A foreign settlement ({{Lang-ja, 外国人居留地, pronounced "Gaikokujin kyoryūchi") was a special area in a

treaty port Treaty ports (; ja, 条約港) were the port cities in China and Japan that were opened to foreign trade mainly by the unequal treaties forced upon them by Western powers, as well as cities in Korea opened up similarly by the Japanese Empire. ...

, designated by the

Japanese government The Government of Japan consists of legislative, executive and judiciary branches and is based on popular sovereignty. The Government runs under the framework established by the Constitution of Japan, adopted in 1947. It is a unitary state, c ...

in the second half of the nineteenth century, to allow foreigners to live and work. After the visits of Commodore Perry in 1853 and 1854, Japan entered a period of rapid social and economic transition from a closed, feudalistic society to a more open, modern trading nation state. Japan first opened two ports to allow foreign trade, Shimoda and

Hakodate is a city and port located in Oshima Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the capital city of Oshima Subprefecture. As of July 31, 2011, the city has an estimated population of 279,851 with 143,221 households, and a population density of 412.8 ...

after the signing the

Convention of Kanagawa The Convention of Kanagawa, also known as the Kanagawa Treaty (, ''Kanagawa Jōyaku'') or the Japan–US Treaty of Peace and Amity (, ''Nichibei Washin Jōyaku''), was a treaty signed between the United States and the Tokugawa Shogunate on March ...

with the United States in 1854. It then designated five more treaty ports in 1858 with the signing of the Treaty of Amity and Commerce.,

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...

Kobe Kobe ( , ; officially , ) is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture Japan. With a population around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Tokyo and Yokohama. It is located in Kansai region, whic ...

Nagasaki is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became the sole port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hidden Christian Sites in the ...

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

, and Niigata. Trade agreements signed with the United States were swiftly followed by similar ones with Britain, the Netherlands, Russia and France. The ports permitted legal

extraterritoriality In international law, extraterritoriality is the state of being exempted from the jurisdiction of local law, usually as the result of diplomatic negotiations. Historically, this primarily applied to individuals, as jurisdiction was usually cla ...

for citizens of the treaty nations. Before the system of treaty port concessions ended in 1899 seven foreign settlements had been established in Japan. They were, from north to south: * Hakodate foreign settlement in

Hokkaido is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The la ...

* Niigata foreign settlement in

Niigata, Niigata is a city located in the northern part of Niigata Prefecture (). It is the capital and the most populous Cities of Japan, city of Niigata Prefecture, and one of the cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, located in the Chūbu regio ...

Tsukiji foreign settlement Tsukiji (築地) is a district of Chūō, Tokyo, Japan. Literally meaning "reclaimed land", it lies near the Sumida River on land reclaimed from Tokyo Bay in the 18th century during the Edo period. The eponymous Tsukiji fish market opened in 1 ...

Tsukiji Tsukiji (築地) is a district of Chūō, Tokyo, Japan. Literally meaning "reclaimed land", it lies near the Sumida River on land reclaimed from Tokyo Bay in the 18th century during the Edo period. The eponymous Tsukiji fish market opened in 193 ...

, Chūō-ku,

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

Yokohama foreign settlement is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of T ...

in the

Kannai is a district in Naka Ward, Yokohama, Japan, bounded by the Ōoka River, JR Negishi Line, Nakamura River, and Yokohama waterfront. "Kannai" is not an official name of the area, but the common term of reference has been in use for over a century ...

and

Yamate is the name of a historic neighbourhood in Naka-ku, Yokohama often referred to in English as ''The Bluff.'' The neighbourhood is famous as having been a foreigners' residential area in the Bakumatsu, Meiji and Taishō periods. While still domi ...

districts of Naka-ku,

Kanagawa is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the List of Japanese prefectures by population, second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-dens ...

Kawaguchi foreign settlement The Kawaguchi foreign settlement, or known as the Old Kawaguchi settlement (Japanese: 旧川口居留地), was a foreign settlement located in north Kawaguchi, straddling in western present-day Nishi-ku, Osaka as well. It was also called the forme ...

in Kawaguchi, Nishi-ku,

Eric Johnston
Lessons learned from the failure of the Osaka Foreign Settlement
''The Japan Times'' (2017/8/19) *

Kobe foreign settlement The , also known as the Kobe foreign concession, was a foreign settlement located about 3.5 kilometers east of the Port of Kobe, in the future Chūō-ku of Kobe, Japan. Established based on the Ansei Treaties, it existed from January 1, 1868, to ...

, Hyogo * Nagasaki foreign settlement in Oura,

References

External links

Yokohama foreign settlement

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MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

19th century in Japan Bakumatsu Meiji Restoration 1850s establishments in Japan 1899 disestablishments in Japan

See also

References

External links