Yokohama - progressive career of New Japan

Minato Mirai, Yokohama, Japan Photographic Print

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Since then Tokyo has grown enormously; much of the foreign trade, once almost monopolized by the foreign merchants of Yokohama, has passed into Japanese hands. Many of the old foreign firms have therefore moved their head offices to Tokyo so that Yokohama is not what it used to be in the early years of Meiji. This does not mean, however, that it has dwindled in any way. On the contrary, Yokohama's growth is as remarkable as that of Tokyo. What it has lost in one way it has gained in another. It has lost in its piquancy and in its foreign color; it has gained in its substantial prosperity as a modern city.

In the days of its Foreign Settlement, Yokohama was divided between Kwannai and Kwangai--" the inside and outside of the barrier." Within the barrier the foreigners had their residences and places of business, and outside lived the Japanese who formed a constantly shifting population of semi-adventurers in foreign trade. In course of time the Kwannai and Kwangai have merged, and the "native quarters" have become increasingly inhabited by wealthy permanent settlers.

Thus, much of the foreign nomenclature of Yokohama has lost its meaning, supplanted by the new names of streets and numbers, as set by the Municipality, such as Kaigan-dōri (Bund), YamaShitachōō, Yamatecho; (Bluff), Honcho (Main Street), etc. No longer does Yokohama consist of narrow strips of land confined by the Bund and the Bluff. It means the bulk of greater Yokohama, of which the so-called "native districts" are now the principal parts, including the hatoba (the landing stage) and its neighborhood, the former "Foreign Settlement."

Both the charms and drawbacks of Yokohama are due to its being a new city. A pioneer port-city, Yokohama is daring, ready to make experiments. There is something pungent and hectic about the lighter side of its life, especially its night life. People have less prejudice, and perhaps rather fewer scruples than the inhabitants of the older cities, and are much freer in intercourse and more open-minded. You are asked to take them as they are and at their face value. Frank, open-minded, quick in action and business-like in speech, without unnecessary ornament in words and manners, the native sons and daughters typify the spirit of a premier port which took the lead in the progressive career of New Japan.

At the time Commodore Perry lay off Yokohama in 1853, it was a sleepy fishing village of less than 100 thatched houses. In fact, Yokohama as such was non-existent. It was at Kanagawa (now a part of the city of Yokohama), the second stage on the old Tokaido road, that the Shōgunate authorities met the American Commodore and conducted negotiations. But instead of the thriving Kanagawa which was to have been opened to foreign trade, Yokohama, the small and out-of-the-way village, was chosen. Thus, whatever be the present condition of affairs, the foundation of Yokohama was laid by a band of pioneer foreign merchants and their Japanese co-workers, of whom the present Yokohama represents the second or third generation.