.
Cibone, a shop and gallery inside 50 Norman sells objects made by Japanese artists and designers. Yuvraj Khanna for The New York Times
The influx of Japanese immigrants and entrepreneurs in Greenpoint can be attributed to its creative scene and its proximity to Williamsburg and Manhattan. This cultural shift is significant for a neighborhood historically known as "Little Poland," which was characterized by pierogi shops and Polish bakeries established by Polish immigrants in the 20th century. The emergence of modern Japanese businesses within a seven-block area between Greenpoint and Norman avenues and Guernsey and West streets showcases this transformation.
While Greenpoint is becoming a hub for Japanese culture, it is not the first neighborhood in New York City to embrace this concept. Japan Village, located a few miles away in Sunset Park's Industry City, opened in 2018 as a Japanese marketplace with food stalls, shops, and a loft space. Tony Yoshida, a key figure in the Japanese food and drink scene in Manhattan's East Village, recognized the changing landscape and sought a fresh start in Brooklyn catering to the younger generation with more modern sensibilities.
A decade ago, St. Marks Place and Stuyvesant Street near Third Avenue served as the city's closest approximation to a Little Tokyo. However, today only a few Japanese restaurants remain in that area. Yoshida and others turned their attention to Brooklyn, aiming to create a new beginning that resonates with Western perceptions of Japan while maintaining a modern edge.
Greenpoint's largest and most prominent Japanese development has become the nucleus for this growing community, which has expanded across several neighborhood streets. In contrast, Japan Village in Sunset Park is contained within a single building.
