SAN FRANCISCO — Entrepreneur Seiji Horibuchi, who’s helped cultivate a U.S. market for anime and manga — Japanese cartoons and comics — has created a 20,000-square-foot center here devoted to Japanese pop culture.
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Called New People, the $15 million, three-floor center opened Saturday at 1746 Post Street in the heart of the city’s Japantown. It includes a store selling a mix of merchandise, such as apparel, accessories, toys, books, DVDs and home decor, as well as four fashion boutiques, an art gallery, coffee bar and a 143-seat movie theater. Horibuchi said the facility is the first of its kind in the U.S.
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“We believe in the value of Japanese pop art’s originality,” said Horibuchi, wearing an $80 orange skinny tie with a burning-candle print from the Japanese brand Giraffe.
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Horibuchi wore sneakers that are an update of a traditional Japanese, split-toe, flat-soled canvas workman’s boot. They are sold in one of New People’s stand-alone boutiques, Sou Sou, which has seven shops in Japan. The $90 to $100 ankle-high sneaker with thick rubber soles are handmade.
A pair of boutiques, Baby the Stars Shine Bright and 6% Doki Doki, sell fashions known in Japan as Lolita or kawaii-style. Worn by teenagers and young women, and inspired by 18th-century rococo art and design, the clothing features lots of floral embroidery, tulle petticoats, smock jumpers and bonnets.
The U.S. already comprises 20 percent of Internet sales for Baby the Stars Shine Bright, which has 24 stores in Japan and one in Paris and sells full skirts with tulle petticoats for $160, dresses for $250, and frilly umbrellas for $50.
“Now that our products will be physically available in the U.S., we can hopefully reach a broader audience,” said Fumiyo Isobe, who cofounded the brand 20 years ago.
The New People location is 6% Doki Doki’s first foray beyond its store in Tokyo’s Harajuku district, started in 1995 by Sebastian Matsuda.
“Beyond the flashy appearance of our line, there is a deeper spiritual sense,” Matsuda said, explaining the girly aesthetic. “In recent years, we have seen more young Americans who are looking for something different.”
Apparel and accessories prices at 6% Doki Doki average $20 to $50.
Filling out New People’s fashion offerings is Black Peace Now, a street fashion brand with 30 stores in Japan, which touches on the Lolita style but with a gothic-punk influence. Items include $80 camisole tops, $130 bolero cardigans and $150 dresses.
For Horibuchi, New People is part of a journey started in the late Sixties when he moved to San Francisco after college. A chance meeting in 1985 with a Japanese manga publisher led to his starting Viz Media LLC to translate, license and distribute the action comic books in the U.S. Viz Media has since branched out into anime movies and live-action films sold through outlets like Wal-Mart. As for opening in a small niche during the recession, Horibuchi said: “Throughout the U.S. at the malls, everything is the same. We are giving totally different entertainment options.”