is the main international passenger

pier Seaside pleasure pier in Brighton, England. The first seaside piers were built in England in the early 19th century.">England.html" ;"title="Brighton, England">Brighton, England. The first seaside piers were built in England in the early 19th ...

at the

Port of Yokohama The is operated by the Port and Harbor Bureau of the City of Yokohama in Japan. It opens onto Tokyo Bay. The port is located at a latitude of 35.27–00°N and a longitude of 139.38–46°E. To the south lies the Port of Yokosuka; to the north ...

, located in Naka

Ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

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 ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. Ōsanbashi is the oldest pier in Yokohama, originally constructed between 1889 and 1896. Major

cruise ship Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports-of-call, where passengers may go on tours known as ...

s such as the Queen Elizabeth 2 were at one time embarked here, although 90,000 GWT ships such as MS Queen Elizabeth are often obliged to use nearby container terminals owing to their enormous size. The pier is also known as one of the best places to see the Yokohama Three Towers (The King, Queen and the Jack)

History

The Port of Yokohama was opened in 1859 as a direct result of the signing of the Treaty of Amity and Commerce, and the

Ansei Treaties The Ansei Treaties (Japanese:安政条約) or the Ansei Five-Power Treaties (Japanese:安政五カ国条約) are a series of treaties signed in 1858, during the Japanese Ansei era, between Japan on the one side, and the United States, Great Br ...

signed between the

Tokugawa Shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

and the governments of the United States, Great Britain, France, The Netherlands and Russia. Yokohama grew rapidly as 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. ...

and commercial center due to its proximity to Tokyo, natural deep water harbour and protection from strong winds by the Honmoku bluff. Initially the port only offered two small stone

wharf A wharf, quay (, also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more berths (mooring locatio ...

s for visiting ships, built on the current site of the modern Ōsanbashi Pier. The two wharfs, known as the French and English Hatoba, were too shallow for the ocean going ships to dock, and so

barge Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels ...

s were used to carry passengers and freight to and from the ships in the outer harbour. In 1894, the Japanese government provided funding for an extended steel pier to replace the English Hatoba. Designed by British engineer,

Henry Spencer Palmer Major General Henry Spencer Palmer (30 April 1838 – 10 February 1893) was a British Army military engineer and surveyor, noted for his work in developing Yokohama harbor in the Empire of Japan as a foreign advisor to the Japanese government B ...

, the new pier was able to accommodate up to four ships simultaneously. Although the pier was repaired and enlarged several times, it survived the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake, and the bombing raids of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

largely intact. During the occupation the pier was renamed South Pier and remained under occupation forces control until 1952. In 1964, a reconstruction of Ōsanbashi Passenger Terminal was completed in time before the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

Current pier

To meet modern demands, Ōsanbashi Pier was again reconstructed between 1988 and 2002. The newly reconstructed passenger terminal is named the ''Yokohama International Passenger Terminal'', designed by

Foreign Office Architects Foreign Office Architects, FOA, was an architectural design studio headed by former husband and wife team Farshid Moussavi and Alejandro Zaera-Polo. The London-based studio, which was established in 1993, specialised in architectural design, maste ...

(

Alejandro Zaera-Polo Alejandro Zaera Polo is a Spanish architect, theorist and founder of Alejandro Zaera-Polo & Maider Llaguno Architecture (AZPML). He was formerly dean of the Princeton University School of Architecture and of the Berlage Institute in Rotterdam. ...

and

Farshid Moussavi Farshid Moussavi (born in 1965, Shiraz, Iran) is an Iranian-born British architect, educator, and author. She is the founder of Farshid Moussavi Architecture (FMA) and a Professor in Practice of Architecture at Harvard University Graduate S ...

), the pier was the subject of a major international design competition attracting over 660 entries. The new pier can accommodate up to four 30,000-ton class ships or two 70,000-ton class ships at the same time. The departure/arrival lobby, ticketing booth, customs, immigration, large multipurpose hall, shops and cafe are all on the 2nd floor of this terminal. There is a parking facility on the 1st floor, and an extensive, gently curving observation deck with planted grass areas, open to the public on the rooftop. The Port and City of Yokohama developed other renovation and construction projects in the waterfront area, such as the

Minato Mirai 21 , often known as simply Minato Mirai and abbreviated as MM, is the central business district of Yokohama, Japan. Initially developed in the 1980s, Minato Mirai 21 was designed as a large master-planned development and new urban center planned to co ...

project, in this time frame.

Notes

References

* Sakamoto, Tomoko. ''The Yokohama Project''. Actar (March 2003).

External links

Ōsanbashi Pier
(Port and Harbor Bureau, City of Yokohama)
History of the Port of Yokohama
(Port and Harbor Bureau, City of Yokohama)
JapaneseEnglish
Ōsanbashi Yokohama International Passenger Terminal {{DEFAULTSORT:Osanbashi Pier Buildings and structures in Yokohama Piers in Japan Tourist attractions in Yokohama

History

Current pier

See also

Notes

References

External links