Danville for Asian-American family returning from abroad
Hi All- im an East Bay native, Filipino-American and spouse is native Japanese but English-fluent with a US degree. Both currently working in finance/tech services in Tokyo. We have 3 kids that are English-Japanese bilingual. Danville attracted us because I noticed the public high school has AP Japanese. I also have family in Walnut Creek. We are thinking of returning home in 1-2 years and seriously considering Danville. The main drivers are to be closer to elderly parents and to earn a higher income, and living in a safe city where kids can roam.
Would you recommend Danville as far as having a decent sized Japanese demographic? The main concern is wife being able to make friends, finding a good grocery store, and Japanese weekend classes for the kids. We do have family in Walnut Creek, but the slightly better schools and Japanese AP at Danville are draws for us.
The biggest worry would be being bored. Coming from a large, yet safe, metropolis, the kids are used to having a lot of stimulation. I know downtown Walnut Creek won’t compare, but is that a place teens could go to hangout?
Another worry is kids sports. My kids are into gymnastics, skiing and club soccer. The US Soccer travel-team, pay for play system seems terrible. Tokyo is very competitive for soccer and it’s super cheap for all 3 sports here, so we’ll need to factor sports costs. I assume it will be very easy to do all 3 sports living in the tri-valley area (of course Tahoe is close enough).
Are there any community centers or casual clubs that families like to hang out at? We are members of a very nice swimming/city club here and scared we’ll miss the lifestyle.
Parent Replies
I encourage you to take a closer look at Walnut Creek. Yes, there is a lot more for teens to do in WC than in Danville, but the main reason I suggest it is that from WC they can hop on BART and get to most of the Bay Area easily. I raised my now young adult children in WC and my daughter in particular used BARt a lot to get to volunteering, ice skating, and more in SF....
I grew up in Japan and know what you mean. Is there any way that your parents can move to Japan? Japan’s infrastructure is much better. Especially for the elderly… Bay Area is wonderful of course and I would also recommend that you live near BART as the kids are used to being more independent. Using BART they can visit Berkeley and El Cerrito where there are various Japanese American communities and after school programs. If you plan on sending your kids to “Hoshūko” Saturday School I wouldn’t limit the high school you pick to just the ones that offer Japanese.
Good luck!
The Asian % of population for both Walnut Creek and Danville are similar, but I don't know about further detail on which specific Asian populations. I do find, unless you are lucky, that you need quite a concentration of a population to get good choices in grocery stores, language courses, and such. Even Berkeley, for instance, is iffy on Asian groceries- one or two smaller places; I have to go to Oakland Chinatown or up to Ranch99 or to SF to get the kind of whole fish I use for steaming; or condiments, spices, etc., beyond some chili sauces. If I wanted specifically more Vietnamese ingredients, I'd have to go into SF or down to San Jose. I can get my kids into Mandarin classes pretty easily, but Cantonese or Vietnamese would require private lessons.
I moved back to the Bay Area specifically to raise my children with enough Asian-Americans around that they see themselves represented in all walks of life, every day. And I would hesitate to get more suburban than Berkeley for that reason.