Opening of the Treaty Port (1859–1868) Before the Europeans arrived, 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. 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. It was initially agreed that one of the ports to be opened to foreign ships would be the 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 fishing village of Yokohama. The
Port of Yokohama was officially opened on June 2, 1859. Yokohama quickly became a base for 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. Under pressure from United States and United Kingdom officials, the Tokugawa government built a commercial sex district which opened on November 10, 1859, with 6 brothels and 200 indentured sex workers.'''''' The area of Yokohama with the highest concentration of brothels was known as Bloodtown. 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 confectionery and
beer to be produced in Japan. Recreational sports introduced to Japan by foreign residents in Yokohama included European style
horse racing in 1862,
cricket in 1863 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 foreigners and Japanese alike.
Meiji and Taisho eras (1868–1923) 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 novel
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 official power plant. At first for his own use, this coal power plant became the basis for the Yokohama Cooperative Electric Light Company. The city was officially incorporated on April 1, 1889. 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 Kantō earthquake and World War II (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. Fuelled by rumors of rebellion and sabotage, vigilante mobs thereupon murdered many Koreans in the Kojiki-yato slum is what is called the
Kanto massarce. Many people believed that Koreans used
black magic to cause the earthquake.
Martial law was in place until November 19, 1923. 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. The first bombing was in the April 18, 1942
Doolittle Raid. An estimated 7,000–8,000 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, reducing 42% of it to rubble.
Postwar growth and development . 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. Four years after the
Treaty of San Francisco was signed, 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. Construction of
Minato Mirai 21 ("Port Future 21"), a major urban development project on reclaimed land started in 1983, nicknamed the "
Philadelphia and
Boston of the Orient" was compared to
Center City, Philadelphia and
Downtown Boston located in the
East Coast of the United States. 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
Yokohama Bay Bridge opened in the same year. In 1993, Minato Mirai 21 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. == Geography ==