Eden Japanese Community Center

710 Elgin Street
San Leandro, CA 94580
Map

The Eden Japanese Community Center has served as a hub of Japanese American culture for over eighty (80!) years, and we in the Eden Athletic Club are very grateful for all the collective efforts of the people who helped to establish the center.

The center got it's start in 1931, when Minoru and Masa Okada donated farmland for construction of the Ashland Gakuen, the Eden Center’s precursor. Japanese American children from the East Bay commuted here for after-school Japanese language instruction, and the gakuen served as a social gathering place as well. The gakuen thrived for over 10 years until JA Internment in 1942. The school hall functioned as a hostel for returning and relocating Japanese Americans for a few years following 1946.

In 1960, the Eden Township Chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) organized an effort to rebuild the community center at the site. Original construction was completed in 1962.

Today, the center is busy nearly every night of the year. Aside from providing a home for the EAC, the center serves as home of the Eden Chapter JACL, the Eden Youth Group, and the Eden Senior Center. Arts schools that meet and practice here include the Eden Aoba Taiko, Hashimoto Karate Dojo, Ohtori Kinsen Kai Okinawan theatrical dance dojo, and an ikebana club. In addition, the community center hosts an annual blook drive, and is also used as a polling station.

Eden JCC Facebook page