SF Bay Area, Part 2: San Jose

 

9/24/26 Japantown, San Jose

The first half of my Bay Area trip was in San Jose, where family members live. Although I didn’t sketch much while I was visiting with them, I still had time for a long neighborhood walk on my first full day. Staying in an Airbnb apartment in Japantown, I got to see a quiet, walkable part of town that was new to me.

9/24/26 Japantown

These pages are some of my favorites from the trip because I captured a variety of subject matter in a relatively short time. This montage format of small sketches, which I’ve been using at home for the past few years, suits me well during travel, too. When visiting a new place, I prefer to have many thumbnails than to just one or two larger sketches that take longer to make.

9/24/26 Japantown

On one afternoon, I was delighted that three South Bay sketcher friends, Suhita, Nina and Uma, took time out of their busy schedules to meet me for social sketching.

Suhita, Uma and Nina

A few blocks from my Airbnb was the Japanese American Museum, which includes this authentically reproduced barrack from a WW II incarceration camp. Extremely moved to see the kind of space that my family endured for years, I really wanted to sketch this exhibit, but it was too dark from every angle. A single 10 watt bulb illuminated the space shared by 8 people. Sheets hung on ropes provided "privacy."

Meeting up with sketcher friends is one of the best parts of travel!

You know you're in California when you see magnificent palms on every corner.