Yokohama

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**Yokohama City**
**横浜市**
Yokohama City's location in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan.
Location
Country	Japan
Region	Kanto
Prefecture	Kanagawa Prefecture
Physical characteristics
Area	437.35 km²
Population (as of June 2005)
Total	3,573,588
Density	8171/km²
Location	35°26′N 139°38′E
Symbols
Tree	Camellia, Chinquapin, Sangoju Sasanqua, Ginkgo, Zelkova
Flower	Rose
Symbol of Yokohama City
Yokohama City City Hall
Mayor	Hiroshi Nakada
Address	〒231-0017 Yokohama-shi, Naka-ku, Minato-cho 1-1
Phone number	045-671-2121
Official website: Yokohama City official site

Coordinates: 35°26′N 139°38′E

For the town of Yokohama in Aomori Prefecture, see Yokohama, Aomori.

For a tire company, known by Yokohama Tyre, see Yokohama Rubber Company.

Yokohama (横浜市, Yokohama-shi^?) is the capital of Kanagawa Prefecture and Japan's largest incorporated city,^[1] with a population of 3.6 million, located in the Kanto region of the main island of Honshū. Yokohama is a major commercial hub of the Greater Tokyo Area.

It developed rapidly as Japan's prominent port city following the end of Japan's isolation in the late 19th Century, and is today one of its major port along with those of Kobe, Osaka, Nagoya, Hakata, Tokyo and Chiba.

1 History
2 Geography
3 Places of interest
4 Politics and Government
- 4.1 Wards
5 Sister Cities
6 Yokohama in fiction
7 See also
8 References
9 External links

[edit] History

Yokohama was a small fishing village up to the end of the feudal Edo period, a time when Japan held a policy of national seclusion, having little contact with Western foreigners. A major turning point in Japanese history happened in 1853 and again in 1854, when Commodore Matthew Perry arrived just south of Yokohama with a fleet of American warships, demanding that Japan open several ports for commerce, getting the ruling Tokugawa shogunate to agree in 1853. 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 which linked Edo to Kyoto and Osaka. However, the Tokugawa shogunate decided that the location of Kanagawa-juku was too close to the Tōkaidō for comfort, and port facilities were built across the inlet in the sleepy fishing village of Yokohama instead. The Port of Yokohama was opened on 2nd June, 1859.

Landing of Commodore Perry, officers & men of the squadron, to meet the Imperial commissioners at Yoku-Hama (Yokohama?) July 14th 1853. Lithograph by Sarony & Co., 1855, after Wilhelm Heine.

The Port of Yokohama quickly became the base of foreign trade in Japan. Japan's first English language newspaper, the Japan Herald, was first published in Yokohama in 1861. Foreigners occupied a district of the city called 'Kannai' ("inside the barrier"), which was surrounded by a moat, and were protected by extraterritoriality both within and outside the moat. Many individuals crossed the moat, causing a number of 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. Ernest Satow wrote about the incident in his A Diplomat in Japan.

After the Meiji Restoration of 1868, the port was developed for trading silk, with the main trading partner being Great Britain. Many Western influences first reached Japan in Yokohama, including Japan's first daily newspaper(1870) and Japan's first gas-powered street lamps(1872). Japan's first railway was constructed in the same year to connect Yokohama to Shinagawa and Shimbashi in Tokyo. In 1887, a British merchant, Samuel Cocking, built the city's first power plant, a coal burning plant, at first for his own use, but it 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 Yamate 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 towards Kawasaki, which eventually grew to be the Keihin Industrial Area. The growth of Japanese industry brought affluence to Yokohama, 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, the largest slum in Japan at the time.

Much of Yokohama was destroyed on 1st Sept 1923 by the Great Kantō earthquake, killing an estimated 23,000 people within the city boundaries. In the aftermath of the quake, mass murder of Koreans by vigilante mobs occurred in the Kojiki-yato slum, fuelled by rumours of rebellion and sabotage. Martial law was in place until 19th November. Rubble from the quake was used to reclaim land for parks, the most famous of which is the Yamashita Park on the waterfront which opened in 1930.

