Yokohama


Yokohama is the second largest city in Japan by population, and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu. It is a major commercial hub of the Greater Tokyo Area.
Yokohama developed rapidly as Japan's prominent port city following the end of Japan's relative isolation in the mid-19th century, and is today one of its major ports along with Kobe, Osaka, Nagoya, Hakata, Tokyo, and Chiba.

Etymology

Yokohama literally means "horizontal beach". The current area surrounded by Maita Park, the Ōoka River and the Nakamura River had been a gulf divided by a sandbar from the open sea. This sandbar was the original Yokohama fishing village. Since the sandbar protruded perpendicularly from the land, or horizontally when viewed from the sea, it was called a "horizontal beach".

History

Opening of the Treaty Port (1859–1868)

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 bustling town of Kanagawa-juku 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.
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.
Kannai, the foreign trade and commercial district, 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. 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. 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 Periods (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, first gas-powered street lamps 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 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. 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. Fuelled by rumours of rebellion and sabotage, vigilante mobs thereupon murdered many Koreans in the Kojiki-yato slum. 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.

Post-World War II growth

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.
Construction of Minato Mirai 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 which was held in Yokohama in May 2008.
In November 2010, Yokohama hosted the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting.

Geography

Surrounding municipalities

These municipalities surround Yokohama.
Kanagawa Prefecture
Tokyo
Yokohama features a humid subtropical climate with hot and humid summers and chilly winters. Weatherwise, Yokohama has a pattern 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 seem quite warm because of the effects of humidity. The coldest temperature was on 24 January 1927 when was reached, whilst the hottest day was 11 August 2013 at. The highest monthly rainfall was in October 2004 with, closely followed by July 1941 with, whilst December and January have recorded no measurable precipitation three times each.

Demographics

Historical population

Year of
census		PopulationRank among cities in Japan
1920422,9426th, behind Kobe, Kyoto,
Nagoya, Osaka, and Tokyo
1925405,8886th
1930620,3066th
1935704,2906th
1940968,0915th, surpassing Kobe
1945814,3794th, the city government of Tokyo
having been disbanded in 1943
1950951,1894th
19551,143,6874th
19601,375,7103rd, surpassing Kyoto
19651,788,9153rd
19702,238,2642nd, surpassing Nagoya
19752,621,7712nd
19802,773,6741st, surpassing Osaka
19852,992,9261st
19903,220,3311st
19953,307,1361st
20003,426,6511st
20053,579,1331st
20103,670,6691st
20153,710,8241st

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

Wards

Yokohama has 18 wards :

Government and politics

The Yokohama Municipal Assembly consists of 92 members elected from a total of 18 Wards. The LDP has minority control with 30 seats with Democratic Party of Japan with a close 29. The mayor is Fumiko Hayashi, who succeeded Hiroshi Nakada in September 2009.

List of Yokohama mayors (from 1889)

NºNameTerm startTerm end
1Tomo Masuda

18 June, 188915 February, 1890
2Kigiemon Sato

3 March, 18902 March, 1896
3Yoshinobu Umeda

3 June, 189620 September, 1902
4Morihiro Ichihara

9 January, 19032 May, 1906
5Nobutaka Mitsuhashi

28 September, 190625 June, 1910
6Yoshitaro Arakawa

10 September, 191013 November, 1913
7Kensuke Ando

24 July, 191423 July, 1918

NºNameTerm startTerm end
8Kiyochika Kubota

26 August, 191827 May, 1922
9Katsusaburo Watanabe

29 November, 192210 April, 1925
10Chuichi Ariyoshi

7 May, 192526 February, 1931
11Ichiro Onishi

3 March, 193118 July, 1935
12Shuzo Aoki

3 August, 193510 February, 1941
13Kiyoshi Nakarai

10 February, 194130 November, 1946
14Kyoichi Ishikawa

9 April, 19474 April, 1951

NºNameTerm startTerm end
15-16Ryozo Hiranuma

25 April, 195513 February, 1959
17Kiyoshi Nakarai25 April, 195922 April, 1963
18-21Ichiyo Asukata

23 April, 19631 March, 1978
22-24Michikazu Saigo

16 April, 197815 February, 1990
25-27Hidenobu Takahide

8 April, 19907 April, 2002
28-29Kiyoshi Nakada

8 April, 200217 August, 2009
30-33Fumiko Hayashi

30 August, 2009Incumbent

International relations

Yokohama has sister-city relationships with 13 cities worldwide.

Depictions of the city in popular media

The city has a strong economic base, especially in the shipping, biotechnology, and semiconductor industries. Nissan moved its headquarters to Yokohama from Chūō, Tokyo in 2010.
Yokohama's GDP per capita was $30,625.

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.

Maritime transport

Yokohama is the world's 31st largest seaport in terms of total cargo volume, at 121,326 freight tons as of 2011, and is ranked 37th in terms of TEUs.
In 2013, APM Terminals Yokohama facility was recognised as the most productive container terminal in the world averaging 163 crane moves per hour, per ship between the vessel's arrival and departure at the berth.

Rail transport

Railway stations
; East Japan Railway Company
; Central Japan Railway Company
; Keikyu
; Tokyu Corporation
; Sagami Railway
; Yokohama Minatomirai Railway
; Yokohama City Transportation Bureau
; Yokohama New Transit

Education

Public elementary and middle schools are operated by the city of Yokohama. There are nine public high schools which are operated by the Yokohama City Board of Education, and a number of public high schools which are operated by the Kanagawa Prefectural Board of Education. Yokohama National University is a leading university in Yokohama which is also one of the highest ranking national universities in Japan.

Citations