Yokohama

Opening of the Treaty Port (1859–1868)

Landing of Commodore Perry, officers, and men of the squadron to meet the Imperial commissioners at Yokohama 14 July 1853. Lithograph by Sarony & Co., 1855, after Wilhelm Heine

Yokohama was a small fishing village up to the end of the feudal Edo period, when Japan held a policy of national seclusion, having little contact with foreigners.^[4] A major turning point in Japanese history happened in 1853–54, when Commodore Matthew Perry arrived just south of Yokohama with a fleet of American warships, demanding that Japan open several ports for commerce, and the Tokugawa shogunate agreed by signing the Treaty of Peace and Amity.^[5]

It was initially agreed that one of the ports to be opened to foreign ships would be the bustling town of Kanagawa-juku (in what is now Kanagawa Ward) on the Tōkaidō, a strategic highway that linked Edo to Kyoto and Osaka. However, the Tokugawa shogunate decided that Kanagawa-juku was too close to the Tōkaidō for comfort, and port facilities were instead built across the inlet in the sleepy fishing village of Yokohama. The Port of Yokohama was officially opened on June 2, 1859.^[6]

Yokohama quickly became the base of foreign trade in Japan. Foreigners initially occupied the low-lying district of the city called Kannai, residential districts later expanding as the settlement grew to incorporate much of the elevated Yamate district overlooking the city, commonly referred to by English speaking residents as The Bluff.

Foreign ships in Yokohama harbor

A foreign trading house in Yokohama in 1861

Kannai, the foreign trade and commercial district (literally, inside the barrier), was surrounded by a moat, foreign residents enjoying extraterritorial status both within and outside the compound. Interactions with the local population, particularly young samurai, outside the settlement inevitably caused problems; the Namamugi Incident, one of the events that preceded the downfall of the shogunate, took place in what is now Tsurumi Ward in 1862, and prompted the Bombardment of Kagoshima in 1863.

To protect British commercial and diplomatic interests in Yokohama a military garrison was established in 1862. With the growth in trade increasing numbers of Chinese also came to settle in the city.^[7] Yokohama was the scene of many notable firsts for Japan including the growing acceptance of western fashion, photography by pioneers such as Felice Beato, Japan's first English language newspaper, the Japan Herald published in 1861 and in 1865 the first ice cream and beer to be produced in Japan.^[8] Recreational sports introduced to Japan by foreign residents in Yokohama included European style horse racing in 1862, cricket in 1863^[9] and rugby union in 1866. A great fire destroyed much of the foreign settlement on November 26, 1866 and smallpox was a recurrent public health hazard, but the city continued to grow rapidly attracting both foreigners and local Japanese.

Meiji and Taisho Periods (1868–1923)

Street scene c. 1880.

After the Meiji Restoration of 1868, the port was developed for trading silk, the main trading partner being Great Britain. Western influence and technological transfer contributed to the establishment of Japan's first daily newspaper (1870), first gas-powered street lamps (1872) and Japan's first railway constructed in the same year to connect Yokohama to Shinagawa and Shinbashi in Tokyo. In 1872 Jules Verne portrayed Yokohama, which he had never visited, in an episode of his widely read Around the World in Eighty Days, capturing the atmosphere of the fast-developing, internationally oriented Japanese city.

In 1887, a British merchant, Samuel Cocking, built the city's first power plant. At first for his own use, this coal-burning plant became the basis for the Yokohama Cooperative Electric Light Company. The city was officially incorporated on April 1, 1889.^[10] By the time the extraterritoriality of foreigner areas was abolished in 1899, Yokohama was the most international city in Japan, with foreigner areas stretching from Kannai to the Bluff area and the large Yokohama Chinatown.

The early 20th century was marked by rapid growth of industry. Entrepreneurs built factories along reclaimed land to the north of the city toward Kawasaki, which eventually grew to be the Keihin Industrial Area. The growth of Japanese industry brought affluence, and many wealthy trading families constructed sprawling residences there, while the rapid influx of population from Japan and Korea also led to the formation of Kojiki-Yato, then the largest slum in Japan.

Great Kanto earthquake and the Second World War (1923–1945)

Much of Yokohama was destroyed on September 1, 1923 by the Great Kantō earthquake. The Yokohama police reported casualties at 30,771 dead and 47,908 injured, out of a pre-earthquake population of 434,170.^[11] Fuelled by rumours of rebellion and sabotage, vigilante mobs thereupon murdered many Koreans in the Kojiki-yato slum.^[12] Many people believed that Koreans used black magic to cause the earthquake. Martial law was in place until November 19. Rubble from the quake was used to reclaim land for parks, the most famous being the Yamashita Park on the waterfront which opened in 1930.

Yokohama was rebuilt, only to be destroyed again by U.S. air raids during World War II. An estimated seven or eight thousand people were killed in a single morning on May 29, 1945 in what is now known as the Great Yokohama Air Raid, when B-29s firebombed the city and in just one hour and nine minutes reduced 42% of it to rubble.^[10]

Post-World War II growth

During the Korean War, the United States Navy used Yokohama's port as a transshipment base. This ship departed Yokohama in 1951, carrying war dead home to the U.S.

During the American occupation, Yokohama was a major transshipment base for American supplies and personnel, especially during the Korean War. After the occupation, most local U.S. naval activity moved from Yokohama to an American base in nearby Yokosuka.

The city was designated by government ordinance on September 1, 1956.

The city's tram and trolleybus system was abolished in 1972, the same year as the opening of the first line of Yokohama Municipal Subway.