Yokohama was rebuilt, only to be destroyed again by 30-odd US air raids during World War II. An estimated 7000-8000 people were killed in a single morning on 29th May 1945 in what is now known as the Great Yokohama Air Raid, when B29's dropped 43,8576 firebombs over the city in the space of just 1 hour and 9 minutes, reducing 34% of the city to rubble.

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 neighboring 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 ("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 CosmoClock 21, at the time the largest ferris wheel in the world. 1989 also saw the opening of the 860m-long Yokohama Bay Bridge.

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

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

[edit] Geography

Landmarks of Yokohama

Yokohama is centered on an inlet on the western side of Tokyo Bay, 30 kilometers (18 miles) from Tokyo, to which it is connected by a half-dozen railway lines as well as expressways and surface streets via the city of Kawasaki. A major industrial zone known as the Keihin Industrial Area stretches along the reclaimed coastline to the north of the central area towards Kawasaki and Tokyo beyond.

The historic port area of Kannai used to be the centre of Yokohama, but the area around the transportation hub of Yokohama Station is now the most prominent commercial district. In between is a major harbourside redevelopment called Minato Mirai 21. Much of the suburban areas are comprised of hills. A major residential development called Kohoku New Town, housing about 300,000, is located 12km north of the city centre. [1]

A large proportion of Yokohama's population commute to Tokyo. This is especially true for those who live in the suburbs along the Tōkyū Den-en-toshi Line who have better access to Tokyo than to central Yokohama.

The city has a strong local economic base, especially in the shipping, biotechnology, and semiconductor industries. Nissan will move its headquarters to Yokohama from Chuo-ku, Tokyo, by 2010.

[edit] Places of interest

The Minato Mirai 21 district of Yokohama, featuring the Landmark Tower and surrounding buildings.

The places of interest are mainly around the historic port area of Kannai. Next to the waterfront Yamashita Park is Yokohama Marine Tower, the tallest lighthouse in the world. Further inland lies Yokohama Chinatown, the largest Chinatown in Japan and one of the largest in the world. Also in the vicinity is the Yokohama Stadium, the Silk Center, the Yokohama Doll Museum ^[2]. There is also a large immigration office, near Yamashita Park. Nearby Isezakicho and Noge areas offer many colourful shops and bars and, with their restaurants and stores catering to residents from China, Thailand, South Korea, and other countries, have an increasingly international flavour. A food theme park called the Yokohama Curry Museum is located in Isezakicho.

The small but fashionable Motomachi shopping area (where there are various shops starting with Cyrillus, Godiva, and so on) leads up to Yamate, or "The Bluff" as it used to be known, a pleasant 19th/early 20th Century Westerner's settlement overlooking the harbour, scattered with foreigner's mansions. A foreigners' cemetery and the Harbour View Park is in the area. The Rose Garden can be found in the park.

There are various points of interest in the futuristic Minato Mirai 21 harbourside redevelopment. The highlights are the Landmark Tower which is the tallest building in Japan, Queen's Square Yokohama (a shopping mall) and the Cosmo Clock, which was the largest ferris wheel in the world when it was built in 1989 and which also doubles as "the world's biggest clock".

The Shin-Yokohama district, where the Shinkansen station is located, is some distance away from the harbour area, and features the 17,000 capacity Yokohama Arena, the Shin-Yokohama Raumen Museum, and International Stadium Yokohama which was the setting for the final for the 2002 FIFA World Cup held on June 30, 2002.

The city is also home to the Central League baseball team, the Yokohama BayStars, and the soccer teams, Yokohama F Marinos and Yokohama FC.

[edit] Politics and Government

The Yokohama Municipal Assembly consists of 92 members elected from 18 Wards. The LDP has minority control with 30 seats with Democratic Party of Japan with a close 29. The current mayor is Hiroshi Nakada.

[edit] Wards

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.

