Japantown's Halloween Starts at Noon This Year, and It Comes With a Skateboard

In 2003, Halloween in Japantown had fewer than eight participating businesses and organizations. Shigematsu Insurance handed out balloons. The kids sat through a safety talk before anyone went trick-or-treating. San Jose Taiko's Franco Imperial and Kathy Sakamoto, then president of the Japantown Business Association, created the event as a safety-conscious community tradition, according to San Jose Taiko's event history. It has been held every October 31 since, including a virtual version at the height of COVID.

This year, on Saturday, October 31, the event starts at noon. For the first time in years it fills a whole afternoon, not just the dinner hour. The reason is a museum exhibit about a skateboarder that opens the same day and runs into next spring.

Four Years of Start Times on 5th and Jackson

For the last few years, Halloween in Japantown has been a three-hour evening event. The 2026 listing changes that.

The evening part is the same as before. Last year's program had Japantown businesses, organizations and partners handing out treats, a San Jose Taiko performance on 5th Street at 4:15 p.m., and roving drummers at 5:15. The 2023 preview from The San Jose Blog listed business trick-or-treating, dancing, a haunted house, and arts and crafts.

The new part is the four hours before that. San Jose Taiko says it is partnering with the Japanese American Museum of San Jose to add "Skate Day" to its usual festivities, with extended hours, skateboarding activities, and a skate demonstration by Judi Oyama. The JAMsj listing adds a skate workshop with Oyama, skate lessons from GoGo Skateboarding, Trunk or Treat, a Sticker Rally around Japantown, and a competition with awards for creativity and skating skills. GoGo describes itself as a community-focused youth skateboarding program. Its weekend sessions and camps already run in San Jose, including in Almaden Valley and the Rose Garden area.

The street layout comes from earlier changes. As the event grew, crowds filled the Wesley United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall, where San Jose Taiko held its opening performance and safety skit, and the Jackson Street sidewalks became a safety concern. In 2017, with help from the Knight Foundation, San Jose Taiko piloted street closures so families could walk in the street and businesses could use their own frontage in their own way. Since 2024, Japantown Prepared has helped with safety monitoring, in honor of the late Lt. Rich Saito of the SJPD, who gave the first year's safety talk. Room to roll is what makes a skate workshop on 5th and Jackson possible.

Why the Museum Picked a Skateboarder

The skate theme comes from the exhibit. JAMsj opens its new rotating exhibition, Judi Oyama: To Be Seen / Not Heard, that morning. Admission is free from noon to 4 p.m. at 535 North 5th Street.

Oyama is from Santa Cruz. According to her Skateboarding Hall of Fame profile, she started skating at 13 on a homemade board her brother built, raced at the Capitola Classic, and later hit 35 mph in a downhill event. The Hall of Fame inducted her in 2018. The Japan Times reported that she won the 2003 Slalom World Championships and was ranked second in the U.S. and first in the masters division in 2013.

The museum's angle is the second half of her career and the family behind it. JAMsj describes her as an action sports and lifestyle graphic designer who has created work for skate, surf and snowboard brands worldwide. It says the exhibition introduces her "through her family history, the discipline forged over a lifetime of competing at the highest level, and the daily choices few ever see." The Japan Times reported that her parents' families came from Wakayama and Kagoshima prefectures. It also reported that her parents spent part of their youth in an internment camp during World War II. That history ties a skateboarding exhibit to a Japanese American museum on 5th Street.

The exhibit outlasts the costumes. San Jose Taiko lists the run as October 31 through May 31. After opening day, regular JAMsj hours apply, Thursday through Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. Free opening-day admission comes from the Applied Materials Foundation's 2026 Free Admission Days grant. The Henri and Tomoye Takahashi Charitable Foundation sponsors the exhibit.

How the Afternoon Fits Together

The two programs overlap on purpose, but they don't line up exactly. Here is the order of the day from the published times:

1. Noon. Skate Day begins around 5th and Jackson, and the JAMsj exhibit opens with free admission.
2. Noon to 4 p.m. This is the museum's free-admission window. Oyama's workshop and the GoGo Skateboarding lessons are part of the Skate Day program.
3. 4 p.m. The museum closes for the day just as the Halloween festivities begin.
4. 4 to 7 p.m. Trunk or Treat, the Sticker Rally and the evening program run on the street until the event ends at 7.

Families with younger children have more options this year. If you want to see the exhibit, plan to get there before 4, because the free window closes when trick-or-treating starts. San Jose Taiko says the event map and full schedule are "coming soon" on its Halloween page. That page will have the workshop times, the Trunk or Treat location and the Sticker Rally stops once they're published.

This event also points ahead. In the City of San José's Japantown Corp Yard Mixed-Use Project, approved July 8, 2026, plans include a separate Taiko performance building at 653 N. 7th Street, next to a six-story building with 65 homes, according to the state CEQA filing. The organization that has staged this event since 2003 is slated for a permanent stage a block from where it began.

The Other Dates That Week

October 31 also marks a change on Jackson Street. Coldwater, the family-owned clothing boutique and community art space at 205 Jackson Street, has announced it will close that day after more than four years, according to What Now San Francisco. The building was sold. The store sells streetwear, custom clothing, hats, and curated secondhand and vintage pieces. In its announcement the team wrote, "SJ Japantown is special; there's no other community we would want to be a part of." If you were planning one more visit, Halloween is your last chance.

The week before, the Japantown Farmers' Market holds its last Sunday of the season on October 25, from 8 a.m. to noon at Gordon Biersch, 357 E. Taylor Street. The 2026 season began May 3.

Two weeks after Halloween, on Saturday, November 14, JAMsj holds a dedication and gathering for its World War II Japanese American Veterans Monument from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. The event is free with RSVP through the museum's events page. The Oyama exhibit will be open on regular hours by then, so one Saturday visit can cover both.

At Rob Godar, we keep track of dates like October 31 on Jackson Street as closely as we track sales around San Jose. If you live near Japantown and want to know what your home is worth, start with a free home valuation.