Landsat image of Yokohama

Construction of Minato Mirai 21 ("Port Future 21"), a major urban development project on reclaimed land, started in 1983. Minato Mirai 21 hosted the Yokohama Exotic Showcase in 1989, which saw the first public operation of maglev trains in Japan and the opening of Cosmo Clock 21, then the tallest Ferris wheel in the world. The 860m-long Yokohama Bay Bridge opened in the same year.

In 1993, Minato Mirai saw the opening of the Yokohama Landmark Tower, the second tallest building in Japan.

The 2002 FIFA World Cup final was held in June at the International Stadium Yokohama.

In 2009, the city marked the 150th anniversary of the opening of the port and the 120th anniversary of the commencement of the City Administration. An early part in the commemoration project incorporated the Fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD IV) which was held in Yokohama in May 2008.

In November 2010, Yokohama hosted the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting.

Climate

Yokohama features a humid subtropical climate (Köppen: Cfa) with hot and humid summers and chilly winters. Weatherwise, Yokohama has a mixed bag of rain, clouds and sun, although in winter, it is surprisingly sunny, more so than Southern Spain. Winter temperatures rarely drop below freezing, while summer can be quite warm because of the effects of humidity.^[13] The coldest temperature was on 24 January 1927 when −8.2 °C (17.2 °F) was reached, whilst the hottest day was 11 August 2013 at 37.4 °C (99.3 °F). The highest monthly rainfall has been in October 2004 with 761.5 millimetres (30.0 in), closely followed by July 1941 with 753.4 millimetres (29.66 in), whilst December and January have recorded no measurable precipitation three times each.

Demographics

Historical population

Kanagawa Prefectural Office

Yokohama Station

Minato Mirai at dusk

Population

Year of census	Population	Rank among cities in Japan
1920	422,942	6th, behind Kobe, Kyoto, Nagoya, Osaka, and Tokyo
1925	405,888	6th
1930	620,306	6th
1935	704,290	6th
1940	968,091	5th, surpassing Kobe
1945	814,379	4th, the city government of Tokyo having been disbanded in 1943
1950	951,189	4th
1955	1,143,687	4th
1960	1,375,710	3rd, surpassing Kyoto
1965	1,788,915	3rd
1970	2,238,264	2nd, surpassing Nagoya
1975	2,621,771	2nd
1980	2,773,674	1st, surpassing Osaka[16]
1985	2,992,926	1st
1990	3,220,331	1st
1995	3,307,136	1st
2000	3,426,651	1st
2005	3,579,133	1st
2010	3,670,669	1st
2015	3,710,824	1st

Yokohama's foreign population of 92,139 includes Chinese, Koreans, Filipinos, and Vietnamese.^[17]

Administrative divisions

A map of Yokohama's wards

Yokohama has 18 wards (ku):

International relations

Yokohama Chinatown

Yokohama has sister-city relationships with 12 cities worldwide.^[18]

• Cebu City, Philippines
• Constanța, Romania
• Lyon, France^[19]
• Manila, Philippines
• Mumbai, India
• Odessa, Ukraine
• San Diego, United States
• Seberang Perai, Malaysia^[20]
• Shanghai, People's Republic of China
• Frankfurt, Germany
• Abidjan, Ivory Coast
• Vancouver, Canada^[21]

Depictions of the city in popular media

• Yukio Mishima's novel The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea is set mainly in Yokohama. Mishima describes the city's port and its houses, and the Western influences that shaped them.
• From up on Poppy Hill is a 2011 Studio Ghibli animated drama film directed by Gorō Miyazaki set in the Yamate district of Yokohama. The film is based on the serialized Japanese comic book of the same name.
• The main setting of James Clavell's book Gai-Jin is in historical Yokohama.
• Some of the events of Hitoshi Ashinano's manga Yokohama Kaidashi Kikō unfold in Yokohama and its surrounding areas.
• Aya Fuse lives in the futuristic Yokohama in Scott Westerfeld's novel Extras.
• Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern book series involves a spaceship named the Yokohama.
• One of the Pretty Cure crossover movies takes place in Yokohama. In the fourth movie of the series, Pretty Cure All Stars New Stage: Friends of the Future, the Pretty Cure appear standing on top of the Cosmo Clock 21 in Minato Mirai.
• The main setting of the Japanese visual novel series Muv-Luv, first a school and then, in an alternate history, a military base is built in Yokohama with the objective of carrying out the Alternative IV Plan meant to save humanity.
• In Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3, Yokohama is under siege by the Soviet Union and Allied Nations to stop the Empire of The Rising Sun. The player must defend Yokohama and then lead a counterattack as the Empire.
• It is the main port used in Japan in Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days.
• It is one of the areas where players race in the arcade game Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune.
• The manga Bungo Stray Dogs is set in Yokohama.
• The Japanese mixed-media project Hamatora takes place in Yokohama.
• The final battle in Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack takes place in Yokohama.
• In My Hero Academia, it is the location of the Nomu Warehouse where they created artificial Humans (a.k.a. Nomus).
• In the animated series Girls und Panzer, the St. Gloriana Girls College is located in Yokohama.
• Sumaru City in Persona 2: Innocent Sin and Persona 2: Eternal Punishment is based on Yokohama.

Sports

Yokohama Stadium

• Soccer: Yokohama F. Marinos (J.League Division 1), Yokohama FC (J.League Division 2), YSCC Yokohama (J.League Division 3)
• Baseball: Yokohama DeNA BayStars
• Velodrome: Kagetsu-en Velodrome
• Basketball: Yokohama B-Corsairs
• Tennis: Ai Sugiyama

Transport

Yokohama is serviced by the Tōkaidō Shinkansen, a high-speed rail line with a stop at Shin-Yokohama Station. Yokohama Station is also a major station, with two million passengers daily. The Yokohama Municipal Subway, Minatomirai Line and Kanazawa Seaside Line provide metro services.

Citations

Sources