is a district of Naka Ward in

Yokohama is the List of cities in Japan, second-largest city in Japan by population as well as by area, and the country's most populous Municipalities of Japan, municipality. It is the capital and most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a popu ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, consisting mainly of the . The

shopping street A shopping street or shopping district is a designated road or quarter of a municipality that is composed of Retail, retail establishments (such as Retail store, stores, boutiques, restaurants, and Shopping center, shopping complexes). Such are ...

is long, running from in the northeast, to in the southwest, approximately parallel to the course of the

Ōoka River The is a river that flows through Yokohama, Japan. It is 14 km long and over 80 bridges are built on the river. There are large numbers of cherry tree A cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus ''Prunus'', and is a fleshy drupe ( ...

Destinations

Isezaki Mall is a special designation given to the and portions only, which is a

car-free zone Pedestrian zones (also known as auto-free zones and car-free zones, as pedestrian precincts in British English, and as pedestrian malls in the United States and Australia) are areas of a city or town restricted to use by people on foot or ...

. The largest shops and businesses are in the Isezaki Mall area in the northeast end, closer to

Kannai Station is an interchange passenger railway station located in Naka-ku, Yokohama, Japan, operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East) and the Yokohama Subway, Yokohama Municipal Subway. Lines Kannai Station is served by the Negishi Line from to i ...

. As you walk along the Isezakicho Shopping Street towards 7-chōme in the southwest end, the shops become gradually smaller and the pedestrian traffic tapers off. On the other end, walking past the northeast end of the pedestrian zone, passing Kannai Station, the street continues into the Bashamichi Street. The site of Isezaki Mall was created by a project that filled in a small bay which started in 1656 and was completed in 1667, creating an island named Yoshida Shinden connected by bridges to the rest of Yokohama. After the

Convention of Kanagawa The Convention of Kanagawa, also known as the or the , was a treaty signed between the United States and the Tokugawa Shogunate on March 31, 1854. Unequal treaty#Japan, Signed under threat of force, it effectively meant the end of Japan's 220-ye ...

was signed in 1854, Yokohama became one of the first

treaty port Treaty ports (; ) 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 Qing dynasty of China (before the ...

s, established in 1859, and additional land reclamation projects expanded the site to its present size. Initially, foreign settlements were established in the eastern part, named Kannai, separated from the western areas by a gate; Kannai was connected to the port via the Yoshida-bashi Bridge, completed in 1869 by

Richard Henry Brunton Richard Henry Brunton FRGS MICE (26 December 1841 – 24 April 1901) was a British engineer known as the "Father of Japanese lighthouses". Brunton was born in Muchalls, Kincardineshire, Scotland. He was employed by the government of Meiji pe ...

as Japan's first Western-style iron bridge. Until the 1960s, Isezakicho was the only large shopping area in Yokohama catering to local residents. Since then, Motomachi and the

Yokohama Station is a major interchange railway station in Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Japan. It is the busiest station in Kanagawa Prefecture and the fifth-busiest in the world as of 2013, serving 760 million passengers a year. Lines Yokohama Station is served by t ...

area have grown in popularity. Motomachi had previously catered mainly to foreign residents, while the

developed into a large shopping area only in the 1970s. Today, Isezakicho continues to be one of the major shopping areas of Yokohama.

Major Attractions

* Yurindo Bookstore, Main Location *

Fujiya () is a nationwide chain of confectionery, confectionery stores and restaurants in Japan. Its first shop was founded in 1910 in Yokohama. Fujiya is credited with introducing the Christmas cake#Asia, Christmas cake to Japan. In 2016, the compa ...

(This is the 2nd Fujiya restaurant ever opened. The 1st store in Motomachi no longer exists.)

In media

A fictionalized version of Isezakichō, named Isezaki Ijincho, is featured in the ''

Like a Dragon , formerly known outside of Japan as ''Yakuza'', is a video game franchise by Sega. It incorporates elements of the action-adventure, beat 'em up, and role-playing genres. Each installment is typically a crime drama, with plot lines inspired ...

'' video game series. It debuted in '' Yakuza: Like a Dragon'', and was subsequently featured in ''

Lost Judgment ''Lost Judgment'' is a 2021 action-adventure game, action-adventure video game developed by Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio and published by Sega. It was released for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on September 24, 2021, for Ama ...

'', '' Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name'', and '' Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth''. In the game, Isezaki Ijincho collectively encompasses the area around the pedestrian portion of Isezaki Mall (as "Isezaki Road"),

Chinatown Chinatown ( zh, t=唐人街) is the catch-all name for an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, Asia, Africa, O ...

, Kannai Station, and

Yamashita Park is a public park in Naka Ward, Yokohama, Japan, famous for its waterfront views of the Port of Yokohama. History Much of Yokohama was destroyed on September 1, 1923, by the Great Kantō earthquake. A Scotsman, Marshall Martin, advisor to Ma ...

(as "Hamakita Park"); waterfront views from Hamakita Park include a view of

Minato Mirai 21 , often known as simply Minato Mirai and abbreviated as MM (used on the minatomiri line station numbering; e.g. “MM 1”) is the central business district of Yokohama, Japan. Initially developed in the 1980s, Minato Mirai 21 was designed as a l ...

and its landmarks, but that area is not included.

Education

The operates public elementary and junior high schools. 1-4

chome The Japanese addressing system is used to identify a specific location in Japan. When written in Japanese characters, addresses start with the largest geographical entity and proceed to the most specific one. The Japanese system is complex, th ...

are zoned to Honcho Elementary School ( 本町小学校), while 5-7 chome are zoned to Azuma Elementary School (東小学校). 1-4 chome are also zoned to Yokohama Yoshida Junior High School ( 横浜吉田中学校), while Azuma feeds into Oimatsu Junior High School ( 老松中学校).

Transportation

Isezakichō is served by the following rail stations: * Isezaki-chōjamachi (

Yokohama Municipal Subway is the rapid transit network in the city of Yokohama, Japan, south of Tokyo in Kanagawa Prefecture. It is operated by Yokohama City Transportation Bureau as two lines, though three continuous lines exist. Lines The Yokohama Municipa ...

, Blue Line) *

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 ...

(

JR East The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and the largest of the seven Japan Railways Group companies. The company name is officially abbreviated as JR-EAST or JR East in English, and as in Japanese. The company's headquarters are in ...

, Keihin–Tōhoku/

Negishi Line The Negishi Line () is a Japanese railway line which connects Yokohama Station, Yokohama and Ōfuna Station, Ōfuna stations. It is operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East). Freight trains also operate on this line, and it is essential f ...

& Yokohama Blue Line)

References

*This article was translated from the corresponding article in the Japanese Wikipedia, retrieved on September 10, 2006, and with a few minor changes.

External links

*
Isezaki Mall (official website)
1-chōme & 2-chōme *
Isezakicho Shopping Street (official website)
3-chōme through 7-chōme * Naka-ku, Yokohama Neighborhoods of Yokohama Shopping districts and streets in Japan {{Kanagawa-geo-stub