Yokohama has 18 wards (ku):

Aoba-ku (青葉区)
Asahi-ku (旭区)
Hodogaya-ku (保土ヶ谷区)
Isogo-ku (磯子区)
Izumi-ku (泉区)
Kanagawa-ku (神奈川区)
Kanazawa-ku (金沢区)
Kōhoku-ku (港北区)
Kōnan-ku (港南区)

Midori-ku (緑区)
Minami-ku (南区)
Naka-ku (中区)
Nishi-ku (西区)
Sakae-ku (栄区)
Seya-ku (瀬谷区)
Totsuka-ku (戸塚区)
Tsurumi-ku (鶴見区)
Tsuzuki-ku (都筑区)

Map of Tokyo Bay, 1917, showing Yokohama

[edit] Sister Cities

Yokohama has "sister city" agreements with the following cities: ^[3]

[edit] Yokohama in fiction

The city was mentioned in J. Fred Coots's 1941 American song, Goodbye Mama, I'm Off to Yokohama.

Yokohama was the setting for the video game, Shenmue.

Yokohama has also been featured in the Japanese television drama, Abunai Deka (あぶない刑事, Abunai Deka^?).

Yokohama during the 1860s was the setting of James Clavell's final novel, Gai-Jin.

In the game, Shadow Hearts 2, one of the towns/cities you visit is Yokohama around 1915.

In the 1992 film, Godzilla vs. Mothra, Minato Mirai 21 is the battlefield in the climax.

In the 2001 film, Godzilla Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, in the climax, Godzilla and Mothra battle in Minato Mirai 21 while Godzilla destroys half of the landmark Tower with his Atomic Ray.

Miri Yu's novel Gold Rush (1998; English translation 2002) is set in and around the Kogane-cho area of central Yokohama.

In Jules Verne's novel Around the World in Eighty Days, Fogg and Passparetout are separated in Hong Kong before being reunited in Yokohama, from which they leave for San Francisco.

The manga series Yokohama Kaidashi Kikō written and drawn by Hitoshi Ashinano (芦奈野ひとし) features several scenes set in a post-apocalyptic Yokohama.

In .hack//Liminality and the .hack games, Yokohama is affected by the increasing problems in The World, a MMORPG extremely popular in the future. While in the games the player fights to restore order to the game world, in .hack//Liminality all hell breaks loose as three women and a former CC Corp. employee strive to solve the problem outside the game. This event is referenced later in .hack//Legend of the Twilight which takes place four years after both series.

In Project Gotham Racing 2, one of the 12 cities the player can drive around is Yokohama.

In Shutoko Battle 01, players can drive Shuto Expressway(Shutoko) Bayshore Route (included Yokohama Bay Bridge & Tsurumi Tsubasa Bridge)& Yokohane Line.

In episode 19 of the Honey and Clover anime series, Yokohama's Cosmo Clock Ferris Wheel and the distinctive half-moon shape building can be seen in the harbor.

In Digimon Savers, the part of the story in the real world takes place in Yokohama.

The second story arc to the fantasy anime Zettai Shounen takes place in and around the Minato Mirai district of Yokohama.

Yokohama is also mentioned in the Chuck Berry song, Monkey Business.

The majority of the Japanese Squaresoft racing RPG video game released in 1999 for Sony PlayStation, "Racing Lagoon", takes place in Yokohama.

The 10th Detective Conan (Case Closed) Movie The Private Eyes' Requiem is set in Yokohama and a Cosmo World like theme park.

In the fictional world of the game Enchanted Arms, Yokohama is one of the four major cities and is depicted as being vastly technologically superior to the other three; London, Kyoto and Junk City.

[edit] See also

Yokohama Archives of History
Foreign cemeteries in Japan
Osanbashi Pier
Yokohama Rubber Company, manufacturer of tyres

[edit] References

^ Tokyo is not a single incorporated city. See the Tokyo article for more information on the definition and makeup of Tokyo.
^ Official Yokohama city website (English)
^ Official Yokohama city tourism website (English)